By Tony Attwood
Arsenal on Twitter @UntoldArsenal
Untold Arsenal on Facebook here
Well, in answer to that question, on the TV in the pub I was at…. no.
Looked like a bit of victory through harmony to me.
Still, I am sure the AAA, remembering their mantra that you are only as good as your last game, will probably find something wrong.
But, I rather enjoyed it.
Anyway we are off to see The Green Hornet in 3D imax iplayer i’m a right charlie i don’t know what’s going on ibox iswim idance icanrunfast and similar stuff. So if you would like to say something, please say something and if they are around in their various countries across Europe Walter, Phil, Dale, Dogface and the rest of the gang can answer your questions on philosophy, economics, neurolinguistics and plumbing.
I shall return.
PS: If you watched it on ESPN did you notice that Micky Mouse for once did something rather droll and amusing. Although there was the tedious 845 cut away shots to Karen Brady (no relation) they gave us three shots in a row of local roughs from the east end of town all asleep, Very amusing.
The previews
Another grey day: the match preview
Plumbing is like lego… water lego.
Tony, you seem to do more on Saturday nights than I, the Untold student, do. I need to raise my game
Good win for Arsenal today, I didnt think it would be three zip… good work from the 1st team ith the exception of Eboune and a clean sheet :).
I wouldnt call myself part of the anti arsenal bridage I am a huge fan of Wenger he is a genius but that said he has made mistakes and the big issue the past few years has been he failure to purchase good defenders for the club.
Arsenal under his stewardship have always been excellent going forward and play amazing football but its a fact he has not make his great decisions when its come to the teams defence.
One extra point I would like to make is as an Arsenal fan the players that played today (except Eboune) 90% of Arsenal fans adore and love.The big problem lies with our the back up players yes they look strong on paper but players like Bendtner, Arshivan, Vela, Eboune and Denilson have not performed when given an oppuruntity in the first team which has been extremley disappointing. So no wonder alot of fans want rid.
Regarding Arshivan yes I know the statics will point out he scores goals he has numerous assits but they way Arsenal play most decent forward players would score and create. His stamina and TEAMWORK is a disgrace for a professional and for those reasons only he should be sold. Steven Pienaar would be an excellent purchase he can play either wing or through the middle, Walcott has improved greatly this year but I doubt he can produce performances week in week out… yet.
Thanks
John
I must be in the 10% of Arsenal fans that you don’t speak for John because I thought Eboué played alright today.
4 games unbeaten now for our first 11 in the EPL. Nine goals for, one against & 3 clean sheets. With the exception of Eboue today, it’s been the same starting 11 who are playing extremely well as a whole team, both in attack & defence. This is fantastic form.
The worrying thing is that when AW “rests” players this balance is upset & the result is an Arsenal team that struggles to defend & score goals. Hence the last 3 games gave 3 goals for, 4 against & no clean sheets).
I think the important think is a win and the does not come with out good perfomance and i am happy we kept clean sheet
carry on wenger but we need 2 centre backs at least one
Thanks
I agree Casual Observer, I thought Eboue played well and have no issues with him. I dont mind constructive crtisism of a player but he has played reasonably well this season well called upon.
Good result lets hope same team plays against Ipswitch and hammers them.
Tony – this is a great site. It is probably the best and most intellectual of the Arsenal blogs.
That said I do think you need to ease up on the AAA rhetoric just as some other sites need to ease up on the AKB insults.
While some of the comments on Le Grove are pure abuse the bloggers themselves clearly know a bit about football and love Arsenal. Yes Bear is at times… well a little well … grizzly. It might also be said that at times this site is a little too willing to accept the PR line from the manager and the club.
We are all Arsenal fans and there needs to be a place for both Untold and Le Grove. We need to embrace a diversity of opinion. Isn’t that what Victory through Harmony means?
I’m afraid the Hammers are relegation fodder. We played OK but let me nitpick. There was too much pitty patty passing and I thought we could have been more direct at times. On the managerial front, at 3-0 up, I thought AW would have subbed a few, bearing in mind a tricky visit to Leeds on Wednesday. I couldn’t see the point of subbing at 80mins and even later.
I feel sorry for the decent guy, Grant. A football manager must be among the most stressful jobs about. They have little control after the ref starts a game.
Great game all round; especially from Eboue and Deneilson; at least, neither did anything wrong!!!
Next step: Arsenal builds a strong, fit and competitive squad players to spice up, relief and challenge the 1st eleven… Not easy; it takes time and patience but, at least if you can figure out what your team is trying to do and gauge the ups and downs it is going through to get there, it ought to generate some sympathy and increase one’s support even if we are not ready to call it “blind” loyalty to the man Arsene Wenger, his system or his decison making process..
It doesn’t seem like too much to ask from AAA for the rest of the season but from the strategic and emotional bent they’ve adopted, I doubt they will give it.
Obvious is that Djourou is a bit tired, and would be good to rest him soonest as possible. Someone said it was easy to be beat WHU becase they played bad… thats far from truth, they played as much as they got space, they arent bad, we made them look that way.
@John Last season 90% of MU fans were convinced that Berbatov was no good and should be be get rid of. It didn’t matter that he was their second best scorer – his work rate was not good enough and team contribution was non-existent they claimed. This season where would United have been without Berbatov’s 14 goals? He is probably their best player at the moment and he is the league leading scorer. So don’t be so quick doing away with the Arsenal players who are currently low on form and confidence.
Almost a perfect performance, dominant, comprehensive, mature, exiting, defensively sound(no goals conceded), offensively functional(3 goals scored) plus 2 for the Van Persie to help his confidence and importantly no fresh injuries.
What more could you ask for?
Wait a minute though. We need 2 new centre backs, another holding midfielder, a greedy selfish player who plays only for himself and shoots every time and when is Wenger ever going to sort the goalkeeping crisis out!
Oops.
@Andrei
To be honest, most of those goals came from that 5-goal match against a Blackburn that sat back and rolled over. And then he scored a hattrick against Liverpool, which was an impressive one, but still. I think he scored in 4, 5 games this season, with over 20 games played. I think those games camouflages how he’s really performing.
About Arsenal, easiest game this season. West Ham United has to be the weakest team i’ve seen this season. And that’s a shame. At this rate, they’ll go out of the Premier League.
Eboué had some moments early on where he got caught out of position and let Hines[?] come in behind him, but overall, he restored quickly and played solid.
Yes Blaze you are right, I also found intersting, he never score (except Liverpoo) decisive goals. He is scoring in “decided” games where he just butchering halfdead opponent.
@The Blaze Berbatov scored 14 goals in 17 EPL appearances. He scored in 8 games. This is a pretty remarkable record. But my point is not to argue about Berbatov’s greatness. The bottom line is had Ferguson followed the general sentiment about Berbatov last season United would have been without their most influential player at the moment. And it would have probably cost them 8-10 points this season as Berbatov goals were the difference in at least 4 games.
Yes it was a good win-against weakened and poor opposition. But any win is welcome.
Just because it was a good performance today does not mean that the squad would not benefit from being strengthened. We have just witnessed 2 poor performanes against championship opposition in a week.
Squad rotation looks difficult for AW at present-because our back up players are either badly out of form or injured. Who plays CB if one of these 2 get injured? Song? Who plays as a DM?
About the only areas where we are fully ok is keeper and left back.
However I do realise that I am on unsafe ground here-to dare suggest that a small proportion of the clubs operating profit should be spent on players-when it looks so much better on the balance sheet and will be seen by some indiviuals as being anti-Arsenal.
Just back from “The Green Hornet.” Great fun if you like that kind of fun silly stuff – and certainly the best use of 3D i’ve seen so far.
Just checked and we’ve still won 3-0. Was a bit worried – you can never trust these journalists and I was concerned they might have changed it while I was at the movies.
I thought Eboue was fine today – good solid full back performance.
I think most Man U fans class Berbatov as a huge disappintment for the 30 million they shell out for him. I also don’t believe utd would have been down those points as another decent striker would have bagged them goals given the number of chances they create. I was just making a simply point being 1 our 1st team is doing very well but the players waiting for a chance in the team have been extremley poor when they did get a game. Lastly arshivin has been poor for Arsenal for the past year, how he feels leaves Clichy exposed at LB is criminal. I don’t like players who don’t do the dog work like track back when the team needs it. Narsi is a great example class going forward but also gets back and helps the team win the ball back
@John “…as another decent striker would have bagged them goals given the number of chances they create”
Don’t tell me you mean Michael Owen 🙂
Yes Arsenal fans, we’ve surely won the League now that we’ve beaten the worst team in the Premiership 3-0. A Scott Parkerless West Ham club with a manager that will be fired in the morning, a great win that was. By all means let’s ignore all of the shortcomings of the team because we have thrashed the mighty HAMMERS!!!!!
When the passing is working we will always shine like no other club in the world (except maybe Barca). The problems start when defense pack the box and stifle our passing game. This wasn’t one of those games. West Ham, right now, was never gonna be that team.
Know that we are still a team waiting to fulfill our potential, and fulfillment of potential is not guaranteed. We thrashed Birmingham 3-0 too and went on to struggle to score in the next 3 matches. Once in awhile we get teams that roll over for the mighty Arsenal. Easy wins don’t win you the League. The games that win you the League are those games when you struggle to break down the defense, but you have the individual quality and winning team mentality to grab the winner and hold onto it.
Now only if we can carry this momentum into the next leeds match…
@ John can’t you just enjoy the win without harping on about the negatives??? You say your not AAA but you sound distinctly like one!!
Great all around performance from the team, could easily been a 5er or a 6er if Green wouldn’t have pulled a few great saves.
It’s very important to see RVP getting into scoring shape – he is, and people do seem to forget it (due to his long stays in the treatment facilities), one of the best strikers around. The problem that he is not fit for lengthy periods and then it takes him some time to get back into his lethal self (just remember the beginning of last season, for example). Anyway, him and Theo look great together and it’s very important that our starting XI gel together.
Another point of encouragement was (again, starting to take away the surprise element) Scezny in goal. I mean f****n A the guy is GOOD! And he’s just 20! Everybody seems to be going on about goalkeepers blooming late, but remember Casillas and Cech – were both great at very young age. I think that the Polski Duo between the posts will give Arsene a good headache later on.
On to points of concern: JD looked tired and made quite a few dangerous mistakes that arent’ typical of him. It’s not the player of the past 4-5 matches and I’m worried that he’s getting a bit tired. We’ll need him sharp for Leeds.
Another point of concern: we started the season with Marouane in top form – and he’s not getting any time on the pitch. We WILL need him and I’m not happy he spends so much time on the bench. Also Arshavin, who is one of my personal favorites, was revealed as a sensitive bloke and it shows that the way the crowd treats him, combined with his own decline in confidence, had created a snowball that needs to be stopped somehow. I have no idea how, sadly…
Now keeping fingers crossed for a bloody, gory Spur win at No Hart Lane over the *@#$!@#…
Some people are never happy eh? Win, lose or draw they prefer to wallow in misery. Oh sorry, they’re just being ‘realistic’ – they aren’t blind or blinkered like the rest of us 😉
I thought Eboue had a good game, particularly going forward. But maybe I just haven’t developed the hate towards him which is required to assess him properly.
Van Persie showed what he’s worth to the team when he’s match fit, he was superb. And Walcott and RVP linked up for all three goals, they seem to have good chemistry. That’s our third consecutive clean sheet in the league, not bad for our swiss cheese defence. Our should that be Swiss and Cheese? (Djourou and Koscielny? Geddit? Oh forget it then)
@Tommie
Re Spuds. Rather a 4-4 draw with both sides finishing with 8 players.
A dominant performance, against a clueless West Ham. However, I doubt it would have been so easy if Parker was playing for them.
Djourou’s performance was worrying, and some of his decision making was shocking. At times reminded me of Senderos v Drogba when he came under pressure from Cole. Luckily the rest of the defence pulled together and bailed him out.
Van Persie is improving with every game, and if he can stay fit could be a key player for the rest of the season.
All in all, I think the team that took to the field was pretty strong. Eboue did a decent job covering for Sagna. Defensively we still looked shaky at times, and that needs to be sorted out before Wednesday, as Leeds will exploit that.
Arshavin’s lack of form and confidence is very worrying, but hopefully he can sort himself out. Bendtner is a waste of space, has very little talent compared to the rest of the team, and I would ship him out asap. I have never reckoned Denilson, he gives the ball away to easily, and has no footballing brain.
All in all, I think we have a good chance of doing something this season, the best for a while. As long as we don’t make any stupid mistakes, and throw games away as we have in recent seasons, the confidence should build, along with the belief. The two key games for us will be Spuds away, and Man U at home. Both must win games. If we win those, we are in with a decent shout.
A very good day at the office. A real stroll in the park thanks to Scott Parker’s absence.
Is there a possibility that two teams go away from a game with 0 points each? What happens if for some reason the ref has to send off 5 players on each team, i.e. resulting in the game being aborted. Anyway, if there is a way for the game to end in a way that ensures no one gets any points whatsoever, I’d have that, please!
As for yesterday: Great and convincing performance but, let us be honest, did anyone expect differently? With our first 11 (- Sagna/Fabianski) I am never afraid of any match. RVP is almost back to his best and if he stays fit he will terrorise England and Europe. As for Eboue: he played very well offensively, though his anticipation sometimes seemed to let him down in regard to the long balls over the top. However besides that he was solid defensively as well, making vital interceptions whenever WHU attempted to play the ball on the ground along the right flank.
And West Ham DID park the bus. I remember seeing a 6 man defence occasionally, all of them standing in the WHU box in a line. It is just that we did have the individual quality – Walcott on the flank, RVP in the middle, our great midfield trio etc. to break them down.
It was or is Nic Bendtner’s birthday yesterday or today (depending on the sidereal caldender. Happy 23rd young Nic
Andrei by decent striker I meant Defoe, Chartlon Cole, Andy Carroll etc Owen is a very bad example as he has been injury during most of his time at Utd. A fit Owen yes would score alot of goals for them. Anyway enough about them.
I think you are put into the AAA if you criticise a player from the squad which is crazy. I believe in folowing a team but when a player who is on big wages is waiting for his chance to play regularly examples being Eboune,Densilson,Vela,Bendtner and they are given a game but perform disgracefully. I can forgive abit them being abit rusty but the above have show no hussle in these games and thats why alot of fans have turned on them.
At the very least when you have not played for a number of weeks and you get a game you should run your socks off for the ninety minutes the above have looked disinterested and lazy.
I personal think we should try and bring in players who will put pressure on the first team players. Sagna will walk back in a RB thankfully he is a class professional who keeps his performance level high despite having no competition for this place in the team.
They haven’t ‘performed disgracefully’ – we’ve already established that Eboué had a good game, you’re talking the same old second hand rubbish and looking for things which aren’t there. You invent opportunities to slag off our players wtf is wrong with you?
I guess your challenge for today Tony is to decide whether to wish that dreadful lot up the road best cheer in beating the wayning force from oop north.
It would certainly be the best result for Mr Murdoch.
A draw wouldn’t be a disaster for Arsenal.
Rhys… with the Dean Machine at the whistle anything is possible and Redknapp has a very good record under him.
I would advise sticking a cheeky fiver on the scum.
What’s crazy is criticising players when they play well – if you do that then yes, you will be put into the AAA.
Apart from the penalty he gave away, Denilson had two decent games against Leeds and Ipswich. He doesn’t deserve the crap he’s getting. Neither does Eboue for a solid shift last night, when he was strong at the back and excellent going forward.
What is disgraceful is the constant bile aimed at these players, especially when they’ve done little or nothing wrong on the pitch.
The AAA perspectives are almost religious – Thou shalt not saith Eboue is good. Thou shalt not saith Denilson is good. Thou shalt not saith Bendtner is good. Bla Bla f***in Bla.
Who cares if Bendtner saved our collective asses last season with a string of good performances and last gasp goals? Yes, it takes the guy a long time to get back into scoring shape, and yes, luckily for us we have an abundance of good forwards so he doesn’t get a lot of playing time. But he is a good player we should definetly keep.
As for Eboue and Denilson, really – can we get over it?
Eboue is one of the hardest workers we have, and is a definite keeper, despite him not making the best decision every single time. He is still a great cover for Sagna, with experience, pace and motivation. And Denilson is another great cover up option for us in midfield. We do have a lot of other guys in front of him in the pecking order – which is good for us. He is not even our no. 5 or 6 midfielder – we have Cesc, Song, Jack, Rosicky and Nasri (not particularly in that order) in front of him. If you had someone as good as Cesc there, he would have played, and then someone else wouldn’t.
Anyway thanks a lot for all the people who think that Charlie, sorry, Peter, sorry, Scott Parker would have kicked our asses. Get real. The guy is a Chelsea reject (maybe, maybe Peter Parker would’ve kicked our asses, but I don’t think Spiderman is a Hammer).
As for the Spuds game – we need them to win and I’ll tell you why:
1) The table
2) Stripping down the invincibilty bull***t cloak away from the @#$##!**.
My two favourite blogs are Untold and Le Grove. There must be something wrong with me; maybe I should be sectioned.
Thoroughly enjoyed that and while people will say it was west ham (and they are awful) I think we turned up with a mindset that would have made us a handful for anyone today and hopefully the players and manager have shown a positive reaction to the thoroughly deserved criticism they received after two bad cup games – Keep this up!! Thought our midf was dominant and all played great but jack wilshire was immense at the heart of alot of our moves but doing so much of the dirty work and breaking up play and winning the ball back & he wonders why we fans have taken to him so quickly & fondly!! Love the guy!!
I thought chesney was very solid again and I dont feel anywhere near as panicky with him in the team. I dont see why fab should be back as number 1 when fit. Also great to see van p getting some goals and looking much sharper for some more game time. Play him weds as well to get him sharper even further. As a side note very much liked cesc bringing up this game last year in the changing room at half time. He gets criticised as a captin a bit on here but that was very good leadership to skip any complacency out of his players. If only we could have this kind of attitude and drive every week. Now have the pleasure of watching spurs or united losing points & can read a paper or watch sky without someone slagging us off. Simple pleasures!!
A satisfying performance against a poor team but you can only beat what you face.
Almost forgot – Wenger out! Song’s not fit to wear the shirt! I ‘m ripping up my season ticket if we dont sign a keeper etc etc
@prush do you mean 5 defeats 2 cruel embarrassments embedded on 5/6 yrs of unprecedented unbroken levels and versions failures. This means unless you arsene_al who is impaired 5 to 6yrs being empty handed. Furthermore failing to win or mount any sort of defence and vision to improve the team. The past, may seem enjoyable to you but it bears no value. The past is and will always be the true arsenal and we are all waiting for the real arsenal to emerge form the tunnel and play to glory. This dream or rather wishful thinking will not happen as you said there are some substandard(almost the entire is) players retained by blind faith. The only sensible thing you have said on this page is about not taking any comfort from losing a game. Arsenal winning is needed but the repulsive one has to go it is that simple or otherwise the real arsenal will not emerge from the tunnel. Just because they hammered West Ham may appear as a timely retribution but it does not redeem the boys of their bad past behaviour. 1narsenewenevertrust
Harry is the latest to come out and say that this Manyoo team doesn’t compare to the Arsenal invincibles – it seems to be accepted as an incontrovertible truth by all and sundry that this year’s United are not in the same (metaphorical) league as their illustious unbeaten predecessors. It makes me wonder, does anyone actually remember that season (03-04)? Arsenal were far from convincing in the first half of the season (and would have lost at Old Trafford but for a penalty miss in the last minute from United).
Also they weren’t even top of the table at this stage of the season – they trailed United by a point on Jan 11. and had played out 7 draws in their first 20 matches to that point (compared to United’s 8 this season). The so called invincibles has also been hammered 0-3 at home by Inter and lost to Kiev in the CL. Indeed, at this stage in 2004, United were seen by most commentators as strong favourites for the title.
Of course, that Arsenal team went to play superbly in the second half of the season and are rightly lauded. But, at this stage of the season it is clear that this year’s United team are doing at least as well if not better than the invincibles were in 2004.
how many of you watched this match on espn, because stewart robson spent the whole match slagging off eboue and i think that explains why somebody thinks eboue was the worst performer on the pitch!
As a card carrying AAA member I will say that Eboue is a great player going forward, much better than Sagna, but he does get caught out quite a lot defensively. Not only does he get caught out, but he doesn’t have the speed to recover anymore. I actually like Eboue more as a RWinger because along with Nasri and Arshavin he is one of the few players that Arsenal have that can run at defenders and beat his man 1v1. Of course Eboue has a bit of Hleb syndrome…he can’t shoot for shite. Eboue is an extremely capable back up Right Back and is versatile enough to play on the wing as well. People that think he should be sold don’t know how to watch football.
The performance of Eboue is polarised if you trawl the Arsenal sites, from the abusive to fine.
IMO Eboue had an average game. Typical of Arsenal back 4, Clichy and Eboue pushed well up the field in support of the forwards, leaving Djourou and Kos as the last line. This tactical formation leave gaps between Kos and Clichy on the left, and Djourou and Eboue on the right. This vulnerability had been exploited before and at West Ham, they were exploited again, with long balls finding the gap between Eboue and Djourou. Clichy was able to track back but not so for Eboue, especially in the first half.
West Ham was not able to punish us, given the chaos now at the club. It would be quite different if Cole had converted his chances.
Overall however, we were more cohesive and played with more urgency and purpose. Having said that, we should not be carried away because West Ham played really badly… without key players, spiritless and not knowing what lies ahead for the manager and club.
Jervis, I am sorry to say I can’t quite grasp what you are getting at.
Are you talking about the team that is the top scoring team in the league, with the 3rd best defence in the league (only a couple of goals behind the top 2)?
Djourou was poor, eboue was average. We know where we need to improve, but just enjoy the win following a rough ride in recent weeks!
Folks I gotta admit I’m starting to crap myself a little bit here. I’m getting a tincey wincey bit nervous.
Watching United grind out a goal-less draw with Spurs today had me thinking, it had me thinking something bad.
What was going through my mind might upset you, it may even scare you, you might want to look away for it could scar you for life.
I’ve tried knocking my head against a wall to remove this thought from my brain but alas it remains and the wall is battered. Are you ready for this monstrosity? Are you ready for this sick thought?
Could Manchester United remain unbeaten for the season? Could they do what we did? Be Invincible over a campaign?
The thought sends shivers down my spine but it is a realistic possibility.
United are more notorious than Biggy Smalls for becoming a stronger force in the second half of the season and they haven’t seemed to have hit top gear yet. But they remain unbeaten!
That said they could go unbeaten and not actually win the league, it is that tight at the top of the table.
Luckily they have a lot of hard games to play, including playing us at the Emirates so it will prove to very difficult for them to equal our fantastic achievement but it is achievable none the less.
I hate the thought that they might do what we did. That is our fame to claim. We are the Invincibles, not them.
The image of Fergie with that bright red nose crowing over the fact they can claim to be invincible too, sickens me. It sickens me more than vomit.
They can’t do it can they?
Possible anthony… Spurs let me down yesterday and Dean gave them every chance to nick it.
Vidic and Ferdinand did some proper defending yesterday and fair play to them – they earned a well deserved point… I don’t, however, think that Manchester United are going to raise their game any further – I think they are peaking right now.
Good Morning Lads I see the revival has started once again for the gunners. But intresting comments from anthony. I think we will go unbeaten – we always hit top gear in the 2nd part od the season and thats when your boys start running out of steam. Good to hear for us that Vervalen will be out for a while and with your stingy manager you can expect another B -rate defender coming your way. ahhh to be a red devil 😉
anthony, are you writghy 7 because you’ve just copied/posted his blog verbatim:
http://wrighty7.blogspot.com/2011/01/they-cant-remain-unbeaten-all-season.html