By Walter Broeckx and Tony Attwood
After the short distraction of the FA cup we were back last night with PL football. But the FA cup will have a big impact on the PL it seems. And this will be the same for all teams currently in the top 4. Because, as you will have noted, by an unseen luck of the draw the top 4 has been paired to play each other in the FA cup 5th round. Arsenal at home against Liverpool and Manchester City will play Chelsea.
As you know these games will be played in the weekend of 15/16 February and that is for Arsenal and Manchester City just a few days before they take on Bayern Munich and Barcelona. The effect on the CL is for later. Let us now turn our eyes back to the PL.
Because one week before Arsenal get Liverpool at the Emirates in the FA cup we have to travel to Anfield for our PL match. And in between those Liverpool matches we also see Manchester United coming over to play in the PL. Nice run of games don’t you think?
But also Manchester City and Chelsea play each other in the very near future in the PL. On Monday 3 February to be exact and they, as said earlier, will do the same in the FA cup in the weekend of 15/16 February.
So all the teams from the top 4 have some extra work to do and are not really allowed to think about resting players for their FA cup match this time. Unless you decide that it is less important given the other results.
But before all those games we still have to prepare ourselves for games that are less flashy but are equally important. The games against Southampton and Crystal Palace. In both games there are 3 points at stake. Just as many as playing Liverpool, Chelsea, MU or MC. It will be vital to not slip up in those games.
In fact the league table will look very different come next Monday. If we win our next two games we will have a bigger gap against at least one of the two teams who are closest on our tail. I’m not really expecting Chelsea to drop any points when they play West Ham United on Wednesday. Things are going from bad to worse under big Sam lately. So I gather a boring 1-0 win will do it for Chelsea.
Manchester City might drop points on Wednesday. They have to visit the lot down the road. And maybe they feel that it is time to revenge the 6-0 they suffered at the tax payer stadium a few months ago. I don’t like to see them win but then again a draw between those two teams might be the nicest thing to happen.
Only Everton have dropped back, following their 4-0 defeat to Liverpool.
We know our job and that is to try to win each game. But we also know that no team wins every game – even in an Unbeaten Season. So the second aim is to bounce back after a poor result. If you think back to January 2008, when we were alternating top and second of the league, everything was fine until one match (against Birmingham, 23 February 2009). After that we only won one game in seven. So coming back from a draw to another win is as important as trying to win each game.
But also over the weekend we have some interesting fixtures that might change the league table. On Sunday we get Crystal Palace coming over to the Emirates.
The last weekend match before our hectic fixtures start in February. After that we play Liverpool (A), Manchester Untied (H), Liverpool (H- FA cup), Bayern Munich (H – CL) and finally Sunderland (H). I will be at the Emirates for that last match by the way.
That is 6 matches in 22 days and the good thing is that we play 5 of them at home. That is where we should count ourselves a bit lucky as it will mean that we will not have to travel all the time and we should be able to recover a bit more.
We expect to beat Crystal Palace, to make up for the disappointment of last night, but as Manchester City gets the visit of Chelsea on Monday we might still be able to open a little gap.
But we know there are no easy games in the PL. So it will be hard work from now on.
Much will depend on how fit we can keep our players. Will Arteta be fit again? Will Flamini come back after suspension, raring to go? I think that we will need both of them to balance the team in the next 3 weeks. Come on you Gunners. We’ve let two points go, let’s bounce back.
Recent posts
- Southampton 2 – Arsenal 2 – Mason as predicted yet again
- Liverpool tickets cheaper, Wenger signs, Big commercial deal finally arrives
- Arsenal win through in the under 21 league cup
Poor performance great result it could and should have been 3-0 at half time these are the points that win leagues keep getting something out of games when you do not really deserve it
COYG
My sentiment exactly.
Well done gents!
This Southampton match reminded me of that atrocious Fulham away game of a few seasons ago. You know which one. Similar refereeing patterns, the difference is that we indeed got one point this time around. The team has progressed immensely, especially on the mental front, I trust the guys to bounce back. And, good point about staying home for the majority of the fixtures, it may just be the little bit of luck that we needed to make it through in the PL. After all, this is the target, n’est-ce pas?
I’m looking forward to ManCity dropping points tonight at the chicken farm, but can’t say the same for Chelsea as they are strong at home and West Ham are simply awful. Miracles do happen though and we could wake up on Monday morning with Arsenal still on top. Fingers crossed!
In football, or any sport, for club on Arsenal level, every game is “must win”. And from Arsenal is expected, and I believe it is possible, to beat anyone. Slip-ups happens, sooner or later. Three months ago, I would grab one point from Saints if offered without thinking twice (we all get a bit carried away by Saints pore performance in last month or so, but they didn’t forget to play football, just I am not happy they come to their best against us).
So, ok we slip here, we gonna gain it against City/Urinated/who-ever. That’s how football works. And I believe this team can do it.
Good point comparing this to 08/09 season, it is a bit similar, but we have much better team now, mentally stronger. We learned lesson or two in Milan and Bayern games.
The best thing and I have said this before is that after such a bad half the team responded and took the game in hands in the second half.
Till the sending off we looked the team more likely to win the match imo.
Next Sunday is another match.
In my 20 years of supporting Arsenal,I’ve seen a character in wenger who never learns from his mistakes.Again and again and again.I’m talking about playing Arteta and flamini together.Arteta was disgraceful today,and flamini even though tried at some point I knew he would lose the plot.Our system is getting annoying to watch.Passing around in circles,and not capitalising on it.I was crying out for wenger to take either of flamini or arteta and get podolski,put cazorla at CM.But all match it seemed wenger didn’t want to win at all,he seemed more than happy with a point.
Did anyone notice how motivated Ozil was in the second half? I kept wondering why he does not keep it like that all the time! In a number of past seasons, we would be great against the bigger teams and fall apart against the smaller ones. Since the relatively smaller teams are more, we will continue to pick more points and position ourselves for the kill towards the end.
Arteta just comes back from injury so lets give him some credit will we.
If one of Jack/Aaron/Rosicky would have been fit to play I think Flamini would have been on the bench.
And one of those 3 will go more forward and put pressure on the other team. Now with both Arteta and Flamini they sit back more and so Southampton had too much space and time to start their attacks. Maybe The Ox could have been used in the place of Jack/Aaron/Rosicky but he has been out for half a season and we should not overload him too much.
Missing Aaron for another 4 weeks really is a big blow as he was our best player all over the field before his injury for many months. Just as I was celebrating his come back he had a set back. Damn…
our players looked lethargic yesterday..wenger has 2 days to save our season by purchasing an offensive player..
Ollie seems to share the majority opinion around here that yesterday’s result was (1) Fair and (2) We just need to move on to the next game.
Courtesy of Arsenal.com:
“Southampton are one of the best teams we have played, they deserved the draw. We have to come back on Sunday now – we have the opportunity to play at home so we have to look forward to that. The championship is not finished and we have to keep our heads up. It’s not the end of the world.” – Olivier Giroud
Ditto Ollie, ditto!
The result was disappointing but the way we respond as a team is, as indicated above, the important issue. We need to get back to winning ways on Sunday.
I don’t know why we got off to such a slow start in the first half, Southampton were really up for the match and seemed to realize from an early stage that they could get away with a lot of fouls and used this fact on a number of occasions to gain possession. I was disappointed that Southampton resorted to some Orc tactics, but they did play some good football as well.
But lets give credit to our team for coming back from adversity, the prematch injury to Ramsey may have affected morale, the late bus, the appalling referee, the illegal first goal and being on the receiving end of unpunished fouls. The team did fight back, gained a draw and up until Flamini was sent off looked as if we could get the win.
Lief,
I don’t know you and don’t know how distinguished you are at your day job but I find your whining posts about Wenger both ignorant and ridiculous as an armchair football tactician. I consider it the height of hubris when people like you question Arsene’s competence at his job. Dude, you need to get over yourself. If you possess a quarter of Arsene’s football knowledge, you’d be managing a professional team rather than irritating others on the Internet.
Also, you have chosen the wrong forum to vent your anger. A simple Google search will lead you to better suited blogs where your opinions will be gold and other regulars will give you thumbs up while telling you how great you are.
Edu,
All we ever need is an ‘offensive’ player a.k.a. striker. I like your very original recommendation.
I was expecting Giroud to be the one sent off by being given a second yellow, but the chance of sending Flamini off was too good a chance for the ref to miss. Still, rather Flam than Giroud out for 3 games.
When the whole (football)world is against you, it’s time to step up and put them to shame.
So, hoping we get no more injuries, FEB is going to be a month we will not forget any time soon, let’s hope it is for the RIGHT reasons.
Forward gunners.
Can we quit the knee-jerk over-reactions? We have won 9 on the spin and have just drawn away to a good team – and that despite playing poorly.
No team can play well in every match! We looked much better in the 2nd half and I believe would have won it late on if Flamini hadn’t had his brainstorm – the quid pro quo of high energy pressing is running out of energy late on – when we are usually at our strongest. I thought we held out fairly comfortably with 10 men and still could have nicked it.
Knowing how reactive Wenger is we may actually get someone in before the window closes, something I feel he wouldn’t be too fond of doing normally but injuries may force his hand.
Won’t be anyone from the EPL though as that would be unfair on our rivals. Sheesh!
Usual boring Rupert, can’t comment without a dig of some sort.
I actually feel we showed great character and mental strength in being able to come away with a draw. The way the goals and reffing went would be very demotivating for anyone, so to hold onto this score with 10 men shows how we’ve come a long way in not giving up mentally. As the team grows together this will become even more apparent and in our favour.
How can such poor refereeing go unchallenged. Everton were also at the wrong end of specialist diving.
Arsenal have to win in spite of all this biased cheating. There are a few more yellows to come so that players will miss selected matches. Corruption is clear if you keep records. UA please check up on who gets petty bookings a few matches before the critical matches.
Once again I must point out that the only offensive players we need are PGMOL Officials. They are the most offensive cheating sons of b^^ches in sport.
The crumble started last night.It’s building, it’s so obvious. Injuries and suspensions kicking in for the most important part of the season. We’ll be left playing Liverpool, Utd and Bayern missing vital players and will be out of all competitions by the end of March if not sooner. Ramseys coming back……oh no he’s not, he’s had the same injury flare up, medical team have triumphed yet again.Still, NoGo should be back in 2016 in time for pre-season.Every day that goes by without the Dictator signing means it’s going to be tougher to sign. When he fails again this year after being in such a great position Wonga may just decide to take PSG’s 10m a year offer, after all, Wonga is only interested in Wonga!!Wonga ain’t coming!!
combining Ozil and Santi AS WELL as Arteta and Flamoni seemed mad to me, whyever Pod didnt start is a mystery, and why didnt he come on a lot earlier, he showed supurb urgency when he came on earlier against Fulham. This a player with over 100 international caps for one of the top world teams, who is rumoured to be swapped with extra money for a 20 year old yet to fully proove himself
They say that every team is a reflection of their manager and this is very true with modern day AFC – this is a manager that is soooo arrogant that he does not spend 1 minute preparing for the opposition but instead focuses on his own team This is a guy who dismissed the opinions of anyone who dares to question him and of course the “30 years in football” comment is legendary We have struggled for the past 3 years to turn over the so called weaker teams – yes we have won most of those games but how many of those wins have we limped over the line ? I remember the comment from wenker at fulham a few years ago when he cited the players not being “up for the game” as the reason for the defeat well guess what sherlock, it is your job to ensure that they are motivated each and every game and that begins at minute 1 so if we appear to have an air of apathy in some games then ask mr motivator why that isbottommee, or whatever it is you like to call yourself. I think you have to agree we cannot win anything with this joker in charge.
Well Lief, you must have been waiting for this moment a long time I think.
Finally Arsenal dropped points and suddenly the useless and utter crap manager that somehow managed to get us to first place can be asked to be fired.
Do you really have such a sad existence?
Get a life, Lief.
It ain’t over until the ink is dry on the contract. Maybe the ‘right time’ for him to extend is after we win something, and if we don’t he’ll leave? I’m on Team Rodders!
(I can’t find the quote for the life of me, but did Wenger actually say the words that he’ll leave if we don’t win a trophy, or was it implied/tabloid bullcrap? It may have been in a press conference, but I usually can’t stand more than 15 seconds of those these days so don’t feel it’s in the best interests of my blood pressure to sit through a load of clips with him droning on)
In past seasons our late season form saw us scamper up the table to clinch fourth. Big difference this year which will see us sliding down the table to maybe scrape the virtual trophy. Come on your all intelligent enough to realise what awaits us over the next 8 weeks? We haven’t gone through all this torment and not learned that right? He will be in no position to sign. That ship has sailed.
Fully agree, combining Ozil and Santi AS WELL as Arteta and Flamoni seemed mad to me, whyever Pod didnt start is a mystery, and why didnt he come on a lot earlier, he showed supurb urgency when he came on earlier against Fulham. This a player with over 100 international caps for one of the top world teams, who is rumoured to be swapped with extra money for a 20 year old yet to fully proove himself The two times they have REALLY REALLY not turned up for first halves this season was against Manure when BFG suddenly withdrew and there were rumours of illness in the team and last night when the coach arrived late. Then there is the well known socialist fees/ player payments/ unfairness that Wenger keeps on and on and on about. I detect a pattern, if put out by anything- red card, unfair goal unfair transfer unfair wages unfair to arrive late unfair to have illness in the squad unfair UNFAIR ANYTHING Wenger goes into his shell/ takes his eye off the ball which must and seems to have a major impact on the team. Jeez I feel a bit of a hire
As I commented only a short while ago, can we please cut the knee-jerk over-reactions? As Walter has just posted, need to focus on the big picture – not one bad half of football!
Lief,
we have read all that stuff ages ago but really most of us are not really impressed by your knowledge about this. You could have copied it left or right on the internet and just pasted it over here.
You could do better and tell us how on earth we managed to be top of the table despite all that moaning you are about and all that doom.
Is having a draw (just like ManCity by the way) at Southampton the only thing that counts in this season?
Anybody who thinks that Ozil signing shows Wenger has changed should have been given a rude awakening by his comments.
United are 14 points behind us and no threat to the title and Chelsea’s squad has been weakened by the sale of a very good player. Yet the bloke can’t resist a fucking moan about something that has fuck all to do with him/us. He is absolutely obsessed with transfers and money in football (despite pocketing a truly disgusting amount in return for 0 trophies in 8 seasons and counting) and his rant shows he is still incredibly stubborn and more obsessed with being morally victorious than actually winning.
We’ve known what the squad issues are all transfer window, yet we’ve done nothing. Cabaye has gone to PSG, Matic to Chelsea, Vucinic could go… there are plenty of clubs in Europe desperate to move players on… yet we’ve opted for no one. We’ve actually looked to complain about how unfair a transfer window that could massively help us is… it’s like refusing to treat a gangrenous leg because you think the healthcare you bought is elitist.
You can’t fight reality
As I said in this morning’s post, our issue isn’t quality this season, it’s Wenger’s lack of trust in his squad. Diaby, Park, Bendtner, Frimpong, Jenkinson and Sanogo are all players that don’t have the managers’ trust… or they’re massive liabilities on the injury front. How much wastage do City and Chelsea have? Ok, let me rephrase that… who are the Chelsea / City equivalents of what we have? Dzeko is City’s Sanogo… need I say more?
Those players cost us points… because it means we play fatigued players who can’t perform, or it means overworked players pick up injuries and we have to put substandard options on the bench. We have a brilliant 16 players. However, this isn’t 2002, you can’t win the league with a brilliant 16. You need a brilliant 22 players.
That said… despite it being a painfully slow road back to the top, us having a brilliant 16 is progress.
Liverpool
Now we’re kind of heading out of the Christmas rut of games and into the Champions League and FA Cup. Liverpool start getting more of a rest than Arsenal do, which is exactly why they have been so good this year. They’re title contenders this year and if we start to drop points, we could easily find ourselves in a battle for top four… which after the season we’ve had is not what we need. We’re going to have to shape up, we’re going to have to hope fringe players come good and we’re going to have to pray that we don’t pick up anymore key injuries to key players…
Who else is looking at Mertesacker, Sagna and Koscielny and wondering if they truly are super human? Because let me tell you, chances are, they’re not… and those three are hugely overplayed because what sits behind them is not trusted by the manager.
Wenger now starting to spend on signings is a rather poor mgt approach with all the time he had in this world to buy. Just becoz of the saints draw and the injuries now to Ramsey/Wilshire.When Podolski scored two in the last game,Wenger praised him and not to play him last night till 89 min-disgrace coaching.Wenger makes line-up mistakes again and again. Buying players is also an issue. If we had beaten Aston Villa in the first game, we will not have bought Ozil. I dont see any reason why Wenger contract will be renewed. If we are top of the table, its by virtue of players efforts and the pressure from the Assist Coach. Arsenal fans should not dream of a trohy under Wenger anymore.Wenger is past his best and its high time, he packs his bags and retire somewhere in the surbubs of Marseille.I’m fed with this man who doesnt reason and is far away from reality. Even bottom clubs like Sunderland, Fulham etc are strengthening and yet he is just quiet and is reactive to some situations eg Auston Villa loss. In the season of 2009-2010(cant rem), he bought 4 players after 8-2 thrashing from Man Utd. Its same old story now and this club has no strength in depth to win a title. Cheers AFC fans.
Walter and Co are happy to follow the blind leader into the abyss… One glorious chance at the title will be stuffed royally with the dictator. How many more seasons of this rubbish? Come on Walter join our movement to haul this buffoons out. Join forces now
Lief from what planet have they dropped you on Untold?
and you still haven’t answered my question how on earth this buffoon has got us top of the league for 17 weeks in total this season? As he makes nothing but mistakes?
Read the header and then go to Le Grove where they are waiting for desperate fans like you
And despite us being the team that had most of the injuries all season http://injuryleague.com/
So how come we have been top?
Mark and Lief.
The lunatics have taken over the asylum.
@Walter.
Mark and Lief probably blame Wenger for all the injuries as well.
Mark and Lief.
The lunatics have taken over the asylum.
@Walter.
Mark and Lief probably blame Wenger for all the injuries as well.
That will be for the next rant I think Mick 😉
Simple. Luck. All the games such as villa, Newcastle Cardiff were won on luck. Don’t give me this crap about hanging on, when you resort to booting the ball up to midfield for the last fifteen minutes of the game then at some point your luck will run out.May sound dramatic but given the fact that all around us are destroying teams…we still got to go to Anfield, The Bridge, Goodison Park and The Shithole (White Hart Lane) I think it was a defining moment yesterday
Walter
If you give Arsene the credit for keeping us top of the league for 17 weeks this season and for keeping us in the Top 4 (on the 4th biggest budget) for the past 8 years- then why shouldn’t he get the credit for keeping us top of the injury table for the past 8 years too? After all he is the manager and the health of the players is his responsibility.
I have to say that I do think Wenger must bear some responsibility for the injury situation. He oversees the conditioning and training regime, player recruitment, squad size, style of play and – presumably – the medical side.
Although can’t blame him at all for other teams going out to kick us and referees allowing them to.
I noticed last night that Southampton’s syle was to press hard but, if Arsenal broke through the first line of resistance, then to stop us with a deliberate foul. Not dirty, but very cynical. That is why the foul count was so lopsided. Needless to say, Southampton’s first and only yellow card was in about the 95th minute. An abject failure by Mr Mason on the assumption that one of the match officials’ goals is to encourage fair play.
If Arsenal had actually managed to force more quick transitions in the first half then the Southampton foul count would have been correspondingly higher. There is no question that this was a deliberate policy on their part.
Lief, Mark and fellow purveyors of doom and gloom.
A simple question, which would you prefer, the Premier League title this season or the sacking of Arsene Wenger.
Pete
Been saying this for the whole season, agree fully, Arsenal are one of the best teams that turm from defence to attack, when the other teams are most vurnerable in the whole match. If the card was issued, 3 to 4 fouls and they cant get to a challenge anymore…. Imagine Ozil, Cazorla, and Gnabry with no kicking for more than 60 min.
Of course TJ,
It is a well known FACT that the referees do all they can to protect all Arsenal players and thus we never get an injured player during matches.
It is also a well known FACT (you must write it in capitals) that it is Wenger and Bould in person who walk around on the training ground and kick the shit out of our players during training in order to get them injured.
Therefore the Stoke supporters claiming that Ramsey his leg was broken before Shawcross kicked him are right. Wenger broke his leg on training and then forced him to play with that broken leg and then that innocent contact with the broken leg of Ramsey made it look so horrible.
Same for Eduardo, Dibay, Sagna, and so on and so on…
FACT!!!!
Off topic. The Liverpool FA cup game has been scheduled for Sunday. That gives us very little time to rest before the Bayern match. Thanks to the TV companies for that.
Off topic. The Liverpool FA cup game has been scheduled for Sunday. That gives us very little time to rest before the Bayern match. Thanks to the TV companies for that.
Walter- you mention 4 players who have been victims of horrible tackles indeed, but nobody can say that our topping the injury list table annually is down to lack of protection from referees alone. Various other suggestions have been put forward and are well documented.
Further, if it is down to lack of protection from referees, it is down to the club and the manager to do everything possible to ensure his staff get the appropriate level of protection. It’s an employers duty of care. No employer or manager who believed that to be the case could stand by and let it happen, or could they?
Just saw that BT sprout moved our match vs Liverpool to a Sunday which means one less day to prepare for Bayern… Twats
and man i see sewer rats have crawled out of their holes.. come down you fools we just drew a match and by looks of it you were praying for it to happen…
Bentlab aims a stamp on Monreal, no action taken. Agbonlahor breaks Rosicky’s nose in two places, again no action. Mikel makes a studs up challenge and catches Arteta on the shin, no action taken. Ramires makes a similar challenge on Arteta, gets a yellow only. Kompany makes a similar challenge on Giroud, gets only a yellow. Williamson makes a similar challenge on Giroud, no action taken. Flamini makes a two footed tackle, gets all of the ball and no contact on the man, gets banned for 4 matches.
Is it any wonder we have so many players out injured, when it’s open season on our players. Meanwhile the smallest misdemeanour by any of our players gets severely punished.
Spurs have a goal incorrectly disallowed for offside, just hope city will remember all these good goals in key games getting disallowed in their favor. I make it four now (Arsenal 2,Liverpool 1, spuds 1).
Jake Humphreys “have Manchester City been lucky AGAIN this evening, I wonder”. The key word is again there, city fans.
@Al
Correct, also Toure when already on a yellow (skillfully and) cynically tripped a spuds player on the edge of the box – should have been a second yellow.
This is the same Toure who did a high studs up tackle on Giroud – without punishment.
Oh dear, the same linesman that disallowed a spuds goal flagged for a foul that resulted in a sending off for a spuds player, who got the ball. Well, game over now, but city profiting from two dreadful decisions by the same official. Switching over to Barcelona / Levante
It gets worse for the spuds.
Dembele has been substituted following Toure’s challenge in the first half.
Rose now sent off for an alleged last man foul & penalty awarded – replays showed Rose got the ball – it appeared the linesman made the penalty call.
I rarely have any sympathy for the spuds – but lets have fair play for all.
Yes, saw that bjtgooner. And just the way he remonstrated with the ref there could’ve earned him another yellow, never mind the foul. Starting to look like the title is sewn up already, the way things are going.
City getting the decisions yet again, that did not look a pen or red card for the Spuds
@mandy and an incorrect ruled out offside.. City are truly this season`s united
AL & bjtgooner,
Remember guys, that all the refs need to start favouring teams is for the media to pre-crown them champions. Man City fans will fight you to the death if you have the audacity to mention this out loud though.
Is it just in refs’ dna to assist a team to the title? Seems they can’t bear to just stand by and watch anyone win the title without them playing a part in it.
That’s what I was just thinking too right there Bootoomee 🙂
Mate, no one wants Arsenalto klose and if they do they are not fans of the club. I will have the title over a Wenger sacking any day but when there is a chance like this one when we are so close then I ask the question why are we settling for this second best option.
But TJ, I get what you are saying but you would need to look at the rest of the league as a whole for that. If Wenger were to blame, then you would see the same numbers of broken limbs at other clubs yet less other injuries. Sorry, but it’s just not the case. The refs turn too much of a blind eye when it involves an Arsenal player and after Walters ref reviews, the injury league is further proof of that. It is not a sign that something wrong is inside the club.
Al & Bootoomee
If the refs are following the media prediction – what effect does this have on betting syndicates? The obvious answer would be that the odds would gradually shorten – but if a large bet was placed at favorable odds at the beginning of the season – any thoughts?
Good thing that at least Cheatski lost points too.
Another farce fiasco. lol.
As I wind down the last month of my Sky subscription, I look forward to a time where I don’t have to watch people lining their pockets under the guise of sport and entertainment
Florian,
I wonder what the talking point will be now with the Almighty and All-wise Mourhino’s Chelsea getting drawn at home by hapless West Ham. At least Arsenal drew away to a well respected Southampton team. Imagine the outrage if Arsenal had drew at home against the Hammers!
I’m looking forward to next Sunday’s game. Jose’s teams might not be able to score against teams but they are quite adept at parking the bus. We shall see.
On another note, it is interesting how the league works. Yesterday, we were all pretty certain of a Chelsea victory while we thought City would drop points at the WHL. There are still loads of surprises in the remaining 15 matches and we are still firmly in it.
Agree with a few previous posts, this is starting to look like a preordained procession. Every game I see them play, city get a key decision…or two…or three.in their favour, to be honest, not sure why, they are good enough not to have officials falling over themselves to embarrass their profession and reputation. They get dodgy pens, offsides in their favour, players are allowed horrendous tackles without refs acting or reviews…compare and contrast yaya vs Flam….rotational fouling….the list will be endless.
Seems like Utd were given it in fergies last year, city kept out of it…is this their reward? And where do Chelsea fit into this? Next year their turn?
In its own way, city’s favours this season are as blatant as Utd last
As for the post about betting odds….interesting, yes they will shorten, but still a good margin. Everyone now knows arsenal do not get pens, especially with some refs thanks to this site, still got 1.14 on betfair on arsenal not getting a pen yesterday, so bet a hundred, win fourteen, or something like that! short odds, but with mason, a safe bet, so short odds not always the worst thing. So far this season, have made enough for a modest holiday betting against us getting pens, but not encouraging gambling and this run will come to an end, even for us!
Nice surprise at Chelsea, despite last min pen. Should have bought Juan mata on! Worse result than us yesterday, same media meltdown for Jose?
It is soooooo obvious that oilers gonna win this league at any cost
And no one is going to act against them
No FFP action, Nothing against unfair refs
This is ridiculous
Al
I think the linesman flagged correctly as it seems Adebayor got the faintest of touches on the cross before Dawson put it in.
As for the penalty , you have to ask yourself would it be given for Arsenal on a similar play, and the answer is NO! , example – Mulumbu on Wilshere in the penalty area .
For a linesman to give a decision like that is very telling isn’t it.
But the game changing play for me was the studs up tackle from Toure on Dembele who was playing very well and went by Toure more than once. He got both his ankles and had the nerve to complain about the yellow. Someone has to explain to me the definition of “professional” foul
Yaya Toure is one of dirtiest players in PL and gets a pass for his indiscretions because of his offensive abilities.
Dembele would’ve been , had he been able to continue, where the decisive pass to Dzeko came from for the penalty.
bjtgooner
I must admit betting is an area I don’t quite understand, but to answer your question with the limited knowledge I have I would say if someone stands to benefit from having placed a huge bet then they would want to see results go their way. But what would the bookies want in that case?
All I know is something doesn’t seem quite right, at least with united’s easy decisions it was easy to see where they were coming from and why. But with city nothing is that obvious…..
Breaking news!!!! Completely unreliable and spurious sources saying we are getting Vucinic on loan subject to medical tomorrow.
Guess he is going to inter then!
Bootoomee,
I’m so lucky that I’m far away from the media crap! Here in the US they do talk about PL on TV, with the same behavior, but the amount of **** is bearable. Plus, given the number of pundits is relatively reduced, the shift in attitude is more perceivable. But yes, it will be an interesting MOTD. Looking forward to switch away the channel:)
I didn’t see the match, only looked at the live text on Eurosport, but with all their efforts C***ski couldn’t break down the resolute Hammers defense. They are good in large spaces, but not in tight ones. I would fancy us getting a draw there, and even a win is not out of the cards (bar an interference from we know who).
Bjt, an in the know syndicate could make huge sums on such falling odds, even of they got out early, buy high , lay low and all that. Especially with the sums involved in illegal betting
Tom
I think all the officials (apart from Sian Massey) will need to be taught the offside rule again. I agree Adebayor moving towards goal might have created the impression he got a slight touch, but I don’t think he did. I saw sturridge score his goal v villa where coutinho was also running towards the goal, was in an offside position but took a defender with him creating room for sturridge. The goal was allowed to stand. we’re seeing too much controversy around offsides than before, and I wonder why.
Its not favoring the Oilers, its being Anti Arsenal, but why? I dont know, if it was to favor the Oilers/Unt, then why the bias in the cups (ex. Arsenal carling cup final to bermingham). We have something they want, maybe our class, integrity, or manager i dont know, but its so obvious.
Oh, so one can cash in before the season ends? I totally don’t understand betting at all, good reason for me to stay out 🙂
Nice to see Mourinho get a taste of his own medicine; 34 shots and over 70% possession and nil nil. That’s probably the highest possession any team he manages will ever get 🙂
Surely the bottom line in the EPL is what a club’s position is worth to any sponsor?
say – these are arbitrary figures:
4th = 20mill marketing
3rd = 30 mill marketing
2nd = 70 mill marketing
1st = 300 mill marketing
I am assuming that first place has a massive boost in terms of what its worth to an associated sponsor.
So the top/top-branded club will attract the mega contracts. (And ensuring that future top place would secure further investment – i.e. a sponsor will be mighty impressed if a club can project forward their position in the league for the years ahead)
Obviously with all that money sloshing around dependent on a club being EPL champions, or consecutive EPL champions….
…well I’ll leave you to make your own deductions on that
@Al & Mandy
Thanks for your comments. I don’t fully understand all the complexities of betting, hence my original question. But, if there was a fix involving refs & media, I could see involvement from some syndicates. Should that be the case & keeping in mind that betting syndicates ensure that overall they win, some complex arrangements would need to be made – with my limited knowledge I am not sure how this would work out. But, I could easily suspect that an individual or group could make arrangements to make a lot of money out of such a situation.
However, the level of betting on the EPL is totally horrendous, seems to grow each year and must be a damaging compulsion for many punters.
@AL
Whether Adebayor got a touch or not is immaterial, the fact that he attempted to make contact with the ball is sufficient for the offside to be correctly called.
Guess what, the Oilers meet the Hammers in the last day of the season!
Quite amazing the spin, city have halfed their losses, to only around £56 million! or something like that. But still losses of around £430 million over last thirty months, by rights we should be nowhere near such a spend, the fact we are is huge credit to all at AFC.
The money city have spent buys a lot of players….and who knows who else in the house that blatter built
Goodness how we missed you Lief and Mark! Your erudite and insightful comments, dredged from the sewers of the Anti-Arsenal, Anti-Wenger effluent floating on the septic waters of the net, brighten every Gooners’ day. Now please return to the special education hostel in Tottenham where Spuds and the mentally challenged like you two are housed and come back for our next dropped points. It will likely be awhile but I am sure that will afford you two enough time to procreate like pond scum.
We eagerly await your brilliant observations about Wenger being at fault for everything from nuclear proliferation to your indigestion. Don’t forget to say your prayers that AFC ¨falter¨ and ¨decline¨ so that you’ll have another opportunity to come and shit all over the Club you purportedly love.
Mick
Agree, his movement alone made him active, whether contact was made or not(although I don’t think he made contact, just for the record). But the point I was trying to make was a Liverpool player made a run into the box in an offside position, very close to the keeper and took a defender with him, leaving a player who was onside to tap the ball home. That was given as a genuine goal. Where’s the difference?
In my view both are the same, because the keeper and defence have to keep an eye on the player that’s offside, making him active.
@menace, er, maybe some Pool players dived but if you heard the commentary you’d have heard how often Everton’s Barry was fouling blatantly and consistently and didn’t get a yellow until near half time.
We played one of our worst games this season and we got a point. Not bad really. And as Chelsea couldn’t beat West Ham we must take advantage and beat Palace.