Arsenal – Hull : 2-0 a very hard fought win

By Walter Broeckx

One change in the team compared to our last match. Gibbs starting at left back and Monreal dropped to the bench  Bellerin had recoverd from his concussion and could start again.

On the bench we had Elneny back after his trip to the Africa Cup. Also Welbeck, Lucas and Giroud on the bench.

Team at the start : Cech, Bellerin, Mustafi, Koscielny, Gibbs, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Coquelin, Walcott, Ozil, Iwobi, Alexis

On the beach: Ospina, Gabriel, Monreal, Elneny, Lucas, Welbeck, Giroud


Arsenal with good start after an attack from Iwobi but Arsenal can’t finish the shooting chances. A corner but Coquelin shoots wide. Özil intercepts a pass gives it to Iwobi but his return pass is not good enough and no real shooting angle. Alexis the almost away but under pressure from two defenders his shot is too close to the keeper. Hull then with a counter but the low cross can’t find a Niassé in the middle who was unmarked. A cross from Hull finds Niassé but Cech with a good stop to save for a corner.
Just before the end of the first 15 minutes Bellerin with a good shooting chance after a one two with Walcott and then in the same minute Alexis his effort licked the goalpost but at the wrong side. 0-0 after 15 minutes.

 

Alexis with a cross to Özil but his shot went over. Walcott with a long ball to Alexis who managed to win it between two Hull players but only a corner as a result.  Huddlestone with an arm against the back of the head of Walcott and he gets an explanation of the laws. No need to explain the laws to players, ref. Cards is the language they understand.  0-0 after half an hour.

A cross from Gibbs finds Walcott but his shot is smothered by two Hull players and is then cleared.  There was a hand in the blocking but no penalty as his hand was before his private parts. Arsenal keep on attacking  and a cross finds Gibbs whose shot is cleared on the line. Alexis shoots the rebound against the keeper and the ball rebounds again against Alexis his hand and goes in. As the Koscielny goal in Burnley this cannot be seen as de deliberate handball  and the ref gives the goal. GOAL 1-0 to The Arsenal after 35 minutes.

Arsenal now not so attacking more and so we get a bit more even match with lots of midfield play. With no real chances for both sides. A few fouls but no cards and a last free kick from Arsenal is cleared and the ref blows for halftime. Arsenal lead 1-0 after 45 minutes.

The Ox with a first shot from distance in the opening seconds but attention goes to Ndiaye who puts his foot just above the knee of Coquelin who was winning a tackle and is in pain. But he comes back on the field after some treatment but not running in a comfortable way. Iwobi in a promising position but his pass was wrong and then Hull can counter but Niassé his shot is palmed away by Cech at the expense of a corner. The Ox being fouled but the ref lets it all go and can give it to Walcott who is wrestled off the ball and unhappy with the non decision of the ref and throws the ball away and gets a yellow card for dissent.  Gibbs fouls a Hull player as the last defender but Clattenburg only gives a yellow card.

Arsenal clears the free kick but the pass from Bellerin finds no teammate. Koscielny then clearly fouled but no yellow card this time.  Too much haste in the game from Arsenal at the moment which leads to some bad passing.  Iwobi with a curing shot that goes over after a one two with Özil. Stil 1-0 after 60 minutes.

The Ox with a great run but again the final pass from Alexis is straight at a Hull defender and the chance is gone. Walcott then at the end of a good pass from Alexis but his left footed shot is straight at the keeper. Walcott goes off after 68 minutes and Elneny comes on. The Ox probably moving forward a bit now.  Anocchia steps on the foot of Alexis and gets a yellow card. Alexis then fouled again by Elmhomady this time but no card for another nasty kick on the ankle from behind.  Still 1-0 after 75 minutes.

Alexis goes down and there is contact but Clattenburg gives a dive and a yellow card against Alexis.  Cech with a good stop on a header but not that difficult.  Hull going forward now and Arsenal on the back foot. Hull head a corner just wide at the near post.  Clattenburg giving everything against Arsenal now.

After 82 minutes Lucas and Welbeck come on for Iwobi and The Ox who had a good match in midfield but disappeared a bit  when put on the flank.  Hull get a few free kicks but Arsenal can clear them. Alexis finds Özil but his touch is too heavy and the chance is lost. A corner for Hull is headed over.  Özil tries to backheel to Alexis but he can’t find him.   Clattenburg keeps on punishing each time an Arsenal player comes near a Hull player.

Arsenal finally counter and Özil sends Alexis away, his cross finds Lucas who heads to the empty goal and Clucas stops the effort with his arms. He moved his arm towards the ball so it was a foul.  Penalty for Arsenal and a red card for Glucas. The assistant also raising the flag for the handball. A Hull player is down injured so takes a while before the penalty is taken. Alexis will take it. And scores! GOAL!!! 2-0 to The Arsenal after 92 minutes.

The keeper anticipating a panenka but Alexis just kept the ball low. Arsenal beat Hull and needed a lot of blood and sweat to win the match. A deserved win and if Arsenal had been a bit better in finishing the chances in the first half could have been a bit more comfortable  but after losing two matches a win is a win. Any win will do.

 

94 Replies to “Arsenal – Hull : 2-0 a very hard fought win”

  1. That was a relief, well done to the team for the win. I must say big credit to Hull, they took the game to Arsenal. Good exciting match.

  2. Here’s a question…I’ve seen red cards rescinded…can they rescind a yellow card? Alexis was clearly hit by the defender and yet was booked by the ref for simulation.

  3. 5 live reporting that Clatts apologised for allowing the first goal and would not comment on the Gibbs incident.

  4. Clattenberg is such a donkey. The PGMO cannot have their cake and eat it, too. Apparently they only comment when it suits them to do so. I have NEVER heard of the PGMO apologising to us when their calls against us are clearly wrong and even reversed on appeal.

  5. Although, upon sober second thought and in all fairness, it is possible that they have apologised to Arsene Wenger in private and he has decided to not publicize it.

  6. Clatters genuinely distraught on the Arsenal opener.

    Not like he started the second half trying to make amends, not at all!

    Poor lad you’ve got to feel for him, the fear from making even a partial error in Arsenal’s favour is so palpable and transparent.

    ROFL!

  7. Chamberlian playing like some kind of footballer.

    I guess we can put the “opinions” of those flatullant bloggers that the Untold trolls love to quote who started the season targeting one of England’s best young footballers with their expertise into the same trash bag that contains the gibberish regarding Andross Townsend and his fans.

  8. Good hardfought win. The inconsistency of refereeing is beyond a joke. The ref struts around and decides fame and fortune with his whistle. Next ref comes along, sees the same things, decides a different fame and fortune.

    Highlight for me was the introduction of Perez with Elneni already on the pitch. Elneni keeps me focused on him because he moves, and seems to move, to make himself available. Perez works hard. I had the impression today Hull had spent a considerable amount of time analysing Alexis’s movement and passing, Perez, in movement, opens up the doors again.

    Bayern next. A hard-working, alert, performance is the minimum requirement.

  9. From BBC web site:
    After the game, Hull defender Andrew Robertson told Sky Sports that Clattenburg had apologised to the Hull players after half-time.

    Robertson added: “The ref told us he didn’t give it because he wasn’t 100% sure. Not many referees can admit they’re wrong, so it’s good when he does, though it doesn’t make things better.”

    “didn’t give” what? Handball against Sanchez? This apology might not be related to Sanchez goal even. Confusing!

  10. Yes, Clattenburg made some mistakes and some (big) of them went in our favour. But as some say refs never influence the outcome of the matches when we lose they don’t really have anything to argue of course.
    Full details will follow in the ref review of course.

  11. Oh so the media spin is Sanchez hand rolled the ball over the net, yet Walcott’s shot was blocked with an arm!

  12. Clattenburg apologizing to the opposition for allowing an unintentional ping-ponged handball of Sanchez’s own shot on the keeper… That’s literally saying I am sorry for making a correct decision.

    where was his apology to Arsenal when he allowed to Wanyama to stay on the pitch for two deliberate elbows on Theo.
    Where was his apology to Arsenal when he failed to give a penalty for Mirallas fouling Sanchez in last minute.
    Where was his apology to Arsenal when he allowed a goal from a wrong corner kick.
    Where was his apology to Arsenal when he failed to give penalties on Holding and Koscienly against Leciester.

    Where was Atkinson’s apology to Arsenal when he allowed a foul goal against Arsenal at Chelsea.

    Bloody Double Standards.

  13. Yeah agree Walter,

    The Gibbs foul for me was a red card as last man which the ref messed up, as was Huddlestone’s eblow possible yellow-red, Ranocchia’s studs high challenge on Sanchez possible red and N’Diaye’s studs up kick on Coquelin’s knee possible red.

    Lots of big decisions.
    =========

  14. I don’t think there’s any doubt that all the three “handball” decisions were correct.
    Some of the other stuff though………..

  15. What a joke of a site. The first goal was not an intentional handball and so it’s a goal?
    If this had happened to us would you have said so?sure you would have brought all the rules you can find in FIFA to discredit the goal. Geez be honest with your analysis for once. This is football not handball
    T

  16. Great win in difficult conditions,should keep the simpleton no football brains brigade off the managers back for a few days.

  17. @Stephan

    Yeah, it’s such a shame that people here actually read the laws of the football game instead of listening to half-brained pundits and commentators. 🙁

  18. Walter – spot on report. That was the game as I saw it. Gibbs could have seen red, perhaps should have seen red. He was elbowed in the initial minutes of the game, giving him a thick lip. Ref didn’t see it neither did I (but I was watching TV so full vision was not there) . Could have been off the ball as Gibbs was showing that it was an elbow.

    The fouls on Alexis were deliberate and reckless – red card tackles. His booking was a farce. He got caught & went down. Only diving was the Hull screamers. Dive & scream and low & behold the whistle blows for a free kick.

  19. Yep, I think that’s where were we are.

    We must apologise for any debatable decision that goes in our favour.

    Yet we have to accept, without question, any decision that goes against us.

    Sounds fair to me.

  20. A player scores with his hand and you actually say it was unintentional and so it’s a clean goal?lol
    Common guys. We would have destroyed clatt if that goal was giving against us.

  21. Not only that Stephan, neither PGMO or The (sweet) FA would do anything about the fact you destroyed the referee.

  22. I put Gibbs’ foul up there with Mustafi’s v Chelsea, and the guy that chopped down Oezil and injured himself. All three could have been reds.

    As for the handballs…I agree with the refs original calls. I don’t agree that he goes up to them at half time and gives them a pep talk. When a ref does that during a game he is telling the team that he is going to favour them in the second half…and he did. All the 50/50 calls went to Hull and he even gave Alexis a yellow for getting kicked by the defender.

  23. Stephan, I’m with you. Write to PGMOL and ask them to review this game as it was an absolute farce. Get them on the phone dude. They must not allow Arsenal the benefit of a handball goal. While you are at it get Wenger an extra couple of games away from the dugout. Get Ian Wright in as spokesman for the Gooners after all he has an incredible knowledge of the game. Get Mac appointed to chief of referees. He is stunningly conversant with the game in England tactically & every which way matters.

  24. I declare it a good goal . You can quote me on that ! No need for me or Gord , to explain all that complicated hand moving or not moving stuff as most of ‘them’ would not only refuse to understand my ( and his ) logical and superior arguments , but seem have only come here to pick a fight .
    So off you go along, nothing else for you to see here !
    Except for millions (count us !) of very happy , contented and loyal AKBs , celebrating !!
    Was very glad to hear the crowd break in song and cheer Theo for that display of displeasure . After all it was shown towards the best referee from England.

    WOO HOO , HOO !
    Up the Gunners !

  25. We are really getting things wrong here. I believe what’s wrong is wrong. Whether it’s for us or against us. We have bad decisions go against us and we’ve come out aggressively against the refs. Why the double standard now?
    We should stick with what is right and not allow sentiments becloud our judgment. That goal shouldn’t have stood , you know it, I know it. Thank God for the win though.

  26. A good win despite some poor decisions from the ref, especially in the second half when he seemed to be trying to tilt the match away from us.

    Well played the team!

  27. Stephan
    If what you’re saying is correct then Sanchez should have been yellow carded for deliberate handball. Clatts took long enough in discussion with the lino before awarding it. To me it was more or less a replica of the Kos goal against Burnley.
    In both instances the ball flew up & hit their arms.
    Video tech will resolve these issues.

  28. I could of course give a detailed anatomical account of hand /arm /shoulder movements as well as regarding flexion , extension , supination and pronation. Not to mention voluntary and involuntary muscular movements as well as spasmodic tics and the like ; or ball and socket or hinge joints …., but I guess you’ve probably all left !

    Gord would probably come up with some complicated charts and diagrams about the physics side of the explanation. Keep your eyes peeled then !

  29. There’s no way in the rules of the game were a ball off the hand into the net is a goal. Be it intentional or not!! This is really becoming funny and embarrassing that we who uphold the law of the game actually trying to bend it cuz it’s suits us.

  30. Brickfields

    Thanks for the extra work. 🙂

    Were you close enough to the epicentre to feel the earthquake?

  31. I’m curious if some of the posters here have actually played any sports. It is clear that Sanchez’ hands came up when he thrust his foot forward to poke at the ball. The ball ricocheted off of the defender right off of his arm-an arm that was raised because of the previous exertions. The term ‘natural position’ is not defined. It is up to the referee to decide whether a players hands would naturally be in a position. An example would be whether a defender had upraised hands when defending a shot at his net. However, if the defender raised his hands when putting in a tackle, it might be more acceptable because no one would realistically put in a tackle with their hands glued to their sides.

  32. Stephan
    IFAB’s rules on handball state that:

    Handling the ball involves a deliberate act of a player making contact with the ball with the hand or arm. The following must be considered:

    the movement of the hand towards the ball (not the ball towards the hand)
    the distance between the opponent and the ball (unexpected ball)
    the position of the hand does not necessarily mean that there is an infringement
    touching the ball with an object held in the hand (clothing, shinguard, etc.) is an infringement
    hitting the ball with a thrown object (boot, shinguard, etc.) is an infringement

  33. The only part of the body that is specifically disallowed, is the arm/hand.

    Often we see people write about the hand being next to the body, but that is not sufficient. The should is an extremely flexible joint, and hence even with the arm next to the torso along its side, tensing of pectoralis major (chest muscle) can pull the shoulder forward, tensing (upper) trapezious can lift the shoulder, and a bunch of muscles involved with the shoulder blades can pull the shoulder backwards.

    But if some object (such as a person’s back) happens to be present in such an orientation that the ball deflects off it and it goes into the goal, the goal should stand. Here, the only exceptions are things (possibly) like balloons released by fans entering the field of play.

    I was just reading commentary, I have seen no pictures. But, if Alexis’s hand just happens to be there, and not planned to be there, there should be no reason to disallow the goal. Or Koscielny’s goal a while ago.

    Lots of people, a few even purporting to be learned, suggest it all evens out in the end. And this season Andrew has pretty much dismissed that. Some teams consistently get shafted by the PGMO interpretation of events, and some teams consistently get the benefit of decisions. And it shows no sign of evening out. It just continues to grow.

    Which is probably to be expected if the variance of the process is unbounded. There is no restoring force which can make the distribution compact.

  34. There was noise in the medja before and now after the game about thousands of empty seats. Presumably these are all arranged by Wright and Le Gnome as a kind of protest. LiveScore announced the attendence figure towards the end, it was over 59,000. So, how many seats were empty?

    If some medja posts an image of these empty seats, when was this picture taken? Yesterday?

  35. @Gord,If an Hull city player had scored the exact same way against us,what would you have said? We both know the answer
    We fit a lucky break from the official, we should acept that but not encourage it has we have always done

  36. We are quite far off . Didn’t even know there was one till I check it just now.
    Anyway to make your explanation simple enough for ‘them’ you could use the following – a donkey , a cart , a stick , a carrot , a rope and a pulley . And KY Jelly , you know, so as to lubricate the contraption !

    As for the righteous , cleanse your guilt and thus you own soul by confessing tomorrow at church or if you cannot wait , you could always flagellate yourself tonight . Enjoy !

    As for me , I’m in the …., ” If you don’t have a drink on Saturday , you won’t have ANYTHING to tell God on Sunday .” , club !

  37. I have watched the 1st goal again and again since coming home from the match. Stephan, please read the laws before making an assertion that the author of this article is wrong. It is not handball if the ball strikes the hand/arm when the player can not avoid contact with the ball and the arms are not in an unnatural position. The ball, travelling fast flipped up of the goalkeeper and struckthe arm of Sanchez who was little over 1m away. There is no way that Sanchez could have been aware of the trajectory of the ball between it hitting the goalkeeper and rebounding on to his arm. The arm of Sanchez was not high or being waved about, it was exactly where you would expect it to be given his mommentum and direction. Thus his arms were not in an unnatural position, thus it is not handball. Would you give a penalty for this if the contact was made by a defender? I think not.

  38. sorry , @ Gord – 11/02/2017 at 4:29 pm – We are quite far off . Didn’t even know there was one till I check it just now.
    Anyway to make your explanation simple enough for ‘them’ you could use the following – a donkey , a cart , a stick , a carrot , a rope and a pulley . And KY Jelly , you know, so as to lubricate the contraption !

  39. I wish I had a pound for every time Alan Smith and the commentator said we looked nervous during the match.

  40. Stephan

    I am NOT going to take your word on whether the goal should stand or be disallowed. I will wait to see objective evidence. I will accept whatever Walter and Usama eventually come up with.

    But I am not going to go through this discussion for cherry picked situations. I will gladly take the disallowance, if it happens for ALL goals scored in a similar manner in the EPL. The PGMO has serious problems making up its own interpretations of the laws of the game, even being at odds with the IFAB published interpretations at times. At the moment, it is interesting to accept it even to see “if it all evens out in the end”.

  41. Hmmm, in moderation.

    Different topic. The distribution of goals in games by teams is often said to be Poisson. A consequence of this is that the distribution of time between goals should be exponential, and that the probability of a goal being scored between time t and t+dt is independent of t.

    Research has shown that this independence of t is almost true in football. There is a slight problem near the end of half time, and a more significant problem near full time.

    Most people pick a Poisson distribution, simply because it is associated with counting events. Yellow cards (including second yellows), red cards and penalties are also things which can be counted. But, I would be really surprised if one finds that the probability of any of these occurring is independent of time. The purpose of cards is to influence the probability of similar events happening (in fact to decrease the probability).

    I may soon have a first crack at looking at that data.

  42. @ Stephan

    Do yourself a favour and stop giving opinions. Quote the actual laws of the game which you believe support those opinions. When you’ve done that people may well give your opinion some credence.

  43. @Brickfield

    I think you shouldn’t spend time explaining anatomy of the arm to anyone stupid enough to question Alexis’ goal. The anatomy of the middle finger should do the job. 😉

  44. I worded this wrong.

    > A consequence of this is that the distribution of time between goals should be exponential, and that the probability of a goal being scored between time t and t+dt is independent of t.

    This rephrasing illustrates another problem with the time independence. If a goal is scored at time t, upon restart (no time flows between the stoppage and the restart), there is a small interval of time in which it is impossible for another goal to be scored, and a longer and decaying interval of time where scoring another goal is unlikely but increasing. Increasing up to the “assumed constant” goal production rate for most of the game.

    I will have to think about a better rephrasing of the distribution of times between goals. It is probably something like

    N_0 ( 1 – exp( -k t ) )

    (at long times, the rate becomes the constant N_0)

  45. You can see how this will go down on MOTD. Lineker will sit on the fence (even say it was a good goal), but will be beaten down by Shearer who will say definitely not in a thousand years a goal.
    I missed all the action between 62nd & 75th minutes due my stream freezing which is when I assume the Gibbs incident & Sanchez “dive” took place. Hope they show those later.

  46. Stephan

    Not only are you wrong, but you are also wrong. Unintentional reflections off of hands are goals. Period
    End of story. That you can’t come to grips with a basic rule is your problem, not Arsenal’s or the good people of this site.

    Also, Untold, for an unabashed fan website, also calls a pretty fair game when they do ref reviews. Note that there have been several intstances where they have suggested that Arsenal players should have been sent off for fouls that weren’t given reds.

    The only thing embarrassing here is the person being repeatedly confronted with FACTS and LAWS of the game still refusing to comprehend. Come on mate. For shame.

  47. honestly a bit conflicted about both goals, as an Arsenal fan, yes we do occasionally deserve some justice, but not sure I want it at the expense of some other team that did not gain a goal against us unfairly. I would have been much happier if the goal happened against Chelsea or Man U. On the other hand, how predictable is it that Piers Morgan defended Trump? Twitter war with Rowling is Hilarious!!

  48. Arsenal legends not liked on here Smudger, Merse, Wrighty, Henri, Viera, Petit, Pires. Players loved on here include Wally, Olly, Umber and Thumbsucker.

  49. Hmmm, looks like PGMO is trying to get the spuds back into the game. Two yellows to liverpool!!!!

    —-

    Someone want to translate the above comment into English?

  50. GGG
    Robbie Savage just described the Sanchez goal (on 5Live) in exactly the same as you as you did. Left foot forward/Right arm out in front, ball hits arm.

  51. Well, maybe the PGMO representative wasn’t trying to help the spuds. It was looking fishy there for a while.

    I’m hoping for 3 home wins, out of the remaining 3 games for tomorrow and Monday.

    Usama – I had never heard of Meeseeks before.

    In terms of rattling off a bunch of former Arsenal players and saying I hate them, I don’t like that.

    I don’t like that so many former well like Arsenal players seem to produce so much negative energy for Arsenal now. I am willing to concede that they may be misquoted by the medja. In which case, they should make it more (and more) difficult to be misquoted. If that doesn’t work, just quit being quoted. There is nothing wrong with these former players being balanced. But if everything attached to their name in the medja is negative, it isn’t helping.

  52. Good day all round with our victory and the spuds doing their usual bottle job at Anfield.To the big one on Wednesday and lets hope the Wenger out bottlers have the balls to get behind the team with the rest of us.

  53. I see in the news, that the MLS thinks it has hit the jackpot by getting Webb to become part of the MLS officiating system.

    I wish them luck. I do not see Webb, or any PGMO/TheFA/EFL official (present or past) as being part of a real solution.

  54. You know, it is more fun playing 20 questions (aka menuconfig) with OpenWRT than it is to deal with a Meeseeks.

  55. WHU/Bilic had problems with Oliver today.

    Dutch player Piet Keizer died today at 72.

    Bayern won today.

    Barcelona suffered a serious injury to Aleix Vidal.

  56. If Sanchez goal was not a goal according to some, that mean all those Arsenal shots/passes in the penalty box that hit the hand/arm of opponents, a penalty should have been awarded. If that’s the case Arsenal would have won the league many times over.

    Anyway, match is over, team won, I’m happy, let’s move on to the next game. Bring on Bayern Munich.

  57. I bet the pundits should say: Alexis wanted it more, the ball could continue so no excessive force used so perfectly valid goal it was just an unfortunate coming together from the ball and his arm. 😉

  58. The pundits and media alike quick to downplay this victory but we’ll take it. Much needed three points today with Spuds losing ground and effectively handing Chelsea the title we need to just keep our heads down and win the games.

    Next up a nice easy trip to play robben and Co gulp
    Go Gunners

  59. In case anybody has missed Slaven Bilic’s post match interview on the BBC web site, he has been openly critical of Michael Oliver’s refereeing of the West Ham – West Brom (2-2 draw) match and called it awful. He also gives some examples. But the bit I liked best was when he called Tony Pulis’s West Brom side ‘not attractive but efficient’. I laughed!

  60. Copied from Hull City FC website, the Hull manager said this:

    “Arsenal scored the first goal with handball and the referee apologised to my players at the start of the second half but it is not good for us. But we make mistakes and sometimes referees do the same.”

    Ref apologising for a correct decision, funny stuff. The protocol need to change, when the ref explain his decision to the players, us consumers should be able to hear what was said, after all we pay for the show. More transparency is needed.

  61. Its quite funny really when the so called fans come on here to discredit an Arsenal win.

    Am surprised that so far none of ‘them’ have presented doctored clips and gifs of the alleged ‘hand to ball’ incident . Pundits , ex-players and commentators’ opinions don’t count here ! They were here so vehemently defending that vicious elbow to Bellerin’s head as being a smooth , regular and natural movement !

    What about you racquet game playing experts ? Was the movement quite like a forward hand smash in tennis , squash or badminton ? Was there , to your mind , an intent ? Did Alexis’ mind , eyes and lips remain normal mode or were you able to read some ‘signs’ in them ?

    What about you ballet ,ballroom and line dancers and prancers ;rap and break dancers; acrobats and tightrope walkers ; catwalkers and pole dancers ? Or French mimes ?
    Was there an abnormal or illegal positional adjustment to obtain an unfair advantage?

    What about you cricket lovers ? Did he try to impart some dosra ,leg ,off or reverse spin or swing when he made contact ? Will love to hear from you too Charles , but after England’s last series outing , am not holding my breath !

    What about all you animated cartoonist , Anime and computer Gamer type programmers and players ?You opinions and inputs may finally put this contentious issue to logical rest.
    That is if this long and winding post has not !

  62. Some posters always goes missing after an Arsenal win but only return when the team lose. Funny but sad.

  63. It’s getting confusing from the media, one second AW is the only manager who doesn’t have any pressure and then the next second AW is under extreme pressure, which one is it? And they wonder why the press is hitting hard times.

  64. Arsenal needs now to address their next step, to decide where they are going and how to get there, or to stay stagnant.
    We have noticed other clubs improving and Arsenal is still, (well not even that, we don’t play like Arsenal anymore) being a facsimile Arsenal. Tika taka? A since long gone way that we used to play.

    Anyway, Wed next match Bayern!!!

  65. Don’t forget folks, PGMOL have someone (was Gallagher and Webb at one point) who spend their Saturday in a studio watching all the games, consulting with their media partners (BT, Sky, Talksport,etc) over decisions in the games.

    They even put together a little package of clips- controversies and talking points- with their verdicts on the incidents, to be sent out afterwards.

    They happen to do this at Salford City media centre,which is where Motd now filmed, and so they have a little chat in person once their main duties are complete and before Motd is filmed.

    So when you see Murphy so adamant about it not being a pen, or whoever was presumably adamant last week it wasn’t a foul on Bellerin, they are no doubt echoing the expert pgmol verdict.

  66. Good report Walter. Largely as I saw it from my seat in the Gods. The ox baiters conceded he had a really good game both going forwards and in defence. He must have worn himself out to have been taken off.

    How was the “ball shielding” that so frustrated Theo not a foul? We lost the plot for a while after that but eventually regained it.

    We should have put the game to bed in the first half with some great moves but the forcefield around their goal was only breached by their own player giving the first attempt on target?

    A remarkable comment from the pundit Murphy when he said the Alexis touch was not deliberate (therefore not a foul) but should not have stood!

    At least we were mentally prepared at the start and with a bit of rub of the green came away with a handy 3 pts.

  67. How did spurs keep 11 men on? Is it just the script for them to get their come uppance in the last few games and lead to a dramatic twist of fate to allow another last gasp St Totts day.

  68. Great to see Arsene pointing out to the journalists in yesterday’s press briefing their propensity to always highlight controversial incidents which go our way, such as Alexis handball goal, but invariably totally ignore similar incidents which go against us.

  69. Alan Smith’s contributions during the match commentary were even more nauseating than usual. -all about negative atmosphere, unhappy fans, manager needing to go, players not good, Hull not deserving to lose, Arsenal exit from ECL at the hands of Bayern and Sutton FA Cup match now the biggest game of what’s left of our season.

    Pity that some people accept this crap and regurgitate it.

  70. It’s been a bone of contention for a long time regarding the actual attendance at a game. The club always announce tickets sold not how many people go through the turnstiles. This always creates disparity, what we never know is how many tickets returned through the exchange system get taken up and therefor as the club counts in the number of season tickets the official figure is always higher than the actual.There were empty seats but a photo could be taken just before half time when the rush to the bars take place or before the end when the queue at Arsenal station begins to form . If you want to make a point it is easy easy to be selective with your photo.
    And John L regurgitated crap ? whether you like it or not there are unhappy fans and certainly where I stand with the old clock enders , there are many.

  71. Robido
    Discounting the obvious leniency toward Spurs by the officials the Spurs players are masters of the art of rotational fouling. I suspect this comes from instruction in the black arts from their manager.

  72. In my opinion, Arsenal were stopped from scoring the first goal with ‘handball’ by Clucas & scored the first goal with handball by Alexis’ and the referee apologised for being an idiot with a whistle. Reality is he got it right both times well almost as the first handball though close to the point where it was kicked, was hand to ball as Clucas turned to avoid looking at the ball while he stopped it. Now that may not be what many see but it is the reality of what happened. Referee made the right call in the eyes of the majority particularly the Arsenal supporters. The red cards for serious foul play were evaded as they should have reduced Hull.

    The referee review will pinpoint the incidents & will explain the associated Law as usual.

  73. OT – watching the Burnely v Chavs game & there is a perfect storm waiting to happen Barton on Costa. The PGMOL boy will ensure that his blues are protected.

  74. Richard Hamilton posts

    ”So when you see Murphy so adamant about it not being a pen, or whoever was presumably adamant last week it wasn’t a foul on Bellerin, they are no doubt echoing the expert pgmol verdict.”

    Put this together with what we learnt about the FA this week – 122 members, almost all men, white, some huge percentage of them chaps in blazers over the age of seventy, PGMBO speak to them, MOTD speak to them, they speak back.

    You get the football you had when you were a kid.

    Hungary 7 England 1. 1954. Iceland 2 England 1. 2017.

    Can you expect these people to take concussion seriously? Would they take concussion as seriously as a player does? A doctor? A health service with an ageing population? A number of fans who see the ability to buy the ticket as a definition of who they are as a fan?

    Twenty years from now, how would any medical researcher look at the first Chelsea goal last Saturday?

  75. Now let’s get the last weekend out of the way. Whether alonso made contact with bell Erin before or after the ball, because he has a duty of care to bellerin in such that he has to act in a way that will not cause harm to an opposing player and in this case he caused harm.

    Now this week the result was good but I felt defensively with Gibbs in the team we were more vulnerable, take the incident both Gibbs and bellerin ahead of the ball and iwobi loses ball hull break and are straight at koscielny and mustafi these things need to be worked on. Now there is no issue with being ahead of the ball but this has to be done in the right manner and at the right time.

    The second thing is I watched it after match as I had recorded it due to starting new job so couldn’t get to match and I had read all the coquelin comments, personally his passing was poor on Saturday he seemed to have an ok game other than that. My hope is that wenger will go with the naitland miles and ox partnership in the centre against Sutton Utd for the Bayern i would like to see xhaka used maybe with oxlaide chamberlain.

  76. Congratulations, Untold!

    You are sure attracting a lot more trolls these days, and they’re not just spuds supporters.

    Keep up the good work, the world is noticing what you are doing.

    But, everyone, please stop FEEDING the trolls…

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