Dominic Sanchez-Cabello
It must be hard being a Marseille fan at the moment. After breaking Lyon’s Ligue 1 monopoly back in 2010, they could have been forgiven for expecting a return to the glory days. They may have to wait, but that wasn’t a problem, fleeting success can be ruinous for smaller clubs. Bordeaux were first to find this out, Lille’s success meant losing their attacking quartet and Montpellier followed by losing their entire spine. All of these clubs now sit in the lower half of the table, no doubt conversing like those old blokes in the pub who assure you that, “I used be on the books for West Ham”.
So again, Marseille must have cheered as the new season dawned, knowing their rivals had been irreparably broken while their large stadium would reap the benefits of FFP…
Then it must have come as quite a shock to see PSG revived with Qatari wealth and Monaco (of all people) bought by a bored billionaire. Monaco, those archrivals whom they had bludgeoned with the financial bat and overcome via corrupt dealings. The same team that had fallen into Ligue 2 had now returned with money and were almost certain to dominate the league. Because how could they not? Imagine a club situated in an artificial, but utopic setting, completely exempt of tax and propelled by a vast financial force, and technically banned from Ligue 1 (because of the tax) but let’s not worry about that technicality eh?
I dislike Marseille as a club, but I can’t help but feel sorry for the city. Unlike Monaco, it is a real city with a rich history. Monaco, or more precisely Monte Carlo, was created in the mid 19th century as a rich playground with good transport links to Paris. Comparatively, Marseille has existed since classical times, where the Greeks and Romans recognised its potential as a natural harbour. It grew as commercial ports do, became the second largest city in France and produced the great Zidane. (It was also the port at which our publisher arrived back in Europe, after his year’s exile in Algiers… but that is another story).
Anyway on to the game…
Arsenal play in the European city of culture tonight and to all the fans that are there (including Untold’s own correspondent at the game – oh yes we ain’t doing nothing by halves this year), I am not jealous in the slightest. Have a good time Phil…
They play 4-2-3-1 and drew with Toulouse at the weekend. We play 4-2-3-1 and beat Sunderland. So there’s a positive there already. From previous experience when the same formation meets in a game, the team with the better players wins – I’m sounding like Alan Shearer, forgive me!
Mertesacker is back; Giroud has reassured us he’ll be fit to play. Özil apparently felt tight after Saturday, but I don’t see that as anything to worry about and Mr Wenger has confirmed all is well with both of them. Anyway, who doesn’t feel tight after a game of football? I hope Vermaelen starts and displays the form we all know he can. I still believe the Vermaelen-Koz partnership can work, but it is more likely to be Per / Koz.
Aside from Özil being an incredible player, what you will find with him is that he is rarely injured. I watched him a lot in Madrid and his general style means that he won’t concern himself with unnecessary contact. This will frustrate some of the more traditional fans who prize physical courage, but it will be a lovely change to have a creative player that is largely injury free.
I doubt the team will change much from the weekend. Perhaps Sagna will move back to his actual position – though I’m not sure it is his actual position these days…
Wojciech
Sagna Koz Vermaelen Monreal
Flamini Ramsey
Walcott Özil Wilshere
Giroud
Cheers guys – see you in the comments,
Dom
You should also read…
The books…
- Woolwich Arsenal: The club that changed football – Arsenal’s early years
- Making the Arsenal – how the modern Arsenal was born in 1910
- The Crowd at Woolwich Arsenal FC: crowd behaviour at the early matches
And just to remind you how things have changed…
- 18 September 1994: Fifth game without a win in a row – Arsenal 2 Newcastle 3
Thanks Dom, and Phil, assuming you have reached the city, and have your mobile with you, don’t forget you are writing the review. I mean, I know its exciting and all that, being in foreign parts, but we need our man on the spot stuff too.
(Sorry everyone, just trying to keep the Untold team in order. You’ve no idea how difficult it is what with sending correspondent hither and yon, doing research for Sky Sports, running the anniversary files…
It’s tough at the top.
Good luck also to the U19s who play their game in a different part of Marseille this afternoon. Their tournament matches the first team. I hope their pitch is much better than last time they played there.
Olympique de Marseille have a fun motto:
Doit au but
It can be translated as ‘do it with your bottom’ but I think that is not right.
It is more likely ‘Straight to the Goal’ or ‘Right into the Goal’ which sounds a bit like Route 1 football.
We shall see.
So do you think it will be Per / Kos or Verm / Kos ?
Very, very sorry, but entirely off-topic but a little bit titillating, maybe (if you’re so inclined):
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/man-in-court-for-trying-to-have-sex-with-sheep-at-tottenham-training-ground-8824375.html
This team has good spirit .Victory is unquestionable in mind at worst a draw.To Arsenal anything Untold can happen .But with this team top spirit let alone MARSEILLES I am not worried even of Bayern or Barca.
All the best to all you gunnnnnnnners
Enjoyable Post, Tony, thank you.
I live in anticipation of a good result but can never feel confident of it happening. That’s why football has me by the short and curlies.
Always hope for a win – sometimes suffer the pain of defeat – but when we win – ah, when we win, that makes everything worthwhile.
OK, I am a wuz.
The U19s have done their bit with a convincing four one score line, the one being an own goal! See http://arsenalyouth.wordpress.com/ for a full report. Come on first team match that!
COYG
Henry B thank you for the compliment, but it should go to Dominic who is writing the match previews this season.
And Rantetta, that is totally off topic and I ought to ban you for that, but, well, he has denied the charges and asked for trial by jury, so this one will run and run.
Baaaaaa(le)
I wonder why, when it’s a European tie, nobody worries as to wheather the referee will give us a fair performance or not ??
Unlike in the PL when it’s the first thing we think about !!!
Shameful endictment on the way our refs perform in our games compared to Euro officials.
Has the incident anything to with the sale of Bale ? We over here hear of certain national ‘preferences ‘ , but has something been lost in the translation ?Woolen be surprised !
Is the sheep in therapy ? Ewe have to feel sorry for it. That’s one baaaad assed man , dicking around with barnyard animals .Hope he gets well and truly rammed in court by his peers !
I know we’ve had a couple of dodgey calls in europe, notably RVP’s 2nd yellow against Barca, Pen in the Liverpool game at Anfield, but I’m sure we’ve had a couple as well.
On the whole though, I go into all our CL games feeling it will at least be a level playing field.
Hope we kick of the CL with a win and a clean sheet . 1-0 to the Arsenal .
Up the Gunners !
From ba bamail .com
You Remind Me of my Son…
Walking through a supermarket, a young man noticed an old lady following him around. He ignored her for a while, but when he got to the checkout line, she got in front of him.
“Pardon me,” she said. “I’m sorry if I’ve been staring, but you look just like me son who died recently.
“I’m sorry for your loss,” the young man replied. “Is there anything I can do for you?”
“Well, as I’m leaving, could you just say ‘Goodbye, mother!?’ It would make me feel so much better.” She gave him a sweet smile.
“Of course I can,” the young man promised.old woman laughing
As she gathered her bags and left, he called out “Goodbye, mother!” just as she had requested, feeling good about her smile.
Stepping up to the counter, he saw that his total was about $100 higher than it should be. “That amount is wrong,” he said. “I only have a few items!”
“Oh, your mother said that you would pay for her,” explained the clerk.
Tony,
Thank you for not banning me.
Brickfields, you’re soooo Norty, haha.
An Arsenal supporting friend proffered:
“I hope the magistrates don’t get the wool pulled over their eyes and ram the full weight of justice…!!”.
If that doesn’t get me banned….
Anyway, we’re all looking forward to a mouth watering match tonight, and “humour” has previously been ‘de rigueur’, as with Billy the Dog previews.
Bah (or Baa).
Off subject I know but just seen this in you tube.
From season 2005/06 to 2012/13 (seven Premier League seasons), Halsey refereed Manchester United on 14 occasions in the EPL.
Manchester United won every single one of those matches.
Let us list them as it is clear that these are, on the whole, tricky matches against the likes of Liverpool, Tottenham, Everton and Villa…
17/04/06 Spurs 1 Man Utd 2
29/11/06 Man Utd 3 Everton 0
16/12/07 Liverpool 0 Man Utd 1
29/03/08 Man Utd 4 Aston Villa 0
18/10/08 Man Utd 4 WBA 0
06/12/08 Man Utd 1 Sunderland 0
31/01/09 Man Utd 1 Everton 0 (Via a penalty)
02/05/09 Middlesbrough 0 Man Utd 2
29/10/11 Everton 0 Man Utd 1
21/12/11 Fulham 0 Man Utd 5
15/04/12 Man Utd 4 Aston Villa 0
23/09/12 Liverpool 1 Man Utd 2 (Via a sending off and a penalty)
01/12/12 Norwich 3 Man Utd 4 (With a penalty included)
10/02/13 Man Utd 2 Everton 0
14 matches, 14 wins, 36 goals for and just 5 against, only 3 matches where the opposition scored.
Interesting that Gnabry did play earlier for the youth tourney game but Zelalem (sorry haven’t got the hang of that spelling yet) didn;t. Which means Mr Z will be on the beach, sorry bench, tonight.
Jambug
I’m with you on the issue re refs, I’m less apprehensive before a CL match, regardless of the opposition than say a PL match against the bottom club.
Jambug
I’m always worried about the Euro refs, as whilst they’re clearly better than the PL ones, some of them still seem to have an issue with Arsenal.
There was the ref who awarded a free-kick to (?), where Fabianski gave the ball to the ref who’d demanded it from him, and with Fab not even back in the goal, he allowed the other team to take it and score. I’m not sure any Arsenal player had done anything wrong. There were other matches during that period where the ref decisions were ‘odd’.
Then there were matches like AC Milan at home, where Arsenal needed one more goal to go through. The ref just completely ‘switched’ to make sure Milan got through. The same happened at Bayern. (Arsenal’s opponents attack – attack breaks down – Arsenal play ball to their forward, who gets hacked down – free kick to the other team).
Those Euro-refs must’ve learned that from Riley, haha.
So I do tend to be worried, especially as You-A-fah have so often demonstrated their hatred for Arsenal, what with that team’s honest manager/players, who dare to speak out when they’ve been throttled during matches, or, having banned the manager for telling the truth, they further ban him for proving they’re telling lies.
I guess the FFP thingy is some kind of smokescreen, and the last thing they want is for the “Arsenal Way” to succeed.
I mean, where’s the money in that?
rantetta
I remember a few of those incidents but not all (not doubting your memory by the way, it’s mine thats saddly on the wane).
Even takeing all those in to account I still go into tonights game with a dam sight more hope than I do Sundays.
Shaun
Thought Gedion Z is out for months through injury?
Have a look at this article from Walter
Revealed: “The Busacca Moment” when referees move to fix the match:
http://blog.emiratesstadium.info/archives/14072
jambug
There are many ref instances I’ve forgotten too. In some ways that’s good for me, cos watching Arsenal being stitched up is pretty stressful for me. Right now I can’t even remember the names of the euro-teams who’ve had their 12th man onside.
The shenanigans are ongoing.
Mike Dean, Mark Hughes and Stoke! I feel a little bit sick.
But let us see how it goes tonight. Breathe deeply and enjoy tonight’s game. (talking to myself, you know?)
Is that right? Z is out with injury. Didn;t know that.
Did you know that the match is on TV on… ITV4
Thanks for the major coverage guys.
Not sure of the veracity of the injury news Tony,but the player himself is supposed to have announced that on Twitter last week even though it doesn’t seem to have been reported in the mainstream media.
Tony, I think it is Sky 4 not ITV4. ITV4 has cycling followed by rallying. I’m looking for an Internet stream.
Just checked on Twitter and Podolski tweeted at Gedion to get well soon on the 10th of September. Not clear though what the problem is.
and the ref does his thing, Per gets kicked in the head in the box on a corner, and Per gets told to walk it off.
A referee with selective visual impairment – just the usual!
And it’s no use expecting the extra goal line assistants to see anything they are always as much use as a chocolate fireguard!
Fabulous result, well done! Never a penalty that, another outrageous dive.
He’s useless that theo isn’t he! Hope he is ok did he come off injured? And as for Rambo! Ten away on the bounce food for thought for the AAA and Einstein quoters. Would be interesting what the refs on here think I thought he let a lot of their rotational fouling go. But a very satisfying result in a difficult place
Well done the Arsenal, a good win despite a biased ref. I am really pleased for the team and especially for Walcott – lets hope that goal gets his season going.
Time to bring in video refereeing & punish these cheats. Young would’ve been proud of that dive.
Is that 11 away wins in a row???? Or have I had too much to drink?
And can I be imagining this? Did chelsea lose? I mean did they lose? Did they? I mean, we won, and the other lot who were going to stroll through it all while we struggled because we dont have a squad, we won, and they lost?
Is that right or am I dreaming?
No perhpas it is 10 away in a row not 11.
10 11 either amazing and yes the Chavs lost. Jose losing his magic? How many more soft pens will our opponents get this season? Really think that ref was a bit against us still great result
Chelsea lost? At home too? Hahaha!
Great stuff, a great away performance, defended well, and grabbed two fantastic goals!
At 87 mins watching Özil surge forward he had the same mannerisms as Liam Brady!
But lets face its the whole team were great! COYG!
I’m not sure which result I enjoyed more… beating Marseille, or Chelsea losing at the bridge! 😀
Didn’t really deserve the win, but who cares? We’re looking tactically solid and as Alan Hansen has told us, 36 times, “footballs about momentum!”
The pens are worrying, and all of them shouldn’t have been given too…
The guy who kicked Mert in the face had his leg above waist height,though maybe not quite as high as the one that Kos got in the qualies, where he had to go off.
I thought the ref was tilting it in OM’s favour at times but OG12 was actually awarded free kicks I think 3 in the 2nd half- when OM fouled him. So credit to the ref there.
The penalty. Well, the replay showed Ramsey nicking the ball away AND the OM forward player doing a Rooney-Bale. Did I see that correctly? Was it a rush to judgement by the ref/was he looking to ‘even it out’? (Even out what?)
I thought OM came with lots of energy in the 1st half,and it looked as though Arsenal were a bit tired/off the pace, but I could be wrong about that. There were several mis-placed passes in midfield. But the Arsenal players stuck at it.
In the 2nd half even the commentators eventually mused that OM had ‘shot their bolt’. For the most part I liked Arsenal’s defending. Determined and dogged.
Well done Arsenal. Another performance to be proud of.
Theo scored. Ramsey…once again (having seemingly spent the whole night defending) popped up with another super goal.
We love you Arsenal, we do Oh, Arsenal we love you.
Wonder if this current welsh sensation will be treated to the same media wankfest?
Ooh – had no idea how Chelsea were doing. Did someone post the following on here?
Matthew Syed Hits Out At Roman Abramovich
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmCtci6cen8&feature=youtu.be
DSC@ 950pm
Who didn’t deserve to win, and why?
Rantetta
Your description of the penalty incident is how I saw too. Ayew’s leg when he was going down was so straight at an unnatural angle, no doubt seeking to make contact with Ramsey. And anyway, Ramsey got to the ball first so even if there was contact thereafter it wouldn’t have mattered. I saw Theo not getting one in the NLD when Lloris just nicked the ball a split second before Theo. I know because we won not a lot will be made of this but the fact is it was a wrong call and the result should be 2 nil.
Tony
Yeah, you’re a bit pissed. Match on ITV4????
Well if you’re not pissed, you were taking the piss.
And I bought it (ringing round friends with TV’s)
Bah, and thrice Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! (Inspired by your sending me to see Comedy of Errors at the National).
Rantetta – my tiddlywinks team – because they played bad tiddlywinks ^^
The funny thing is listening to the BBC guys (Alan Green?) saying that if Ramsey keeps it up, the Arsenal fans might start paying attention and see him as one of their best players (or something like that).
Wasn’t sure if the best reply was:
A). No Shit Sherlock or
B). Welcome to the 2012-13 season.
Other than that, what pisses me off about CL refereeing is the inconsistency between games, where one week you’ll get a ‘touch the player is a foul type’, next week we get the guy today.
Best description I heard was that it was almost like being away at Stoke tonight — although not even Stoke would get away with 2 players kicked in the head.
Tony,
I hate to moan but my comment just disappeared again. What’s happening?
Ah, thanks AL.
I hadn’t realised Lloris’s tackle was illegal.
Walter, what do you have to say about that Lloris tackle, please?
AL, I wonder if you saw my comment – in reply to my using your summary as though it was a quote? (from the “Cheating isn’t winning” article) In case not, it’s here:
http://blog.emiratesstadium.info/archives/31256/comment-page-2#comment-673958
And, further (copy+paste):
AL
I must point out that you do not need to “stand corrected”. Your post was spot-on. Thanks again.
Great result by the lads.
Where’s Matt, not a lot coming from him and his ilk at the moment?
Is it just my imagination but why does Alan Smith so often appear boringly negative about the team he used to play for, sometimes he sounds like he is doing a Stuart Robson impersonation. Maybe he is under orders to tow the Sky party line.
First, we deserve the win not based on 90min, but based on physical fitness being too low, i guess we deserved the win.
I dont think the ref was biased, he was just always far from the ball (waiting walter assessment) so he didnt see the fouls and had to guess, he even finished the game early although the incident took a lot of time, as if he realized he was wrong…..
now we could have been destroyed today due to our physical weakness, but mareille players didnt play on that advantage, here where Arsenal was lucky and this take me back to a post during the summer by fellow untolder “bootoomee” where he wrote about how luck was a reason in the 8 years without a trophy.
i think we deserved the win cause of our spirit, walcot scored and now AAA will have to search for someone else, and Sagna was energetic and for that he is my MOM
I loved the way Wenger said “It’s important that we don’t panic”.
He’s been watching Dad’s Army
Thought the flamster is coming good quite an impressive free transfer. Gibbs also deserves a mention in dispatches. Not sure who the AAA will blame here
Re: Penalties against Arsenal.
Is it possible that the FA and other “concerned” parties – remain absolutely pissed off that Arsenal won the Fair Play thingy last season?
I honestly fear for our players. The way commentators, plundits and the press alike talk of our lack of squad depth/Giroud’s the only striker – sounds like an invitation to ‘take out’ as many Arsenal players as you choose. The disappointment in their collective comments/hack-ing is palpable.
Just sketched out tomorrow’s piece on the Arsenal History Blog http://www.blog.woolwicharsenal.co.uk – looking at the ten away wins in a row.
Just found quite an interesting stat. do hope you have a moment to have a look tomorrow.
Meanwhile I think I need to lie down. rather a lot of red wine consumed.
So thats 4 penalties against us this season and a case could only be made for the one Atkinson gave. 2 were gifts from Anthony Taylor and another gift today from the incompetent ref. How did he give a penalty for that when Per got a boot in the face and nothing was given? And how did he let play go on late on when Flamini was clearly pulled down? Im seriously sick of these bastards screwing us over and over.
Apart from that great performance from the boy and job well done Aaron. Many are eating humble pie as we speak
Manage to watch 2nd half enjoyed every bit.Deserved win.
Again wrong call for the peno.Ramsey kick the ball not the player. The ball clearly goes the direction Ramsey touched.
The wrong penalty given against us is a further reason why technology should be introduced. When such technology is fully established not only will something close to fair play be introduced, but it is less likely that certain refs can influence the result, or be accused of earning a brown envelope.
Flamini had another good game, but does anyone know why he went off early? A knock or tactical?
Mandy Dodd,
Now I can usually agree with you but now you are completely wrong. How dare you call Flamini an impressive transfer???? You have to cost at least 25M to be called an impressive transfer. 😉
You know what…with the news about Arteta being back maybe next week we can rotate Flamini and Arteta at random from then on. And even though they have different playing styles they both can play that holding midfield in a great way.
Did you hear the rumours that Cazorla might be fit for the weekend?? I hope they are right.
Those two back would make an immense difference in depth and I’m getting really excited just the thought of it.
For those asking about the ref: I had visitors at my house and could only start seeing the game after they left. That was just after Theo scored the 0-1. I had to see it on a bad stream so could not see the penalty incident clearly or some ref decisions.
But you know what? F*ck all the refs tonight, we just beat Marseille at their ground and nothing the ref could do about it so who cares.
COYG!!!!
Rantetta 10:15pm
I hadn’t gone back to that thread so hadnt seen your article. Just read it and couldn’t agree more with your comments. And thanks for the clarification, I had missed the point. Actually, the more I think about it looking at the incidents you mention the less Moyes looks a principled man, and looks the part to be the perfect successor to fenguson(from utd’s point of view obviously).
And no Matt we will not get a trophy for this win (yet) but do try to enjoy it for once. Or else join the refs from my previous post
Mahdain
Yes, the incident where Flamini was shoved to the ground was unbelievable. I mean it wasn’t even shoulder to shoulder or something like that, it was a clear pull from a player who was coming from behind. One thing I wish someone could explain to me is what’s the purpose of that official standing behind the goal? They never seem to make any decisions. Per got a kick in the face right in front of that official and he did nothing. And the Flamini incident was right in front of that official too and still nothing! And to think that the man gets paid for just standing there, whereas a camera can do a better job for free. Football is being run by clowns for real.
Anyone know what happened to sperez? Or Rupert? Joe? uk? Arsenal1Again? DoubleGooner? Stax? A. Stewart? Where are these guys? Think Matt’s getting a little lonely here….
Thanks AL.
bob has posted many wonderful comments about Old Toilet and its occupants, inc. the infamous “Rednose XX”, but there’s so much more.
I can at least now take shallower breaths, and bask in the reflected glory of an away win by this team we love.
Walter/Mandy
Flamini’s just a panic buy who didn’t cost anything, and he gave the ball away at least once. Sack him.
FFS, that’s supposed to be a joke. I’m not Matt/Rhys Jagger, et al.
And I bet you’re as pissed as Tony, innit Walter? You, with your dinner parties – Tony with his line dancing. Any excuse to party and ignore The Arsenal. I’m not having it.. do you understand?
I’ll get my coat.
LOL Rantetta.
You know those anxious moments the visit is saying they will leave and the wife keeps on talking about this and then starts talking about that and then again about such and then remembers to say ifs and whens….
And I see the clock ticking, my computer saying it is still 0-0 in the distance (I had put him on arsenal.com match page so I could least follow the score.
And then when finally they left I ran to my computer opened a stream that took ages to load and then to see the score at 0-1 missing Theo is wonderful goal (have seen it since).
So here I am sitting typing and in6hours I have to get up to go to work a long day of 11.30 hours in the office. Wake me up when I fall asleep. And that is what I am going to do right now….. with a big smile on my face. A very big smile!
Please pardon me for my persistence this evening, but I put up a link to an article written by Walter, earlier – on this thread. It’s a short article about reffing that followed a Barca match. I’m re-posting it because I find it not only a very good article, but also because the comments are all from Arsenal supporters (if you get my drift. And there are no comments from me – Hammer time).
Given the comments on this article, I recommend its reading.
Revealed: “The Busacca Moment” when referees move to fix the match
http://blog.emiratesstadium.info/archives/14072
Yes very true about flam Walter and rantetta a man at that price or lack of it must be shite we should have spent twenty mil on cabaye or got in Barry on 150kpw! And Ramsey only cost five million what is that cheapskate wenger doing to us? On a negative note looks like a clear ref pattern setting in could get worse the better we do. Wonder what the top flight record for penalties against in A season is. It could be under serious threat
@mandy with Dean overseeing us this weekend there is a high chance its gonna be 4 out of 5 penalties wrongly given against us(i still think Atkinson got the Kos one correct). The players really need to be up for it as we will be playing against 12 men stoke. Some quick goals before Dean gets his chance will go a long way to limit what he can do unless ofcourse he decided to do a “Dowd at St. James” and make a complete fool out of himself. Knowing Dean though that aint happening as he loves flying under the radar..
Very tricky group, so an away win is vital.
Dortmund is more talented than Napoli but Benitez is tactically superior to Klopp and Wenger.
I’ll be interesting to see what team will end up playing in Europa League.
Walter
Sorry. There I am, taking the piss out of you, accusing you of dinner-partying. As I read about your visitors taking time to leave the house – and conspiratorially/accidentally over-stretching their welcome, I could picture it. You glancing at a screen that only has the score. Then trying to get a stream. Oh my! When a stream opens do you have to find and fight the little “x”s, in order to stop more and more pages opening? And if you enlarge the picture, does it go all fuzzy?
Oh Walter. I can’t imagine. I withdraw my silly remarks, even though it looks like you took them in the fun way they were intended.
Mandy
I hadn’t thought about records for penalties against. That just increases my ‘a little bit angst’. Dean got a good booing last time he was at the Ems. Of course it won’t change his resolve, which is to cheat Arsenal out of existence, (or at least, CL qualification next season.
He who leapt into the air once he’d blown the final whistle at the CC final.
He who allowed Birmingham enough viciousness in the first 6 mins. during that match in 2008 – that Martin Taylor felt no compunction but to smash Eduardo’s leg into pieces.
He who gave a ghost foul so that Brum could take a free kick for the 1st goal, and then gave a penalty against Arsenal when our left back touched the ball.
Was it him that done the Ars4 Sp*rs4 a few years back? Is it him who has a remarkably bent looking record against us compared with the top 6 teams.
“The title winners from the past three years recorded winning averages between 63 and 67 per cent, while even Spurs can claim a 50 per cent success record when the Wirral-born referee has been in charge across a similar amount of games.”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2262230/Arsenal-win-seven-cent-games-Mike-Dean-referees.html
“They have a thin squad and the odds are against them, but Ramsey is helping the Gunners to defy expectations. ”
quoted from http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/arsenal/id/2322?cc=4716
if winning is considered defying expectations, then the expectation is for arsenal to lose?
great win today. COYG!!
everyone gone to bed no doubt, so I jsut want to say one thing.
Aaron Ramsey you can have my 1st born, no wait hang on, 2nd born due in 4 months give/take. In fact no, sorry, I will give you my 3rd born and a wonderful night with my wife too boot!
These privileges were solely reserved for a certain Dutch Scum bag, BUT he was either Gay (not that there is anything wrong with that)or that little boy inside him is not into chicks yet and rather play He-Man or GI-Joe OR Barbies, dolls and tea parties?
ELKIENO SPEAKS THE TRUTH
An important win ,yet to see the full match but saw the highlights .
Am posting this as there were mentions of dinner guests , prayers and children .
Never Force Children to Pray…
At dinner, a little boy was ordered to lead in prayer…
BOY: But I don’t know how to pray.
DAD: Just pray for your family members, friends and neighbors, the poor, etc.
BOY: “Dear Lord” he started.
Thank u for our visitors and their children, who finished all my cookies and ice cream.
Bless them so they wont come again.
Forgive our neighbor’s son, who removed my sister’s clothes and
wrestled with her on her bed. This coming Christmas, please send clothes to all those poor naked ladies on my daddy’s Blackberry and provide shelter for the homeless men who use mom’s room when daddy is at work.
°°°AMEN°°°°
@walter is matt here?
And yes, my comment also disappearing…
Where are the bookmakers?
Time to update the first to be fired BPL manager list, after Chelski got beat at home to Basel, and AW’s boys winning away at Marseille.
AL – DoubleGooner was banned for repeated abuse.
AL, I think they are desperately searching something to moan about. The ‘did we win a trophy for that’ type of comment.
@ Ray from Norfolk – Did the better team lose again ? I’ve a bet with my son that Moanrinho will be sacked before he gets half way through his 4 year contract . Am I optimistic ? You bet I am !
@ Tony and Walter – If the comments of the AAAA are also diasappearing , I won’t be complaining at all !
Well done lads, sorry, well done men of AFC. The lads have matured into men and more into a team. We now play to win, getting results from hard games. I am surprised at the many congrats from Manu and Liverpool fans on Sky sports. There is a great feeling of love for the team and within the team. Keep up the good work, and fans remember, we’re on our way again, keep the spirits up.
No problem Rantetta no need to say sorry. 😉 I understood the fun way. I think you have experienced the same thin from time to time…
and then those ‘X’-es that jump from top to bottom and you have to chase them down and when you miss them 7 different windows start opening in the background and slowing down the stream of course… aaarrrggghhhhh
But then again it’s better than staring at the match day page on arsenal.com 😉
Cheers Tony/Walter. Sure they’re praying hard for dean to have a few bussaca moments at the weekend then. I don’t know who would find being compared to the other insulting, dean or bussaca.
Regarding the 7 windows popping up telling you how easy it is to get a woman of your dreams(as if you didn’t have one) or some medicine that would turn you into a tiger in a certain department in the home(as if you are fed up of being a human being), I recommend using Firefox with an add-on called no-script. It prevents JavaScript from running in your browser, and you can easily set it to only allow it to run on specific sites. Its very restrictive though and some may find it too restrective for their liking, but you won’t get annoying or embarrassing pop ups on your screen in the middle of a stream.
Brickfields Gunners: Then what happened after saying that funny prayer before mealtime?
How do you mob get that picture next to your usernames?
Elkieno,
someone told me once how to do it and it was on a website but I have it for a few years and now I don’t know how to do it.
But I think the website had the name ‘avatar’ in its name. surprise, surprise… 😉
Still feeling great after yesterdays win… 🙂
elkieno,
I was given a link by an Untolder that I followed on how to do it. I think you could get it by Googling it.
I found this when I tried:
“when you log in at wordpress.com you select one of your blog/blogs and reach your Dashboard, there on the right upper corner where Howdy, username | Turbo | Log Out is written click on your username,
or you can do it from left upper corner where My Account drop down menu appears, select Edit Profile,
once you reached profile page on right top there is a logo of gravatar (depends, if you have/haven’t changed it) click on it a fade window would open under manage in account add your image and then crop it then rate it G is usually recommended”
Try it. If does not work, try other suggested approached.
Good luck!
oops, meant “suggested approaches”.
@Walter
“Still feeling great after yesterdays win” – very much agree, a patient and mature performance – from a good but still developing team.
@walter @elkieno
i believe it was gravatar http://en.gravatar.com/
😀
Al
I saw Rupert on Saturday before he and his wife left for Bulgaria and I’m sure he’ll be as thrilled with the win as the rest of us.
Is it just me or does anyone else think the substitution near the end was a bit bizarre? Five minutes left and we were needing to tie the game up and Arsene subs a strong hard tackling defensive mid for a flimsy no tackle attacking mid. It certainly had me worried.
Nice to hear about Doublegooner, weird how after a few exchanges with him on Untold, an old friend found me on facebook who turned out to be a WOB member and season ticket holder who travels to most away games, the similarities were eerily familiar, negativity on a grand scale. We had a few chats and I realised we have little in common, shame.
About the game, I was called out to work, but thought I had it on record, I ended up recording that Sky interactive screen with the match choices on it, all eight games played in miniature. I have only since, seen the highlights. A bloody good start, I’d have been happy with a point.
See you all in a couple of weeks I’m off to see the inlaws in Slovakia.
Oh and please remember, about Mike Dean, it’s not just him its that crew of his, J Collins and J Brooks, but we have Beswick instead of Brooks, interesting how we have the only 4th official who has his own match the day before, Lee Mason.
We have an all Northern contingent this weekend, Lee Mason is from Lancashire and Mike Dean is from Liverpool, very close to one another, weird how Liverpool are one point ahead of us and we get two Liverpool locals to officiate over our game with their neighbourly Stoke?
Another stat for you all is; all Mike Deans games this season so far have been away wins.
@Jax
Thought Miyachi came on in the 90th minute, with only 3 minutes remaining.
Anyhow, Miyachi might be “a flimsy no tackle attacking mid” but he has pace, which Arsenal lacked after the “strong hard tackling defensive” Monreal had replaced Theo Walcott on 78 minute, with Wenger probably attempting to tie the game up.
BTW It appears every time Rupert is absent, Arsenal go on winning streaks.
Any chance of permanently deporting Rupert? LOL
wow good response, thanks fellas, I will check it out now for sure. Next time I post it might be with picture of me smoking a ‘cowardly, smelly bag of Dutch Skunk with little red, no Grey hairs’, weird.
(Im ot still angry though).
Going to watch the game right now!
Yeah, I was expecting Monreal to come on late (if we were winning) for one of the creative players, but still think Ryo for Flamini was risky, and the “penalty” was conceded a few minutes later. Could have been a disaster. Anyway “all’s well that ends well”
@Tasos
……and I’m sue Rupert will be pleased to know that his absence has contributed to our excellent recent form.
whoooosh what an atmosphere its all rosy and clear, the sewer rats are in the sewers my prayers have been hard.
GOD just keep it like that and may that twat Mike Dean swallow his whistle if he tries to f..k us.
Guys ,is it true that Poldoski, carzola and Arteta are doing light training or its me dreaming!!!
Looks like there is a job on for the Bulgarian arm of the Arsenal supporters wing. Detain the Rupert.
Jax
I hope they give Rupert the freedom of the capital city, is it Sofia. Not that he deserves it but he may just stay there a little longer.
For goodness sake let sleeping rats lie!
Brickfields: Moanrinho, brilliant.
I was just watching his interview.
@bjtgooner
For goodness sake let sleeping rats lie!
Can we let sleeping Matt’s lie as well please.
There really are some unpleasant pricks leaving comments on this blog.
@Mick
Agreed!
I’m probably making a mountain out of a molehill, that or being a pious fool… but I just don’t feel comfortable with the Rupert bashing!
And however trifling a few comments on a blog can seem, it isn’t right to be openly antagonistic to anyone who writes eloquently in good faith.
Rupert’s comments have always struck me as sincere. But most importantly, they are worth reading. Whether you agree with them or not is a different question… but that can be debated with dignity.
I also dislike this categorising of people’s views into AAA, AKB, WOB… as all it does is reduce a complex thing to a neat set of letters. It is also unhelpful when debating various nuances to be bogged down with such foolishness.
This blog is better that that, hence why I give Tony my work!
When reading an ill-conceived comment, one can generally work out within the first line whether it deserves a reply. I could scour the Internet confronting idiocy till the cows come home. But what would be the point?
“Intelligence is invisible to those who don’t have it”…
I guess what I’m trying to say: Fools are fools (Rupert isn’t one) – they’ll always exist – pick your battles!
Rant over! 😛
That said i did chuckle at Adam’s comment!^^
@ Dominic
I don’t know what WOB stands for, but I can say that the party Rupert and I was at on Saturday had a singer called WOB performing, but I don’t think he’s an Arsenal supporter.
After reading all the above comments about the AAAAs ,AKBs
and regarding Rupert ,tell me if this story reminds you of anyone ?
A group of frogs were travelling through the woods. By misfortune, two of them fell in a deep pit. All the other frogs gathered around the pit. When they saw how deep the pit was, they called out to the frogs that they were good as dead.
The two frogs ignored the comments and tried to jump out of the pit with all their might. The other frogs kept telling them to stop, that they will never be able to succeed in their efforts.
Finally , one of the frogs took heed of what the other frogs were saying and gave up. He soon dropped dead. The other frog continued to jump as hard as he could. Once again, the crowd of frogs yelled at him to stop the pain and just die. But the frog kept trying, jumping even harder and finally made it out of the well.
When he got out, the other frogs said, “ did you not hear us?” the frog explained to them that he was deaf. He thought they were actually encouraging him all the time.
What a cool deaf frog lol