by Tony Attwood
Latest news:
We are developing our own video channel. It’s still at the experimental stage but you can get a feel here…
On a thursday? At 8.15pm?
OK, the company that sells stuff online has bought the rights and with it the right to change everything around. So I’ll be getting home about 1am I guess, what with the road works on both the M1 and A1 – the two roads north which I can use to get back to the East Midlands.
But hell, who cares about me? I’m just a guy with a season ticket. Certainly not worth asking how he feels about it all. Anyway Amazon probably expect me to support Corby Town. Or maybe Northampton Town.
So if we put all the games together it is quite a lot since we last won anything…
| Date | Game | Res |
Score | Competition |
| 27 Oct 2019 | Arsenal v Crystal Palace | D | 2-2 | Premier League |
| 30 Oct 2019 | Liverpool v Arsenal | L | 5-5 (5-4) | League Cup |
| 02 Nov 2019 | Arsenal v Wolverhampton Wand | D | 1-1 | Premier League |
| 05 Nov 2019 | Cambridge United v Arsenal | D | 1-1 | FL Trophy |
| 06 Nov 2019 | Vitória Guimarães v Arsenal | D | 1-1 | Europa League |
| 09 Nov 2019 | Leicester City v Arsenal | L | 2-0 | Premier League |
| 23 Nov 2019 | Arsenal v Southampton | D | 2-2 | Premier League |
| 28 Nov 2019 | Arsenal v Eintracht Frankfurt | L | 1-2 | Europa League |
| 01 Dec 2019 | Norwich City v Arsenal | D | 2-2 | Premier League |
Six draws and three defeats. Nine games in which we have scored 15 goals plus four penalties in a shoot out.
Now normally at this point we’d do the league tables comparing home and away form but of course matches are going on all the time so those league tables will change as we totter along.
But we can still compare Arsenal and Brighton and Hove Albion. We have won three and drawn four league games at home, scoring 13 and conceding 10.
| Pos | Club / location | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD |
Pts |
| 5 | Arsenal at home | 7 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 13 | 10 | 3 | 13 |
| 19 | Brighton away | 7 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 13 | -7 |
4 |
So even though we have not won for quite a while that is not as bad as Brighton and Hove.
Over the same period their record is two wins, one draw and three defeats – although we need to note just who those last three games have been against.
| Date | Game | Res |
Score | Competition |
| 26 Oct 2019 | Brighton and Hove v Everton | W | 3-2 | Premier League |
| 02 Nov 2019 | Brighton and Hove v Norwich City | W | 2-0 | Premier League |
| 06 Nov 2019 | Leyton Orient v Brighton and Hove | D | 1-1 | FL Trophy |
| 10 Nov 2019 | Manchester United v Brighton and Hove | L | 3-1 | Premier League |
| 23 Nov 2019 | Brighton and Hove v Leicester City | L | 0-2 | Premier League |
| 30 Nov 2019 | Liverpool v Brighton and Hove | L | 2-1 | Premier League |
Encouraged as they will be by the newspapers, TV, radio and bloggers and their ceaseless “Arsenal in disarray” pieces Brighton and Hove will be seeing this game as one they can win.
And even the head to head in recent years doesn’t give us too much room for hope…
| Date | Game | Res |
Score | Competition |
| 26 Jan 2013 | Brighton and Hove Albion v Arsenal | W | 2-3 | FA Cup |
| 25 Jan 2015 | Brighton and Hove Albion v Arsenal | W | 2-3 | FA Cup |
| 01 Oct 2017 | Arsenal v Brighton and Hove Albion | W | 2-0 | Premier League |
| 04 Mar 2018 | Brighton and Hove Albion v Arsenal | L | 2-1 | Premier League |
| 26 Dec 2018 | Brighton and Hove Albion v Arsenal | D | 1-1 | Premier League |
| 05 May 2019 | Arsenal v Brighton and Hove Albion | D | 1-1 | Premier League |
So we have not won in the last three games.
Of course the problem is that now we are in sacking mode, there is every chance that if Freddie doesn’t win this game the media will talk about relegation as a real possibiliity and the owners might decide to sack Freddie.
And they are certainly ramping up the issue, although to be fair it is mostly by writing incomprehensible headlines. Such as “Arsenal boss Freddie Ljungberg makes worrying Nicolas Pepe comments.”
That came from Arsenal Fever after which we got this…
“Nicolas Pepe is a very good player, but I looked at what we did in training and what I see every day and that is how I judge it.
“Everybody in the squad is important but I look to how players train in the week and I felt what we needed at that time, they were putting a lot of pressure on us, Bukayo has enormous pace and I thought he would be good.”
So how is that “worrying”. Freddie judged that Pepe wasn’t right for the game at the weekend, but presumably he could be for tomorrow night. Is that worrying?
Perhaps not as worrying as the oddbods at Football.London running the tale that Arsenal might consider Ange Postecoglou who currently works as a coach in Japan. Ah well, I guess we didn’t know who Mr Wenger was, although come to think of it, he had won the French League.
Meanwhile the FoLo nutters have run “The message Arsene Wenger sent Arsenal and Freddie Ljungberg after Unai Emery sacking”
And of course it wasn’t a message, it was a comment. He said, ”
“I wish Freddie well. He is fantastically committed. He has wanted to do this job for a long time and he has got an opportunity. What we want in life is an opportunity. They should get him to work with his ideas and support him.”
OT: Stupid “news”
HITC is claiming that Freddie “talked” to FoLo. Isn’t FoLo just a bunch of computer programs which “create” stories by mixing up content form other stories in the medja? How do you “talk” to that?
—-
There seems to be a lot of misunderstanding as to what Wenger did or didn’t do with respect to the comment he made about Freddie.
—-
Ceferin (of UEFA) seems to be stirring the pot vis a vis VAR and offsides.