Man C 16 Arsenal 2 (Corners; Arsenal win 2-0 on goals)

121 Replies to “Man C 16 Arsenal 2 (Corners; Arsenal win 2-0 on goals)”

1. Walter, I am sorry. I can’t take notes and watch the game as you do. But I hope my coverage of your regular post-match column gives you a sense of what happened.

2. Yeeeeeeeesssssssssss
   Yeeeeeeeesssssssssss

   Totally love amazing Arsenal. Santi absolovely Cazorla! And all of them indeed.

3. Tony, you missed one YES!

   And a penalty from Dean, he must have got out of bed on the wrong side (or was asked to produce a pro Chelsea result)

   I could only listen to the game on Arsenal Player so haven’t seen any pictures but a thoroughly deserved win.

   YES YES YES!

4. @Tony thanks,ohhh yes that was brilliant.Those deluded guys are happy i presume.

5. Carzolaaaaaa 🙂

6. Great performance, and one less stick for the haters to beat us with. Hope Thierry enjoyed his Sky debut.
   Coqulin, your time has come. He was organising, shouting, intercepting, tackling, clearing, passing, starting off attacks, covering the defence. Really hope he gets his chance here.
   The whole team were amazing today, they need not fear anyone now. A monkey off the back. Of course we beat city to a trophy this summer, but the critics kept saying that did not count. I take it this one does.

7. now that is what we are talking about, discipline in the big games

   Bellerin was great , and Santi, Oh my…

   Stunning performance by the whole team

8. gonig to do a little bit of re-posting here …

   I am so thrilled about this match.

   Really, I don’t give a shit about the media, and saying that we don’t beat the big guys, etc. It’s all bullshit and 3 points are 3 points everywhere.

   It’s what we did and how we did it. It was not aestheically pleasing – it was emotionally pleasing. Everyone pitched in; putting in a shoulder or turning their backs to a kick and fighting for an aerial duel or a header or something. It was all there – we don’t give a shit it’s your home ground, we are not afraid of you, and we will fuck you up. And fuck you up we did, you filthy rich oil boys.

   Mind you – nothing was complicated. There was one incident when Rambo tried a backheel flick, which didn’t work out, but that’s pretty much it. The rest was simplicity at its best. And yes, Santi is back, and he is a genius. No less.

   Of course good word to Le Coq and to Bellerin – who epitomize in my opinion this new revival of putting in the graft and hard work. And Ospina, who sadly for Schez, looks like he might hold on to that starting berth. He made everything look so easy; so non-chalant. There is no drama with this one. I love it.

   I have to say (and I’m going on a stretch here) – it WAS DEAN. And we got quite a lot of calls which I would not have believed we would get. Really. In the second half almost every push on Alexis was called, which was the first time this season any ref paid him the respect he’s entitled to. And the yellow card for Aguero, and the card to Fernandinho (who was, like Kompany, supposed to get a 2nd yellow).

   My point is that maybe, if we actually play a bit harder, refs will treat us better. Look, if they are bent, then my theory is shit. But if they are just biased due to media influence, etc., then it might work. We are always berated for being too soft. So percievably we fall down too easily, hence not getting calls. Maybe if we just play more like bad-asses, we will get more calls because when we fall it won’t be perceived as a softy falling from a non-challenge…

   Just an (optimistic) thought.

   COYG !

   Let’s build on that now.

9. Tony,

   You are getting sloppy. There is a “yes” missing at the end of the 3rd line.

   I was going to agree with your last paragraph then I recall your article about abuse…..

   Oh fuck it, I absolutely agree with you: “the pathetic, childish, stupid, idiotic, destructive, disgraceful, appalling, grotesque, nonsensical, and awful anti-Arsenal Arsenal “fans”” should all suck it. this victory is for all those loyal Gooners who stood by this team after losing 2-3 at Stoke. Fuck all the AAA where the sun don’t shine.

   Up Arsenal, by far the greatest team the world has ever seen!

10. Very well played and won, Arsenal.

11. Yes Yes Yes !!!

    Great stuff Gunners, great stuff.
    Ohh, to be a Gooner today. Yes!

12. hahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!

    1/ was that Dean???
    2/ Man$$$ (oilers) need to buy a player or 10 🙂

    🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

13. Great performance from the whole team! A most enjoyable performance against a very good City team.

    Last week some arsehole called Carragher stated he couldn’t see how Arsenal could stop Silva – hope he was watching today!!

    Whats more twinkle toes Dean couldn’t get his dancing boots on!!

14. Mandy Dodd,

    Sorry to be a bearer of bad news but if this:

    http://www.teamtalk.com/news/2483/9651215/Premier-League-Arsenal-need-a-new-Patrick-Vieira-says-Sky-Sports-pundit-Thierry-Henry

    is an indicator of things to come, I am not sure that Henry will bring the balance that we’ve always clamoured from Sky. My deepest wish is that it is a one-off.

15. Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahhahhahahahahhahaha

    Pppffffahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

16. Great review of the game! Glad to see the AAA sewer rats missing!

17. Santi – brilliant!

    Le Coq – brilliant!

    Arsenal – Brilliant!

    Oh to be a Gooner. Well done Arsenal 😀

18. TommieGun,

    I was nodding along with your comment until I saw this: “So percievably we fall down too easily, hence not getting calls. Maybe if we just play more like bad-asses, we will get more calls because when we fall it won’t be perceived as a softy falling from a non-challenge…”

    This is nothing but blaming the victim here and it is upsetting to read.

    Dean was different today and it made a HUGE difference. Had he not called the penalty (worse cases of which many of his colleagues have turned down), we might have merely drawn or even lose the game today. The ref matters, A LOT.

    Today’s game is not much different from the one at Stamford Bridge where we conceded a questionable penalty and a soft second goal while chasing the equaliser. Refs should do their fucking job and not officiate based on how ‘awesome’ a team is. For instance (and to counter your point about the ref being fair to us because we are “bad-asses”), we weren’t dominating the game when we got our penalty, Dean just did his job. Period.

19. Still trying to work out the fouls to bookings ratio. Any Maths genius here?

20. Bootoomee

    To a question from Souness RE ‘that job’ TH said:

    On what I saw today, yes he can do ‘that job’.

    A quick about turn then, but then again TH has always ben pretty nimble footed.

21. The pace was unbelievable, Shitty did not know what to do, even, slaphead Dean tried to impose his bias and failed.

22. @Bootoomee that is the best statement i have heard all year long. And the away Arsenal supporters where so vocal, thanks guys and as of dean i’m wondering if he was dreaming but thanks be to GOD he forgot that it was The Arsenal Playing and by the time he wakes up we will be winners.

23. Always proud, but sporting a devilish grin.

24. Sorry Boo, he was Talking about Le Coq

25. Fears of the ref ruining our day a little premature. We even got a penalty. I’m hoping we’ll do the double in Manchester and beat Manu at home too. A very vital three points. Brilliant.

26. I really hope the sewer rats are drowning in there own shit tonight.

27. Ya Gunners Ya!! 🙂

    https://twitter.com/mesutozil1088

28. Yes Tony, Arsenal were all those things you have mentioned in your last paragraph.

    This was as comfortable a win as we have got all season thanks to a perfect game plan by the manager and the perfect execution from the players.

    A total commitment and discipline for the whole ninety minutes was the difference today. What a departure from the game last season when Arsenal were as open as ever , and where the score could’ve been 9:6 and not 6:3.
    Today we have limited City to two chances on goal, remarkable.
    Cazorla was simply brilliant, Coquelin was terrific as well winning countless balls in the middle of the park , but my vote for the player of the game goes to Monreal who totaly shut down Navas on the City’s right wing.
    It appears I was WRONG about Monreal not being quick and physical enough for this league. Well done Monreal.

    Mike Dean had a very good game I thought , despite what some of the posters claimed to contrary on the previous thread. The penalty he gave for a foul on Monreal , was by no means a stone cold penalty ,as the foul by Joey Burton on Rooney not given in a Yesterday’s game proves.
    But these are the same people who believe The FA are biased towards Man U, even though Man U haven’t got a single penalty this season.
    But I digress .

    Well done Arsene Wenger and the players.

29. jambug,

    Thanks for the clarification (I got it the first time though 🙂 )

    I do wish Henry would not join them with the nostalgic bullshit that is far too common with football punditry. Viera is gone. He is NEVER playing for Arsenal again. It is time to give our current players the respect that they deserve and have earned. In the last year of Viera, we won the FA cup and in Henry’s last 2 seasons, we only came 4th and won nothing. We’ve never done worse than 4th since he left while we led the league for longer than any other team last season winning the FA cup at the end. We have since won the Super Cup (a.k.a. the Community Shield). It is true that we haven’t been great this season but to say that we have been going backward this last few years is nothing but idiocy and Henry should know better.

    He needs to be his own man and not follow the crowd at Sky, otherwise he would soon become a cliche spouting bore like the rest of them.

30. KampalaGun,

    Thanks man.

    Considering the amount of shit we get from the AAA regularly, I cannot let them off on days like this. Nice to see that the usually civil Tony agrees 😉

31. Tom

    Pretty good analysis, and yes I agree Dean was okay, BUT:

    5 fouls 3 bookings for Arsenal.

    12 fouls 2 bookings for City.

    How did Kompany remain on the pitch?

    Yep, Dean had a decent performance and yet ???

    Okay united may not of had a penalty this year but as I keep repeating to you, the stats we use on UT are over YEARS. Not one match, not half a season, not even just an entire season, but over YEARS. Yet you seem determined to discredit them whilst at the same time throwing ‘short stats’ around the second they support your view.

    Anyway, please explain 5 fouls. 3 cards !! Amazing.

32. Henry should never forget the piece of metal identical to him in front of the stadium…he must try to stay focused and not wonder into land of Sky Plundits!!

33. Interesting link from Thierry Bootoomee. Not sure where we will find another Vieira or how long we would keep him on the pitch, but we did have a guy out there doing a job, and we are about to sign, hopefully one for the future. Still, Maybe if we put in a few more performances like that, the great man will be won over with who we have in the here and now!
    Not sure it will be a one off, but hope he brings his natural intelligence to his new job, and keeps a distance from the UK pundit herd mentality, it would be a real shame if he does descend into that, and may even hinder what some will be future job prospects of some sort if he is anything other than fair and objective over his old club. Noticed Niall Quinn also put the boot in this morning.

34. Corr: UA Sorry

35. @jambug
    January 18, 2015 at 6:48 pm

    “Anyway, please explain 5 fouls. 3 cards !! Amazing.”

    Truly amazing…any explanations?

36. Tom wrote:

    “Mike Dean had a very good game I thought , despite what some of the posters claimed to contrary on the previous thread. The penalty he gave for a foul on Monreal , was by no means a stone cold penalty ,as the foul by Joey Burton on Rooney not given in a Yesterday’s game proves.
    But these are the same people who believe The FA are biased towards Man U, even though Man U haven’t got a single penalty this season.”

    So each of these 2 singular instances disproves all the past 7-8 years? God, I hope you are not a statistician.

    Un-freaking-believable!

37. Agree with the Monreal praise, Santi and Alexis get the headlines, but Monreal has been excellent, and a real team player. Can see Spain having second thoughts with him ….unfortunately for us if not him. Gibbs now has a fight on his hands. On that subject, what a bench we had today!

38. Dean didn’t have a good performance by any measure, those are awful stats. Just because he didn’t send an Arsenal player off or give a dodgy penalty against koscielny doesn’t mean he was OK today. Like I said on the other thread, noone really put a foot wrong today so dean’s hands were tied.

39. By didn’t give a dodgy penalty against koscielny doesn’t mean koscielny made an error today that could have resulted in a penalty. It’s just that whenever dean is ref he seems to either give a penalty against the same player or send him off.

    I repeat, noone put a foot wrong today. Before the match I was worried Coq might make a crunching tackle that would make dean send him off. But not even one such tackle, nothing. Superb performance.

40. Great game. Great result and superb display by Arsenal. Dean was at his usual best and booked every Arsenal foul while keeping his card and gaze away from City players. He did book 3 on each side but 2 city players got away with 2nd yellows.

    Chelsea must be happy for now. Hang in there moaninho we’re coming to get ya!!

41. Incredible team performance. We kept our shape and never gave away an inch. Funny how we don’t get shrugged off the ball any longer. I didn’t think we played necessarily more like badasses, but our extra physical strength made it really difficult for our opponents to outmuscle us. You know who I’m pointing to.

    On another hand, Dean gets praised when Arsenal wins. Maybe he should try that more often.

42. YES Mr Attwood. The simpletons said we won because Yaya Toure was absent. They have forgotten that YT played when we defeated man$hitty at Wembley to lift the CS. Well, the foolish ones said it was because MC were not interested in the CS because it was not a ‘proper’ trophy.

    Another thing they criticised AW for was that he doesnt do tactics. But today match proved them wrong as AW tactically outwitted MP and our players masterfully carried out Arsene’s instructions.

    And Mike Dean cheated subtly. He refused to yellow card Kompany for the foul on Monreal. If he did, he wouldn’t have finished the match.
    Well done Arsenal.

43. Jambug
    My comments regarding ManU wwere pertaining to post SAF era , when clearly they haven’t been getting the calls , yet still some people believe what they want to believe in oposition to simple facts.

    Kompany foul on Monreal didn’t have to result in a yellow card for it to be a penalty. Also , Captains are usually allowed a bit more leeway than other players.

    I don’t have a problem with Koscielny’s caution but I do think Ramsey’s was a bit soft.

    Like I said after the West Ham game, if we can get a penalty at 0:0 away, and a disallowed goal , or in the City’s case no penalty at the other end, then I will count my blessings.
    Or maybe I’m just easilly plaesed 🙂

44. So, our last three meetings with the English champions are 2 wins and a draw, in our favour. Not bad.

45. Whisper it quietly, but that’s three clean sheets on a row.

46. Bootoomee
    See my post to Jambug

47. Tom,

    No problem man. Congrats on today’s win.

48. I watched the game on Sky and for the first time ever, I was irritated at the biased remarks of the retired thug Neville who constantly droned on about Arsenal’s poor history away to top clubs, and the inability to defend against free kicks and corners.
    It got so bad that in the end I wondered whether his old club was Citeh rather than United.
    Dean did a fair job today, against all expectations.
    Overall, the team’s performances over the past two games must give them great confidence. When you concede 16 corners and the opposition never look likely to score, you must be doing something right. In many ways it was a “New Team” that Arsene brought with him to Manchester today. They certainly played a new sort of game than we have seen of late.

49. Evening Gooners. Just thought I’d drop in and congratulate you on a thoroughly deserved 3 points. It would be too easy to lament the performance of our own team as the reason for losing but you often have to give credit to the opposition as well and Arsenal were fantastic today.

    One of those classic games where the actual stats paint a totally false picture. Don’t get me started on the corners – we were better at them when we were shite lol.

50. I feared the worst when Dean gave Koscielny a yellow card on about three minutes. I could see the second yellow and the red coming. Glad it didn’t.

    We thought Mike Dean might have given the penalty because it was obvious and under his nose and there has been a lot of public debate about wrong decisions by refs recently.

    The team were great and deserved to win. The amazement from the pundits afterwards was ridiculous. Maybe they didn’t watch our defence for most of last season. Maybe they didn’t listen to Arsene Wenger in his post match interview when he mentioned injuries, people being out for months and other things.

    Coquelin is a revelation. He has come back from his loan period strengthened and up to fight for his place, and really part of the team. Did you see him laughing with his team mates at the end? By the way the pundits made stupid comments about him as well. They seem to forget he has only recently been recalled from loan. It only took him a couple of matches to settle into his role. Like a new signing!

51. Still no sign of the white tailed eagle in the news, or on either team roster at Arsenal.com. Having trouble getting a work permit?

52. Tom ?

53. Thanks M18 !

54. M18CTID

    Thank you.

    No matter what, it always hurts to lose and full credit to you for having the decency to come on here and give us your congratulations.

    Tom.

    The point I’m making is that you are so obstinate in your debunking of years and years of UA statistics at all times, yet if a statistic taken over, not just over half a season but even over one weekend, suits you, you have no hesitation in citing them as proof of our paranoia.

    Anyway, don’t really want to row on a day like this but given Dean wasn’t terrible, there are still indicators that suggest he still wasn’t that great either.

55. Today I think Arsenal were sensational, amazing, terrific, beautiful, resolute, incredible, battling and brilliant.

56. All these comments about use needing a Vieira…Vieira, are you kidding…name a team on the planet that wouldn’t like a Vieira in their squad. Fact is there was only ever one Vieira.

57. Gord,

    I don’t think so. Poland is part of the EU, so no worries there. It’s more likely ironing out details before the announcement is made on Monday (hopefully). Besides, we have something to celebrate already;)

58. Jambug
    I think I have made my position clear but in case I haven’t heres my last attempt at it.

    I fully agree that during SAF years , United were getting all kinds of calls that anabled them to sometimes get over the line in better shape than otherwise would’ve been possible. Since SAF departure , those dodgy calls have dried up and in fact certain referees have been penalizing them more harshly then others( three penalties against in a single game last season).

    This season they haven’t got a single penalty awarded and in point of fact , some blatant fouls against them have been let go ,e.g. Barton on Rooney yesterday. That foul was by far more blataned than Kompany’s on Monreal.
    Yet I can give you plenty of names of posters who still believe The FA are hard at work to get Man U reinstated to their former glory.
    Based on facts available to us , that appears to be not so.

59. It’s an omen folks! We’re gonna win the League. Dean awarding a penalty away from home – Arsenal winning under his watch. It’s a sign people.

60. Le Coq has to be given a new contract.

61. Firstly, great performance from the lads, and a fantastic result. Given the fouls – booking ratio’s, the “missed” free kicks to us, the throw ins/goal kicks/corners given the wrong way, the missed first yellow for Kompany, the constant way Dean gets between Arsenal and the ball, I think we won in spite of him, not because he had a decent game. He booked Belerin for something that wasn’t clear ( he said tugging on the shirt, but what player does that 10 times a game and not get booked). People say that we did something different today, but I think we played the same way last week against Stoke. (except Orcs not as good as Citeh so maybe not as obvious). We had discipline, everybody contributed, a Sky scores of 6 for Hector and the two centre backs are just ridiculous.

    On Sunday Supplement, non of the self appointed axperts gave us a chance, and once again, it just shows how little Ashton and Co know about football.

    All in all, a great day at the office, and we remain only a game off 3rd spot.

62. Anybody else notice City didn’t come out to kick us off the park?
    Because it wasn’t a physical game, Dean could not let them get away with intimidating us and breaking up our play nor could he find a reason to card our players systematically.
    Credit to City for playing it the right way (and not listening to Savage’s barbaric recommendations), but it does suggest, given a level playing field, we can beat the best.

63. May I present to you Stars on the dance floor ….Mr. Saaaaanttiiiiiii Cazoooorllaaaaaaa
    https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=585017651634169&set=vb.213673302101941&type=2&theater

    LOL

64. @ Bootoome – I said I was going on a stretch there 😀

    But putting laughter aside – I was not blaming the victim at all. What I said was – refs treat us badly. It’s a fact and it’s clearly not our fault. Now, can we do something about that thing? I have no idea. But another fact was that one of the WORST refs for us over the past 8 years or so, has given us calls that I would have never dreamt of.

    So either: (a) he was under the influence (b) Roman paid more (c) something else [and us playing like bad motherfuckers (which I absolutely love) could be it!]

    Re the “counter” (jeez you are like my wife, always looking for a fight :-p) – it’s not a “counter” of any sort. Yeah the peno was given early, but I was actually referring to little niggly pushes that are almost never called – and were called. The little stuff that always helps the other teams break up our play …

65. Hi All,

    Well having left myself open to ridicule (last thread, 3.47pm) I feel I am entitled to look a little smug!

    Some observations:

    1. Coquelin seems to be turning into the player I thought he would 4 years ago. Very unclear what has gone awry during his years in the wilderness?

    2. Bellerin gets better and better. Definitely No.2 right back at worst at the moment. Let Chambers concentrate on the centre.

    3. Kos/Per together have (almost) always been excellent. Today proved it.

    4. I am not certain bet I think Ospina went an incredibly long time from the kick off without touching the ball. Does anyone know?

    5. I have always said – consistently – that once the injuries start to ease results will improve. Even with Debuchy, Arteta, Wilshere, Welbeck, Diaby, Gnabry missing – and with Ozil, Walcott and Ramsey far from match sharp – we are beginning to see that.

    6. Having a blank week before a game helps us immensely.

    7. Some of the one-touch passing through the midfield was joyous – sadly not quite so good in the final 3rd but can’t have everything!

    8. Someone said above that we only committed five fouls. Think that was key – both because it prevented Dean from punishing us and secondly because it stopped the pressure mounting. I think the ball was in play for an incredibly high percentage of the 90 minutes due to the lack of stoppages.

    9. 4 minutes of injury time when no trainer went on the pitch was laughable.

    10. Stunned that Dean gave us the penalty (although it was one). Fouls were called reasonably evenly but the yellow cards were very harsh.

    Congrats to all. I may just spend a few minutes surfing some other sites for a laugh!

    Thanks to M18 for very dignified comment. Haven’t heard much from Mike T recently – but am confident he would do something similar when we do something similar to Chelsea.

66. We beat the champions away 2-0 but I feel we must as usual have a little bitch and a moan I mean why has Wenger not seen Coqs potential before now ,its crass bad management Ty
    Philbet chairman AAA.

    Vomitting as I type.

67. Tom

    So this season United haven’t had a penalty. All that proves is they are not currently PGMOLS flavour of the month.

    They wasn’t that particularly last year either.

    I myself pointed out on here the other day the diabolical way United where treated at Stoke last year. But, and this is the thing, they lost. Even United can’t be kicked off the park ad lib and win.

    I also pointed out that there’s no way that Stoke would of got away with that kind of treatment of United under Fergie.

    United not now getting the favours they where under Fergie is hardly proof there isn’t still an anti Arsenal bias is it.

    I don’t get the point your making.

    Oh, and you still didn’t explain 5 FOULS 3 BOOKINGS whilst still claiming a good performance from Dean.

    What the fuck should we expect on a bad day?

68. jambug,
    5 cards? 😉

69. Francis Coquelin’s vs City by numbers :

    100% tackle success
    88% aerial duels
    11 clearances
    6 interceptions
    87% passing.

    Yes, the 100% tackles are impressive, but I was more impressed with the 6 interception. Along with the aerial duels and the clearances, it indicates that he is reading the game well and anticipating and reacting to where the ball will be before the opposition does

70. Wenger on Coquelin – “I took Francis Coquelin from France at the age of 16 and he is now 24. He has gone through some difficult periods, but he is a learner and I always kept faith in him.

    “A few months ago, I told him he had to play, he accepted going down to Charlton and had some convincing performances. He came back and I have played him, and he’s done very well.

    “We are still looking [for a defender in the transfer market]. There is no progress, but if you have a good idea you can text me.”

71. I’m glad Wenger pointed out that Mertesacker and the defence are much better when we have the familiar Mertesacker and Koscielny pairing. Some of the criticism of Per in past weeks has been over the top.

    Also, lets give credit to Monreal for an excellent performance. Ok, one or two mistakes, but overall he was very good. He has always been a good defender, it’s just that he went through a patch where he lost his form, which is completely normal.

    And Bellerin is improving at a rate of knots! Still a bit to learn defensively, by my God is he impressive for a 19 year old!

    As for the rest, well, they have been praised enough 😀

    Dean was better than his normal self, but he did ignore a horrible tackle on Sanchez by Kompany which was a border-line straight red in my opinion, as well as some smaller fouls, like Milner on Bellerin.

72. Hope we go on from this, take pride and confidence, and give ourselves…..and our friend from City, M18 something to cheer about when we face Chelsea, although I am sure we will be handed Atkinson for that fixture, again.
    Tom, know what you are saying, certainly think Utd are getting less decisions their way than under Fergie, though I will say that it appears clattenberg did pay a heavy price for allowing Leicester to beat them after they took a 3-1lead, and we were on the end of a couple of nasty tackles from them which went unpunished, especially Jack, but maybe these are exceptions, think overall you are correct. Seems to me Chelsea are getting quite a few decisions, despite their managers protestations.

73. Walter

    Showing my age there I’m afraid 🙂

    Tjekam

    Apparently Per made just ONE tackle in the entire match. That is some protection in front of him.

74. No pressure, early days, but Bellerin looks to have something

75. Mandy Dodd

    My point is that suggesting united may not currently be getting the favours they once where is hardly proof that the agenda against us has changed one iota, the favouritism has just switched to someone else.

76. Jambug,

    BFG making only 1 tackle is impressive, even though the strength of his game is his ability to read the game.

    I am most happy about the discipline and authority we showed throughout the game. Knowing when to attack, when to defend. Real mature performance.

    More please!

77. Agree there Jambug, from what I have seen, Chelsea are getting a lot. Not sure what Cahill has to do to get sent off!
    There will be an agenda against us for at least as long as Wenger remains our manager.

78. Mandy Dodd

    Exactly.

    Tom is, as usual, trying to suggest our accusation of an anti Arsenal bias is all just a figment of our imagination, and to back himself is trying to use United’s current fall from grace, in PGMOLS eyes, as proof, which, if you don’t mind me saying, is bollocks.

    Tom still hasn’t explained 5 FOULS 3 CARDS (better Walter 😉 )

79. The most mature performance since…Bayern in Munich?

    I agree with people who praise Monreal but I would like to mention Alexis’ presence on the left flank that played some part in Monreal’s performance. Today’s performance from Alexis was the one that made me so excited when the Chilean signed for us – I’ve always written that he would be our biggest defensive reinforcement and that’s what he proved today again.

    About Dean… Well, it was a clear penalty, no doubts about it. Kompany should have been booked. My Liverpool-supporting mate was wondering why Kompany didn’t receive the second booking in the second half and I responded with: “Dean.” Anyway, it was a relatively fine performance from Dean. For his standards against us – the outstanding one.

80. We know and they know… Supporting Arsenal is more than just wanting shiny metal things – its the journey too.

    Fantastic result, effort and tactics.. Get in!

    Special shout out to one Mr Mike Dean, who however much it makes my bones boil, was on spot (i mean several levels of cuntishness less than he normally is)

81. No need to detract from Monreal. The Ox was disciplined on the other flank as well. In fact, the reason we played so well was because the whole team did well defensively. But still, Monreal was probably our best defender. 6 tackles, 7 interceptions, 9 clearances, 4 out of 6 aerial duels won, and won us the penalty. Please, let’s give praise to an outstanding individual performance from Monreal without feeling the need to detract from it.

82. Quincy @9.58:

    THANK YOU!!!

    I never understand the need to condition praise of our players. Besides, I have always found Monreal to be reliable and utterly dependable in every position he has played since he joined us.

83. People just read the comment at the bottom of this page, unbelievable.

    http://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/premier-league/wenger-masterclass-produces-shock-win/ar-AA8jOnF

84. We have always played well against city, even when we lost. The point here is that City play football and not Wrestling. We always have a chance against them. Fair play to them, and hope they go above Chelsea and Moaninho in the end, breaking his arrogant heart.

85. Another thing:

    Can anyone on Untold imagine the shitstorm if 2 opposition players had beaten our defence to set-piece like Giroud and Alexis did today for our 2nd goal? They were both free with the ball and either could have scored it.

    We defended 16 corner kicks without any serious incident today against the defending champions and there has been no talk of how great Zonal marking is but as soon as we concede from a set-piece, we’ll begin to hear the criticism again. I wonder what kind of marking Man City used that allowed 2 opposition players free with the ball when defending a vital set-piece play.

86. Quincy
    I’ve always been a huge admirer or monreal and never understood the criticism he was getting at some stage as I thought he did well whenever he played. While I’m totally against comparing players from the same side, I thought he had better crosses than Gibbs too. Anyway just glad we have two very good left backs at the moment.

    The cynic in me thinks we’re getting some positive coverage in the media today because we did Chelsea a favour? One never knows with this lot, I mean they still criticised us when we won in the champions league against Bayern away from home, the first side to do so in years, and having had more possession too. Anyway, not time to focus on negatives, just enjoy the win. COYG!!

87. Yassin 10:24
    Absolutely true that. We have always done well against the citizens even though results may not have matched our performances. And I think it’s telling that some of our best performances have been against the eventual champions. It’s because city have always tried to play football against us. Except the last time when milner looked like Charlie Adam in disguise! Anyway, goodnight fellow gunners 🙂

88. Dean seemed to want to show off his grasp of the advantage rule today – which admittedly he did play well – by proving he hadn’t missed the original foul, by booking the player who committed the foul; with the booking in some cases some time after the foul was committed (when many referees seem to have forgotten the reason they had to play advantage).

    I think I am right that Koscielny, Bellerin and Aguero were all booked like that.

    The way to avoid a yellow card on the whole was simply to make sure that if you fouled someone you didn’t give the ball away to the opposition while doing it.

    The other thing he yellow carded for was persistent fouling – although in both cases the players doing it could both easily have had a red card (Kompany and Fernandinho). The yellow card that was completely unjustified/out of line was Ramsey’s.

89. So just as an aside I have just realized that that means that 2 of our bookings didn’t have a foul associated – which maybe means the 5 fouls/3 bookings statistic is a little distorted?

90. Graham
    Just seen on motd that dean played advantage after kompany took sanchez out with a two footed challenge, but after Ramsey missed from the resultant chance he never called kompany to book him as he did all afternoon. Kompany should have had 3 yellow cards today.

91. Hmm, Arsenal are poor against the good teams?
    https://twitter.com/Squawka/status/556871866183585792

    Anyway, all the excuses are here for Man $ity. The fact is they can’t win without Toure and they are a one man team.

    Man $ity had 16 corners and didn’t score. We scored from a free kick, and yet Arsenal are the ones who can’t defend set pieces.

    All the pundits’ cliches are coming crumbling down tonight 😀

92. It’s a French thing

    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B7pm29PIEAAo2YW.jpg

93. Just watched MOTD.

    The muppets trotted out by the BBC implied that Monreal had dived for the penalty. Having condemned Monreal, they then condemned a Hull player for not being professional enough to dive for a penalty.

    Unbelievable!

    Re Monreal – having watched the incident several times, it is clear that Kompany didn’t just block Monreal, he stuck out a foot to deliberately trip him – not spotted by the “experts” of the BBC!

94. bjtgooner,

    That Savage guy is an idiot but what surprised me the most was the other morons following his lead like sheep. WTF! I saw the game live and the commentators consensus was a clear penalty.

    It was a 1-2 exchange between players, whatever action you take to stop one of them getting to the ball is always a foul. How can it be a dive when it was a barge with raised thigh which Monreal ran into?

    Glad you also saw his hypocrisy on the Hull/west ham incident. That wasn’t a penalty because the attacking player could continue BUT how could Monreal have carried on playing after Kimpany barged into him?

    These over-paid idiots piss me off with their nonsense.

95. @bjt

    There are pictures in some newspaper which showed that Kompany twisted his leg and followed to make sure that he first impeded and then tripped Monreal.

96. @Bootoomee

    The BBC have let themselves down very badly (more than they normally do) – between the double standards exhibited tonight and having a certain public enemy on the airwaves last week.

    Anyway, I am not letting the BBC or anyone else spoil the moment – it was a super performance today, an excellent win and three very valuable points!

    Apologies to non drinkers, but I am going to celebrate and have a wee dram of a single malt Scotch – normally reserved for special occasions e.g. beating the Spuds, winning the FA cup, winning the Charity Shield etc – damn it, I might need another bottle!

97. What a happy birthday to me! I got the bed right too! Feels good! COYG

98. Bet…

99. We haven’t talked about Koscielny have we. Having received a yellow so early in the game… Was superb all game. Never once felt he would withdraw from the tackle. Awesome..

    Keep the momentum guys..

    Go gunners

100. As usual, there were Arsenal supports at ManCity. And I did see news about how you were at the game, after I asked here on Untold if you were present. I science news site I visit, has an editor in China doing a series of stories, and he had a short article on a Hunan meal in Hunan which was eye opening (today). So, I was kind of hoping someone might make a catering report? It’s been a while. 🙂

     Thanks.

101. Post game news has usualy has expected but unwanted stuff. Like ManCity supporters thinking the referee gave the game to Arsenal.

     I was disappointed to find out shortly after the game, the Pellegrini was going to follow the Moaninho method. It was so nice to see respectful comments from at least one ManCity player before the game, and by Pellegrini. To cheapen is by whining it wasn’t a penalty, come on. How many of your players got a yellow on their first foul today? Was it a foul?

     Just because so much illegal body contact is ignored in the game, doesn’t mean the contact Kompany planned and executed should be allowed because it happened to cost you a penalty. And as all I did was read about the game in commentary, I have no clue whether it was embellished or not.

102. @gord,

     I think it was a clear penalty. Kompany blocked Monreal by moving towards him. Monreal was on his way to receive Alexis return pass in the box. And would’ve been 1on1 with Hart, though wide of goal, could’ve created a scoring opportunity. Penalty.

     Earlier in the game Koscielny was given a yellow for running across Fernando/inho. And Kompany receives nothing!!

     Different yard stick used!! Why??.

103. Bootoomee
     January 18, 2015 at 10:26 pm
     City were man marking but one defender couldn’t find Welbeck & the other was looking for Sanogo! Arsenal were doing the zonal with one man on the back post. It also made a difference having Giroud in defence. He has a way of finding the ball. It is time for the media to start praising Arsenal or lose sales. Looking forward to Theo returning, his pace will make such a difference. The game would have been difficult if Ozil was played because he has difficulty tracking back. Everyone played as a unit attacking & defending.

     Kompany should have had a red card for 2nd & 3rd fouls. The 3rd on Alexis should have been straight red. So Dean was not angelic as some might think. He is a Riley crow & a cheat.

104. Something that has struck me the more I think about it. The foul on Santi in the middle of the park that stopped a fast breakaway. The commentator said “that was a great foul, really help his team there”.

     What message is that giving kids? The impressionable youngsters of 8 and 9 who hear that it is ok to cheat as long as it helps YOUR team. I didn’t think much of it at the time (mainly as I was screaming for a card) but the more I thought about it, the more I have though that commentators really should know better and should be brought to book by their managers for saying such crap.

105. I’d like to add one word to the conversation:

     Yes!

106. Am I the only one or is this transfer window is as good as closed for us ?
     In Le Coq we have our monster DM who not only played well but shouted and cajoled the rest of the team to greater heights . Am so happy that AW brought him back . Please give him a long contract before Bayern or PSG sign him up !
     Up the Gunners !

107. @ Tony , I take it that you are well pleased and overjoyed with our victory ?
     @ Va Cong – Happy Birthday !

108. @Bootoomee
     I am surprised at Thierry Henry for becoming a pundit really. Watching many interviews of him, i realised he was a very settled and confident person, who could deflect the silly questions asked by interviewers with ease.
     Seeing him on Sky i was a little surprised to see him apparently nervous, but i hope this is just new job nervousness.

     He is intelligent, and should know what to expect in UK. The UK has made it an art to ask a seemingly innocuous question in order to create excitement and perhaps show up someone. This is something i have noticed at all levels here in UK.

     Anyway as stated by others, i hope he leaves punditry soon, as this is actually beneath him i think, but maybe he needs to go through this in order to prepare himself for his future plans. I really do not think that he will survive in punditry unless he toes the line the media sets, and i really cannot see him doing that.

109. Concerning the penalty, on NBC they showed replays from all angles and one could clearly see that Company stuck his foot out and tripped Monreal.

     (Now whether contact was minimal or full, a player will go down, unless he sees a clear way forward and can recover from the trip, that is what players do). It’s not cheating, it is part of the game so everyone says.

     //
     Love to see the togetherness of the team today, and i want them to continue playing this way all the time. (I saw glimpses of this last season). We have the players now to cause ANY team problems and this team has grown in their togetherness. I hope this means that if/when things go wrong again, they will never fold again.

110. Me again.

     Savage is what we in the old days called a “shxt stirrer”, there to create excitement and controversy to get ratings, just like all the other “talk” shows, which all start with an agenda, always.

     Ok, that’s me for today.

111. Im happy to finally come here after a solid result.

     Well done Wenger, you deserve massive credit here.

     GUNNERS!

112. It was unbelievable hearing savage and the other bloke castigate the hull player for not going down to win a penalty, then say monreal made the most of the contact from kompany. Thankfully my son had long gone to bed by then, or I’d have had a difficult time explaining that cheating is not good when the ‘experts’ were condoning it on TV!

     Not only did kompany put his leg in Monreal’s path, he also stuck his chest and shoulder barged him. What made it worse was the ball was nowhere near them, making it an off the ball incident(no excuse then to claim he was attempting a to play the ball), and clearly a foul anywhere else on the pitch. I think the only pundit I heard explain the contact made by kompany exactly as it was is Souness. As as I’m concerned the only debate, if any, should be why there was no yellow for kompany on that decision.

     Pellegrini is just whining by saying the penalty changed the game. It didn’t as our second goal did not come from a counter attack. We scored our second with all their defence back,and they had plenty of time to sort themselves out, so what excuse does he have. Normally a team can concede a second or third goal while chasing the game from quick breaks but this wasn’t the case. Take away our penalty and we would still score that goal.

113. Also stuck his chest out….

114. Morning all.

     Apologies for not being around for a while but not wanting to go into detail have had far more pressing matters at home to deal with

     I have to be honest and admit that I didn’t think you had that sort of performance in you and as you can well imagine I was rooting for that result and in truth Man City playing into your hands .

     In reality the most impressive bit was the fact that other than a 10 minute period just after half time you kept your concentration levels for the whole game.

115. Thanks Mike T for your assessment, totally agree. What ever your matters at home are , wish you well with them

116. @ Mandy

     Thanks for that. It makes you realise that football ,at the end of the day , football really isn’t that important.

     We all all good now and we’re able to get to Swansea and as you can imagine had a wonderful weekend

     I was staggered how very ordinary you made Man City look, and as we all know they are far from that’ll though it will be interesting to see how they go forward.our game on 31 Jan will be interesting

     The penalty was without doubt a penalty Kompany blocked the run he was caught square on and knew what he was doing. The second goal was a classic example of players losing their concentration

     The challenge for you is to put a run together as fourth place with Southampton still going very well and Utd having potential is going to be a real battle for you.

117. I just went through some of the pundits talking after the Stoke game. Both Gary neville & Jamie Carragher went on about no defensive midfielder like Wanyama & Schneiderlin. They did not think Rosicky was strong enough & didn’t even consider Coquelin. They must be both ashamed of themselves because Santi Cazorla & Coquelin did such a magnificent job that it shows why Wenger has won so many trophies with his thinking. There is no need for strength, but good timing & skill are essential for breaking up play rather than the foul method employed by Londons oilers.
     Arsene Wenger has shown that quality football needs good management & spirit. All of this was done despite some poor officiating that allowed fouls against key players to go uncalled & unpunished. The way the team played was exemplary. The ball was won by Arsenal, fairly or intercepted but generally without fouling the opponent. Despite that, Arsenal’s players were booked for the slightest reason. The first booking was after the ball was pushed past Koscielny and the player deliberately collided & fell over his outstretched leg.

118. Can’t quite agree with you, Menace, about the Kos yellow.
     The Company penalty after up-ending Monreal seemed to me a replica foul.
     Surprised he didn’t get a card though.

119. “Dean was different today and it made a HUGE difference. Had he not called the penalty (worse cases of which many of his colleagues have turned down), we might have merely drawn or even lose the game today. The ref matters, A LOT.” – totally agree with this comment. The trouble is Dean has 2 bosses, the first (his bookmaker chums) of which will be happy with his refereeing of the game yesterday and the second (Mike Riley) who will not be happy 
     Unfortunately I think Dean’s performance is a total one-off for us and normal service (from Dean and other refs) will now resume.

120. a number of seasons ago de Canio(think thats the correct spelling) said Stam would have to use a machine gun for him to get a penalty at OT .

     It seems the same applies to Cahill and getting sent off this season.

121. Hi all,

     I don’t think Dean had any choice but to give the penalty because Kompany clearly impeded another player in the box (full stop).

     I also do not think Dean did THAT great a job. During the opening of the 2nd half, when we were stretched a bit and Citeh was running at us a little bit, we had instances where we are countering and he did NOT give fouls committed by City players. As others have noted, he could have easily sent Kompany off for a second yellow in other instances, and the Ramsey yellow? Well, the clue you needed that it was “debatable” was that no replays were shown (at least on the feed I was watching here in Canada). The other yellows (whether it was a City player or ours, had replays).

     In spite of all that, great game. Hard to believe that the midfield duo to help us control the game was Coq + Santi. I admit, I thought Coq had no future with the club at the beginning of this season … but how he has proven me (and others) wrong.

     We needed to beat a team above us in the standings, just to put all the naysayers in their places. We have it now. Onwards and upwards…COYG!!!