By Walter Broeckx
A few changes compared to the last two matches. Some because of suspension other just an attempt to pick the best team. Arsenal playing with 3 central defenders a tactic that didn’t Always work so far this season. Up front we have the combination of Aubameyang and Lacazette with Özil also starting. No Torreira of course as he is suspended.
Arsenal team: Leno, Maitland-Niles, Sokratis, Koscielny, Monreal, Kolasinac, Xhaka, Ramsey, Özil, Aubameyang, Lacazette
On the beach: Cech, Mustafi, Elneny, Guendouzi, Suarez, Iwobi, Nketiah.
A sharp cross from Kolasinac but Lacazette just couldn’t make contact enough to turn it in the goal. Aubameyang with a overhead kick after a free kick but the ball went well over. Lacazette with a header but off target. All Arsenal in the opening 5 minutes. Aubameyang almost got away but he had to go outside and then his cross went over. Aubameyang with a shot from distance but well over. United with a first attack and the cross finds Lukaku but his effort bounces off the crossbar and then Arsenal can somehow clear the danger not without almost losing the ball again in their own penalty area. That came out of nothing. Xhaka then got the ball some 25 meters out. And he took a shot that completely surprised De Gea who didn’t anticipate the nasty curve on the ball. GOAL! 1-0 to The Arsenal after 12 minutes.
Xhaka almost finding Aubameyang but De Gea out to pick up the ball at the edge of the penalty area. Arsenal 1-0 in front after 15 minutes.
Özil to Lacazette who creates some space for a shot but it is blocked in the end. Maitland-Niles with a good defensive header back to Leno to prevent a possible danger attack from United. Fred with a low shot from distance but it hit the outside of the post. A good combination on the right flank between Özil and Maitland-Niles is setting up Ramsey but he can’t wrap his foot around the ball and shoots over. Rashfort suddenly in some space in the Arsenal penalty area but the ball ended up near the corner flag for a goal kick. Lacaezette with some strong work in retaining the ball but his shot was deflected off Smalling for a corner. Pogba with a very optimistic shot from a long way out but no problem for Leno. Lukaky with a dangerous looking cross that goes just wide of the Arsenal goal. Kolasinac with a dangerous run but he can’t find Aubameyang. Arsenal still 1-0 in front after 30 minutes.
United get a free kick but the resulting shot goes well over. A combination between Lacazette and Aubameyang ends with a shot but he Lacazette was off balance and the ball went well off target. Lukaku suddenly between two defenders but Leno stretched himself and blocked the shot and the ball hobbled wide. Moss then giving a yellow card for a foul from Sokratis against Pogba. Smalling then riding on the back of Kolasinac but he headed wide. The assistant on the Arsenal attacking side flaghappy and sometimes missing it when Özil was onside. Not his first mistake. I wonder if he will be as flaghappy in the second half. Being level is enough for Arsenal palyers to be called offside. Özil being pulled by the shirt just in front of the same assistant is somehow missed. United can counter then but Xhaka first on the ball to prevent a shot from Rashford. Xhaka getting injured with that action but no card comes out of the pocket of Moss. 2 minutes of added time at the end of the first half. Arsenal enter the dressing room 1-0 in front after 45 minutes.
No changes in the Arsenal team at half time. Leno having to come a very long way out of his area to deny Lukaku but he did it very cool and even launching Ramsey almost. Lacazette with a good dribble but the return pass then from Aubameyang was not good enough and then he also slipped. United having the better start and Koscielny with a brave block and then Leno with a briljant block when Lukaku was level with the last defender and the flag stayed down. Koscielny needing to be helped by the doctor after having tried to block Lukaku his effort so he was missed with the corner that had the ball jumping up and down in our penalty area. Pogba then with a headlock against Ramsey but again no card from Moss? That could have been very dangerous and could have caused a serious neck injury ref. Moss the not knowing who should take a throw so giving the ball to the team who picked up the ball. He looked completely tired already at the end of the first half in a match that went up and down the whole time. Maitland-Niles now neading treatment after he had stopped a United attack but he looked fine to continue. Moss now really in United mood with giving free kicks where for similar use of the body Arsenal didn’t get the free kick. Arsenal suffering in the second half but still 1-0 in front after 60 minutes.
Arsenal counter and Özil gives it to Aubameyang but his effort hits a defender and the chance goes away. A dangerous run from Rashford but Maitland-Niles clears the danger. Young with a dangerous studs on the foot of Koscielny. Needless to say Moss didn’t see it. After another missed foul bu Moss Leno has to dive in the feet of a United striker. We can’t come near a United player. Xhaka with a shot from outside the penalty area after a long attack but 1 meter wide. Lacazette then runs in the penalty area and gets a push in the back and to my surprise Moss points to the spot. Aubameyang takes it and scores! GOAL!! 2-0 to The Arsenal after 69 minutes. Got to admire his balls to take it after his miss last week…..
The ball bounces over a United player but Lacazette drags his shot wide. I now see an idiot ran on the field and pushed Smalling after our goal. Hope he gets punished.That is something we cannot allow to happen. A dangerous corner is just cleared by a defender in front of Lacazette. Iwobi is getting ready to come on. Arsenal still 2-0 in front after 75 minutes.
Pogba gets a yellow card for stopping a possible Arsenal counter. Özil goes off after 76 minutes and Iwobi comes on. Lukaky pushes Sokratis and Moss calls the foul. Blimey Moss has completely changed halfway the second half. After 79 minutes Suarez came on for Aubameyang. Suarez with a good ball to Iwobi but a defender can cut out his cross with 2 Arsenal players lurking to pounce. Moss then misses the obious corner for Arsenal. Lacazette goes of after 86 minutes and Nketiah comes on. Maitland-Niles with a great interception to stop a dangerous United attack. Kolasinac gets a deserved yellow card for a block. Nketiah with a strong challenge in midfield but his pass to Iwobi is cut out by a defender. 5 minutes of extra time. Arsenal still 2-0 in front after 90 minutes.
Rashford with a header but Leno with the stop. Sokratis wins he goalkick when Martial tried to cross while the rain comes pouring down. Arsenal digging deep to keep the clean sheet.
Arsenal manage to win a hard fought victory. The first defeat of United under Solsjkaer. But what is more important we take 4th place with this win.
3 offsides that weren’t and the commentators are making excuses for the linesmen. What a surprise.
Moss is dying to get that red card out….
Come on Eddie, get on the scoresheet!
COYG!
The game is almost over, must even up the cards.
COYG!
The last 20 minutes was as good as I’ve ever seen Arsenal defend. Well done, lads!
Congratulations Gunners!
Quite the old league. With 8 games remaining, only 2 of the rest of the pack are above the typical relegation limit of 40 points. But I think 30 is going to be a lot closer this year.
Again, the PGMO officials think that the need for treatment is never to be considered as an indicator of rough play. One team can have more fouls and fewer treatments. Fouls not called on treatments. Cards not given on treatments. There were two treatments this game day of 10 and 11 minutes of short-handed play. Must just be something trivial, like a pimple needed to get squished, eh referees?
Bunch of dorks!
It is quite amazing how Giggs & co think that the penalty was wrong even after accepting that Laca was pushed/ nudged (or perhaps shouldered to satisfy the likes of those that cannot understand a backward push and yes the elbows do come into play as they are part of ones anatomy).
What is more amazing is the fact that Pogba pulled Ramsey by the neck in front of Moss & didn’t get a card. However, when Pogba was carded he gesticulated like a four year old & Moss bottled the obvious red for dissent.
Manchester United was by far the better team according to some pundits despite being beaten by the best footballing London club.
We’re coming for you Tiny tots we’re coming for you.
WOO HOO,HOO ! Sweet ! 3 points , a clean sheet , none of our players redcarded , no penalty against us. Moss is slipping !
And with the other ‘top’ London clubs, out to shoot themselves in the foot ,can it really get any better ?
Up the Arsenal!
According to the BBC website One Danny Mills said this on radio 5:
”Romelu Lukaku’s miss early in the game set the tone really and a part from that Bernd Leno wasn’t tested
– and every time he was he matched it.’
Did he really say that?
If so it is on a par with who ever said:
‘I never make predictions and I never will’
@ menace – If that penalty was against us, they would have tried to turn it 360 degrees.
– ” He felt a nudge , and had every right to go down.”
– ” We have seen them given before.”
– “Soft maybe , but it was a clear foul.”
– ” Clever little bugger !”
Three off-sides that never were??????? TWO pens in two weeks?? would never be awarded if Wenger was manager. sweet three points with a clean sheet.
Great win.. great job.
Is St Totteringham’s Day coming again???????
Great win! 3 points and the clean sheet. Leno was incredible, MOM performance. When they come out on the front foot good things happen. As I posted in a previous thread, how can Emery get them to play like this game in game out? COYG!
And the 3 offsides I referred to earlier were called on Arsenal, and even the commentators on NBC, (I’m currently in Florida, USA) said the calls were mistakes…but the linesmen have a tough job,etc. The usual. Pogba twisting Ramsay’s head around? Moss ‘why does he need a head’? No one thought the shove on Laca’s back was really enough to bring him down. All the bad or non calls notwithstanding, AFC won. They can all suck on it. Including the PGMO. I don’t think Moss will be assigned to a big match again as he didn’t fully follow riley’s script. Off with his head!
PS A day without Mustafi is a day without folly.
Congratulations Gunners!
The news pointed it out, that was Ole’s first domestic defeat. Arsenal.
I’m ecstatic! What a brilliant performance, everyone was superb… big shout out to Leno, AMN & Kolasinac. So glad Auba scored that penalty!
Nice shot from Xhaka… no complaints from me, everything was spot on… I’m a very, very happy gooner!!!
The St Totteringham’s Day banners are ready and waiting 😄
On paper, we have the better run in of the top six teams. And, unless we can get a 2 goal victory against Rennes, our boys will be rested for every Premier League fixture. There’s everything to play for, now.
12 or 13 points+ in the same fixtures to last year.
Has there been a study on how bias affects vision? I’ve been reading media accounts of the match and comments by fans and ‘experts’. I’ve watched the shove on Lacazette from every angle over 20 times. And every time, from every angle Smalling reaches with his forearm and pushes. The contact is clear. In the box. Penalty. I’m serious when I ask how this can be disputed.
Walter, Tony, Untolders, help me with this. Don’t respond that they’re biased; I know that. But does the bias actually cause selective blindness? I’m not being facetious. Perhaps it does. Maybe someone can find a study, I’m looking.
There are lots of things which affect our vision, and there are lots of things which affect our memory.
Consider a car accident, you could have 100 sober people on a bright, sunny day observe an accident. There can be details of any given report that are unique to the set of reports.
In the context, I read a report which looked specifically at the ability of referees to observe a task going left-to-right as opposed to right-to-left. Reaction time was one things which was direction dependent.
But, I’m drawing plans for a deck. So, back to work.
Goonersince72……there is a psychological phenomena named confirmation bias, where the viewer of an incident or a document/viedo etc. already holds a bias against someone or something they are watching and cherrypicks what they want to see, regardless of the presence of irrefutable cameras,photo evidence or other media and observers contradicting their perceptions.
There is also a rare cognitive distortion called associative accomodation disorder, very common to eyewitness testimony, in which the person’s memory (short or medium term) distorts the perceived event,information etc. to make rational, that which is, at first view, irrational. So someone seeing a crime in progress will ,initially believe that they are not seeing a crime but an ordinary event, since their mind cannot adapt to the reality of an extraordinary event quickly enough.
Severe trauma victims (PTSD/dissociative fugues, etc.) will often supress what they saw and /or experienced by using what is called memory consolidation. They literally supress what they found traumatic at least temporarily. None of the above apply to the media….they are just idiots.
Why do all those people say it wasn’t a penalty when it so clearly was?
Possible reasons (no doubt there are others):
1.Sheep mentality – one says it they all do.
2. The inexplicable but pervasive anti Arsenal bias of the mass media.
3. The pundits and journalists are overwhelmingly fans of Arsenal’s competitors. It is more or less a condition of being a pundit or reporter.
4. They have put various bets on.
5. They gave Arsenal no chance at the start of the season and don’t want to be proved wrong.i
The penalty was one of the softer ones awarded to Arsenal. This season alone there have been several that @omgarsenal covered in his comment. What is beautiful is that telly tubby Moss gave it against the darlings of the media.
Notice that nothing is mentioned of the chokehold by Pogba or the kicks to Ozil from behind. There is certainly an affliction in the perception of the beautiful game but we beat the scum & celebrate – despite being robbed of 2 points by the spuds.
I wasn’t looking to do this. But if the obnoxious bunch stays away, I am willing to do more. I am trying to get the second half of my deck joists figured out.
In running through the data for Arsenal, Chel$ea, ManU and Spuds before and after the games this Game Day (and I noticed an error in the Spuds data, but I am not going to redo), I have:
Before GameDay 30 started we had
3 Spuds 61 +19 = 80
4 ManU 58 +16 = 74
5 Arsenal 57 +18 = 75
6 Chel$ea 56 +19 = 75
After GameDay 30
3 Spuds 61 +16 = 77
4 Arsenal 60 +17 = 77
5 ManU 58 +15 = 73
6 Chel$ea 57 +17 = 74
Nothing written in stone, no guarantees. But for the model I am working with (which has few smarts), it seems possible that we will have Champions League next season. And St. Totteringham is unknown, but possible.
The above data includes the game yet to play for Chel$ea (against Brighton I believe).
But looking at future scheduling, it looks like “Game Days” by and large aren’t going to be happening any more. Too many reschedules.
OT: Women’s Football for National Teams
Some medja idjut decided to publish a blurb justifying why women’s football at the National level should be paid LESS than mens football at the National level.
People looking to discriminate, will look for the minutest differences to justify the continuation of discrimination.
I have not read the article, I don’t intend to.
Over the 210+ nations that play football (mens or womens), attaining a high ranking is important. Few of the mens leagues have capitalism run amok, and none of the womens leagues have capitalism run amok. Treating everyone equally makes sense; majority rules.
In the mens leagues we have power, butchery, and diving. The women tend to have less power, less butchery and less diving. But the women’s leagues in England, have shown that referees can be just as blind to serious fouls as in the mens leagues.
PGMO/The (sweet) FA wants “man management”. They want flow. They want to be able to justify ignoring a zillion “small” fouls against a particular team, or one or more persons on a particular team. They want to be able to ignore significant injuries to players that they were not aware of happening.
The crap that PGMO/The (sweet) FA do to the EPL is in the womens leagues. Some of the officials overlap, the training is the same. I suppose the management of the officials is the same.
—
A blurb suggested the median salary (for top players) is about 10 Million pounds Sterling per year.
Another blurb says that The (sweet) FA pays $1500 for a win, $100o for a draw and $500 for a win (and those dollars should be Pounds Sterling).
There is a HUGE disconnect between what the male players earn (per game) playing for their club, and what the national association (which can force players to play for them) will pay.
As it seems the typical arrangement is that male players are paid a set fee, regardless of how much they are paid by the teams that employ them; and that the amount paid to each player for appearing is so much less than they earn for the club team; the matter of paying the women the same amount should be a no brainer.
There is no economic argument as to what to pay the men. There is no economic argument as to what to pay the women. Hence, they should both be paid the same.
But, whether a man or a woman plays for a national team; these FORCED loans of players from club teams can have severe circumstance on club teams. And they (the clubs) just have to take it.
The pay for men or women for National teams, has no relation to what they are paid for club teams they belong to. National ranking is (probably) a driving force for paying “how much”.
I’m from Canada, our Men’s team is NEVER going to win the World Cup. Our womens team has a reasonable chance of winning the world cup.
If nothing else, the women should be paid more.
Jamie Carragher:
No, they were unlucky. It specificially says in the laws of the game, that Arsenal are not to be given penalites.
Gary Neville:
This was soft. It specifically says that Arsenal are not to be given penalties, and Moss gave them a penalty. I seen the note from Mike Riley that on no circumstance that Arsenal be given a penalty.
Graeme Souness:
All collisions in football are just accidents, and so no penalties should be given ever.
Jamie Redknapp:
Rosie told me it was a penalty, so it should be a penalty.
Marca:
We didn’t see the game, we are just making up random crap
Thanks to everyone helping with this selective blindness business. Especially Gord and omgarsenal on the scientific side and Pat on the human side with some sorely needed humour. In and among the usual drivel there were a few begrudging nods to the team and tactics. I don’t expect that much from them and am never disappointed. I didn’t happen to notice if our intrepid leader Stan (the billionaire who never spends) Kroenke was in the owner’s box. Perhaps one of his perennial loser hockey or basketball teams needed his inspiration. His loss. He’s ours.
Thanks again all and goodnight to you.
It’s good to see us Gooners basking and swimming and even having our baths in the pool victory of Arsenal over Manchester United in the PL at the Ems last Sunday evening. Yes, we are enjoying our rare success over our top rival opponent team. Let’s keep enjoying it as it last.
A good performance and great result against an in form United.Was a soft penalty but i think weve been due a bit of luck.It was a real battle out there on the pitch with some fierce tackling which you would expect from a high intense game with a lot at stake.Thats how premier league football should be.Some on here let yourself down with constantly blaming referees even when we win and get soft penaltys.We have had some downs this season but overall Emery has made a massive improvement with the team from last year and even with the amount of injuries to our defence has got us closer to the top than the last few years.Lets keep it up and get back where we should be.Hopefully then our frugal owner will loosen the purse strings and start to invest in the tam more.
Congratulations to the boys. Yes it wasn’t a penalty any day,but it was given and we took it. I know untolders will always claim a penalty for arsenal was right and one against arsenal was wrong, so no point debating it, truth is a commodity in scarce supply here. It was a tough battle &I’m glad we came out on top.
Not quite sure why you think that Pierre, as there are plenty of decisions many readers on this site think are right, even when they go against Arsenal. I don’t think you’ve quite understood our battle with PGMO.
@Tony, Can you mention as little as 5penalty cases against arsenal that majority of you guys didn’t claim should not have been?
Tony ,,You are quite right but some of your readers are off the scale when it comes to bias with referees and cannot be taken seriously.My special fiend Menace being one of those.
Belated congrats to everyone for a solid win. For me it was even better than suggested because of some of the inept behaviour of the officials. Yes there were three offsides given in the first half hour that weren’t.
The one for me though was that hugely dangerous pull on Ramsey’s neck by Pogba. In rugby that would constitute a sending off as it was a “high tackle” which is considered extremelt dangerous and potentially career threatening. IMHO a yellow card would have been lenient given the potential consequences.
Mikey
It was a grab and not a high tackle or forearm to the face.I know in rugby league that certainly wouldnt be a red card.A yellow at worst.
That Philip Neville said it was not a penalty is no surprise. He is unable to hide his Manure pedigree. If Lcazettes head had been chopped off by a defender he would have said it as not a penalty because he should not have been there.
That Shearer also said so is also not a surprise, I wonder how many times he fell down when a defender breathed near him and was happy to take the resulting penalty.
AS the darling of English football, he was able to do what he liked with impunity.
I will watch the highlights on Arsenal.com, as those on MOTD seemed to only of Manure. I am surprised they did not airbrush our players out.
Game Day 30 statistics
Liverpool still sitting wait below the field on Caution at 1093. Chelsea next at 1174 (1 game less). Then Man$ity at 1562 and the Spuds at 1598. Bournemouth is the lowest Cautioned ROTP team at 1745.
Arsenal (2229) and ManU (2262) are the most cautioned teams, but the leader is Fulham at 2417.
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Watford (14) and CPalace (15) are still the lowest treatment teams.
Cardiff has the most minutes of short-handed play due to treatments at 100, and Arsenal have the most treatments at 47. The Spuds are the highest in substitutions at 12 (1 more than Cardiff), having only had 21 treatments.
—
Arsenal tied for second lowest at inflicting treatments at 21 (tied with Burnley, and 6 above Leicester at 15).
The two dirtiest teams are still the spuds at 35 and ManU at 39. The spuds however are suffering from having to replace their own players, when they get treatments.
The remaining Top-6 teams that are not picking up cards, are all in the middle of the distribution in terms of inflicting treatments. They are allowed to kick opposition, without suffering from cards.
—
Most of the well-used officials have supervised between 37 and 40 treatments (6 officials in that group), with Scott at 43, Marriner at 45 and Taylor at 48. There are 4 officials with less than 30 treatment supervisions, with David Coote highest at 17.
@Tony. Seriously? Could you furnish us with evidence of a few of such decisions? Frankly it’d be really surprising if in the 10yrs plus of untold, you can find 10penalties against us that untold agreed was justified (considering untold says we are worst done by when penalties are given against, that’s quite something)
I don’t keep records like that Pierre.
@ Nick
I was talking about proper rugby not League………..
Sorry Mikey i didnt realised you meant Rah Rah rugby Union ,the game where the crowd touches the ball more than the players.Some league players have recently moved across to union for the money but soon returned when they realised they were only touching the ball 4 times in a game.One sport is all about pace ,power and ferocious tackling the other is all about kicking penalties.