Welcome to the FA Cup Fifth Round clash between Arsenal and Middlesbrough at the Emirates, brought to you by Arsenal’s Official Car and Van Rental Partner Europcar.
The Gunners’ defence of the world’s oldest football cup competition continues with the visit of Aitor Karanka’s Championship side.
Boro are riding high in the second tier, sitting atop the table after their midweek 2-1 win against Blackpool. However, they’ve also proved they’re more than a match for the big guns, having dispensed of Premier League champions Manchester City in the last round.
Last time out in the FA Cup Arsenal saw off Brighton in an enthralling 3-2 battle at the Amex Stadium, with that result adding to Arsene Wenger’s sterling 2015. Six wins out of the last seven outings for the Gunners.
It’s likely Aaron Ramsey and Alexis Sanchez will both miss out for the home side after picking up knocks at Leicester, though Wenger can rely on the sterling form on both Theo Walcott and Mesut Ozil in Sunday’s 4pm clash.
Follow all the action, reaction and social media buzz from Arsenal vs Middlsbrough LIVE, right here:
Strong line up and bench. Just what we need, don’t need to underestimate any team. After all we’re up against a team that won 2 nil away at the Etihad. COYG!
Alexis is not a human….
COYG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The pressure to _sell_ “news”. More like sell stories.
Villa wins at home. Bradford is at home, and is winning. Oh, this has to be a warning to Arsenal, as they are also playing at home. Bleech!
And then the Guardian has to rant about how poor the Arsenal defence is, and now it has translation problems.
I seen one news item that was funny. Apparently Rhiannah (sp?) like coats like the one Arsene wears at games when it is cold.
COYG!
The fact that AW is standing up worries me. He never stands so early.
We should win this anyway.
Yyyeeeeaaahhhhh…..
Giroud. Gibbs. Cazorla. Alexis….ARSENAL goal.
Hahahahahahahaha
Awesome Giroud.
get in thhhheeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreee!!!
WOW! What a goal!!!
wow.
Plz dont make mistake of relaxing now, just keep on scoring, keep on scoring, please.
get in theeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!
Quick passing and forward movement. Teams can stand with us and we negate the ref.
Santi’s pass before Gibbs’ cross for Giroud’s opener was beyond genius.
bad quality stream?
Reading commentaries is wonderful, except you really don’t know what happened. The description of Giroud’s second goal from two different commentaries is completely different.
Going back a ways in the game, it seems Chambers needs practice at throw-ins (17 minutes).
COYG!
I’m out of here. I see the noise level in this thread went up a million-fold. No interest in reading Will bitch.
COYG!
I’m out of here. I see the noise level in this thread went up a million-fold. No interest in reading Will bitch.
COYG!
What?
Ozil and Santi toying with Middlesborough. Everything is going through these guys, awesome partnership. We want more.
nice so far, three more please Arsenal. COYG!!
Why the fuxk dont we play like that every match? Did we take steroids or somethings?
First goal, the Gabriel touch (which started it) was genius.
@Arsenal 13,
No way he is human, no way!
Although am still worried on Giroud, his concentration was low (bar the two awesome goals) and he didnt celebrate like he usually does, is he ok?
Gord – dude! ignore what does not please you but never cower from it. You are special. All of us are.
COYG pass the ball round the block (dean) & give us another 5000 posts.
Wait a second, what have i said that is “bitching”?
What a fu*ked up c Dean is. Lets Leadbetter off for an umpteenth foul but is quick to card Gabriel.
Well done Gabriel, took one for the team.
I reckon, soon time to bring Theo on to save Sanchez any more kickings.
Let’s hope dean won’t be looking to send Gabriel off with another soft yellow.
Come on Arsenal, finish this one off…
Super human & appreciative of a good save.
Dont like them in our half too much.
Dean just started the pseudo fouls – cheating bastard.
Vossen stamps on Cazorlas foot – no card!
Clear pen on Alexis not given by PGMO cheats.
My comment just disappeared. Was saying dean is slowly giving Boro the advantage.
FA says Referees make split second decisions. True they cheat that way too!!! Dean knows what not to see & the press take the piss out of Wenger?
HA ha ha ha ha ha ha. can anyone spot the irony?
What’s woody harrelson doing there?!
picked the wrong team to support eh..
Anyway we were a joy to watch, loved every minute of it. Santi in the midfield role is reminding me of Xavi in his prime. Really, so good. Every move – perfect. Giroud was class. Oz was class. Sanchez was a bit tired, and I’m glad he got his well deserved rest.
All in all a great peformance ! Let’s keep it up.
Dean showing that Arsenal get cards for each foul while Boro get a card for 3 fouls. Three fingers the PGMO cheat!!
Red card
Red card
Red card
Finally a Boro player gets in the book. And dean even showed him it was his third foul. That tackle on Akpom could easily have broken a leg, the player had both feet off the ground and not in control. And still no card?!!
Santi is just good beyond belief. Really.
onward we march! COYG!
We WONT GIVE IT BACK! The FA cup is ours!!!
Offtopic: Can someone watching the game with Steve Mcmanaman commentating confirm this? I read it on the Arsenal mania forum.
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Steve Macmanaman is an effing idiot saying someone needs to kick Carzola. What kind of people get picked as pundits?
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We won comfortably, yet people still bitch about Dean who actually had a decent game.
The point TailGunner…is precisely that. If a ref made a mistake, it’ll get highlighted – it doesn’t matter if Arsenal won or lost. The aim is to make things better for everyone, not to ensure Arsenal get some unfair advantage.
Exactly Arvind. It’s little to do with was it a win or not, all we want is a level playing field. Win 7 nil we will still have a go at the ref if his performance is dodgy. About that we’re very consisten, unlike some who only turn up to bash the team and manager if we don’t get a positive result yet they’re nowhere to be seen when the team does well. Now that IS inconsistency.
TailGunner
February 15, 2015 at 6:15 pm
Which aspect of Deans game was decent? He let Leadbetter get away with nasty fouls with a chat. Is that decent? Would you be calling him decent if Alexis had a fracture that shows up tomorrow? The man represents PGMO & cheats Arsenal of a fair match. A booking is a booking. The referee only needs to chat with players that are under 12. These players are professional & get paid per week more than your parents earned in a lifetime. They owe me the decency of learning the Laws that govern the game. I will not accept any referee talking to a player when it is a card offence. Professionals? yes – only when it comes to getting paid.
Damn I missed the game! was first half ok then second half bad referring again to get the other team into the game?
Walter – Do you think I am wrong in expecting referees to not explain decisions to professional players? Young players need to be taught but professionals should know. If they don’t, don’t pay them.
Match report is up
VA Cong – bad refereeing all game. Worse in the latter part.
I refuse to allow referees in professional football to explain this foul & the one before & then let the player off a card. Professionals should be carded if the foul deserves it without excuse or exception.
Dean could do nothing (of he wanted to) as the middlesbrough players didnt try the thug things, bar some moments from that Vossin, we haVe to give credits to the other team when they play us football, and not to get into cheating.
TailGunner
fouls per card:
Sunderland……….4.36
Arsenal………….4.57
A. Villa…………4.63
Everton………….4.82
Man City…………5.26
Liverpool………..5.38
Hull City………..5.42
Spurs……………5.47
Chelsea………….5.49
Stoke City……….5.70
Q.P.R……………5.90
Burnley………….5.98
West Ham…………6.20
Swansea City……..6.63
W.B.A……………6.64
Leicester City……7.41
Southampton………7.54
C. Palace………..7.98
This is why we at untold keep banging on about the cards. And as has been shown on here on numerous occasions, this is how we are treated EVERY, yes EVERY season.
It seems that despite our players constantly being derided as a bunch of wimps who are afraid of there own shadow, we still manage to end up in the Referees note book on a more regular basis than every other team except Sunderland.
Yep, apparently we are the second dirtiest team in the Premier League.
Although I felt Dean wasn’t terrible today, (lets be honest we hardly gave him the opportunity to be did we, committing just FIVE fouls in the entire match), the ‘phantom’ free kicks for Boro’ did began to appear towards the end.
And although I don’t think Middlesbrough attempted to ‘kick us off the park’ in any way, (themselves only committing 8 fouls), they still got away with a couple possible yellows.
So Dean still wasn’t great.
Menace
Paulista ( who had a decent game ) committed just one foul during the whole match. But it was a professional one and deserved a yellow card. Vossen, on the other hand committed three non bookable offenses, the culmative effect of which earned him a card.
Dean may have been warning Leadbiiter. He’s been guilty in the past, but I thought he had a good game today a will not criticise him just because it’s the norm.
Just hope teams like middlesbrough, who play football, get promoted, and the thugs teams (stoke and co) get back to the championship, and lower.
Arvind
February 15, 2015 at 6:13 pm
Correct, Steve Mcmanaman did indeed advocate kicking Santi.
He said if I recall correctly ‘Someone needs to get closer to him and give him a few kicks’ when asked how do you stop him.
mick/Arvind
It’s a shame because I think McManamans attitude towards Arsenal, and Arsene in particular, has improved enormously since the Summer.
This being mainly due to an impromptu meeting at the World Cup I believe, at which they got along famously.
So I was a bit surprised to hear him say what he did, but this kind attitude, of not only openly admitting to kicking Arsenal off the park (Gary Neville, Paul Scholes, all within the last 3 Months) but to openly encouraging the behaviour to continue (Phil Neville, Steve McManaman) has to stop, surely.