By Bulldog Drummond
After our array of bits and pieces about the game, we’re now on the road to the game, and here are out last bits and pieces. One interesting snip is the number of tackles by each club before this weekend’s games.
| Pos | Club | Shots so far |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Watford | 105 |
| 2. | Huddersfield Town | 102 |
| 3. | Everton | 99 |
| 4. | West Ham United | 99 |
| 5. | Liverpool | 97 |
| 6. | Brighton and Hove Albion | 96 |
| 7. | Leicester City | 95 |
| 8. | Tottenham Hotspur | 94 |
| 9. | Cardiff City | 88 |
| 10. | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 86 |
| 11. | Fulham | 85 |
| 12. | Newcastle United | 85 |
| 13. | Crystal Palace | 84 |
| 14. | Southampton | 80 |
| 15. | Arsenal | 77 |
| 16. | Burnley | 75 |
| 17. | Chelsea | 67 |
| 18. | AFC Bournemouth | 66 |
| 19. | Manchester United | 66 |
| 20. | Manchester City | 45 |
I imagine the better teams have lower number of tackles because of the increased ability to intercept and hold the ball – but the fact that Manchester City had 21 fewer tackled than anyone else was a bit of a surprise. So is Bournemouth’s position. I’ve put the table in not because I am certain what it tells us, but I think it ought to tell us something.
And so onto the teams.
I can’t see that the match we saw on Thursday will make much difference to the selection of the team today. Leno is hardly likely suddenly to be promoted to 1st choice keeper, and I imagine Lichtsteiner will also go back to the beach with Bellerin coming back in. Likewise Mustafi should replace Rob Holding to play alongside Sokratis. There can’t be any doubt about Monreal – apart from the fact that he is playing well, we are in the midst of a left back crisis of mega proportions which is why he played on Thursday.
I thought Torreira was terrific on Thursday, although of course against modest opposition, but he was then injured. If he is fit I suspect he could stay in the team, but if there is any doubt he’ll be given a week off and brought back after that. But there really is no need to risk him since we have Guendouzi and Xhaka to give defensive cover.
However I suspect everyone who has seen Torreira will realise what a terrific purchase he is; a real force in the team. When he is fit he is the obvious first choice for defensive midfield.
The appearance of Ramsey on Physioroom’s injury list surprised and still bemuses me, but I suspect he’s back in the squad now which means that Ozil will go out on the wing leaving Ramsey free to play in the centre. But that means we are unlikely to have room for Henrikh Mkhitaryan despite his good showing on Thursday and the same applies to Iwobi so that Lacazette can come in.
That gives us
Cech
Bellerin Mustafi Sokratis Monreal
Guendouzi Xhaka
Ozil Ramsey Aubameyang
Lacazette
- Leno, Lichtsteiner, Holding, Torreira, Elneny, Mkhitaryan, Iwobi, Welbeck
And here’s a little bit of fun: a list of leading scorers for Arsenal…
Aubameyang, Iwobi, Lacazette, Mkhitaryan, Monreal, Mustafi, Özil, Welbeck, Xhaka 1
One other bit of injury news is that Pleguezuelo got an injury during the under 23 game. That obviously keeps him off the beach, but perhaps more significantly, also means he will miss out on the league cup game.
Obviously no post-match instant report from Walter today, nor indeed from any of us, since it is one of those rare occasions when all of the Untold team plan to get together prior to a game.
And you know what’s rather nice: none of us would know each other if it were not for Untold. One of the really good outcomes of our ten and a half years of chattering about Arsenal and related stuff.
In the meanwhile please do talk among yourselves.
I’m not sure what all those guys are going to do on the beach? It’s hissing with rain where I am.
OT: Women are underway
From the twit feed:
> Starting XI: Peyraud-Magnin, Bloodworth, Williamson, Quinn, Mitchell, Walti, Nobbs, Little, van de Donk, McCabe, Miedema
> Subs: Van Veenendaal, Samuelsson, Evans, Kuyken, Mead
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You only need to tackle, if you don’t have possession.
Possession
Arsenal _ _ 43, 42, 60, 73, 60
Man$ity _ _ 57, 67, 74, 79, 65
ManU _ _ _ _48, 67, 57, 54, 58
Liverpool!! 61, 57, 70, 49, 40
Chel$ea _ _ 63, 58, 82, 75, 76
Spuds _ _ _ 56, 64, 43, 65, 60
Half time at Meadow Park for the women. West Ham have taken the lead twice through Longhurst, and twice Arsenal have tied it up from van de Donk.
COYWG!
In the State Aid v Chel$ea game, in the 67th minute Fabianski requires a treatment. The commentary shows the game restarting and a throw in taking place before Fabianski returns to the pitch. How does that happen when Fabianski is the State Aid goaltender? Did one of the State Aid players assume the goaltender position while treatment was happening?
Guardian has the team sheets:
Arsenal (4-2-3-1) Cech; Bellerin, Mustafi, Sokratis, Monreal; Torreira, Xhaka; Ozil, Ramsey, Aubameyang; Lacazette.
Substitutes: Leno, Lichtsteiner, Holding, Elneny, Guendouzi, Iwobi, Welbeck.
In the women’s game, Danielle got a hat trick. Kim Little also scored for us (winning goal), with WHam getting another goal after that.
Congratulations Gunners!
—
Okay men, let’s beat Everton now!
COYG!
Xhaka costing us nearly two goals within the first 10 minutes…
Some thing never change, ref not giving Arsenal a penalty. Lacazette was pulled down and no penalty, if that was the other way around, penalty against Arsenal for sure. Incompetent ref.
Come on Arsenal.
What a poor half from us.xhaka caught in possession twice and nearly costing us goals .It says it all when Czech has been our best player.And what’s up with this site .It’s Been dead since Wenger left.seems like most of the posters left when he did..
Our second looked offside
The Grand Evening Out begins… or rather, The Grand Incompetence continues.
Ref missed the offside goal, unbelievable. It amend for the two missed penalty decisions.
We needed the Lacazette goal to steady us and we’ve looked a better side since.The incompetent ref certainly helped us for the 2nd goal..can we keep a clean sheet??
I’m not sure if you would call this a press but the boys are getting stuck in.
three well earned points
WOO HOO ,HOO ! 3 points and a clean sheet to boot !
Up the Gunners!
Well, Walter and Corrine (?) did their thing again, and got us a win.
(gremlins doing their thing again)
I know that Xhaka is the kind of player that some people love to criticize. It looks like he has almost a target on his back for every action he takes!
He’s got flaws for sure! But what a weird state of mind it is to focus on the players’ shortcomings rather than on their qualities! He brings good things to the team. Is it that hard to admit it? Looks like some people always need to kick someone’s ass! Is it a pathology?
A difficult start, but a victory at the end. Some will complaint, I don’t: “Supporting the club, the manager and the team”. Well done, guys!
The assistant on the tunnel side seemed good, the one on the opposite side less so. Moss was his usual useless self. He never is properly up with play so is always guessing on his decisions – mind you I think I am being unusually charitable towards him as the second handball penalty seemed to be the event that caused our attackers to switch on.
A clean sweep for our teams this weekend – 4-0 for the U23s on Friday evening; 5-2 for the U18s yesterday and today 4-3 for our women and 2-0 for the first team. Well done all of them
Also a great pre match matter with Tony, WALTER and Carine and Drew. Thanks guys and keep up the good work.
COYG
In the medja
There was only one website claiming they learned something: PITA.
Daily Start having a laugh, musing that Arsenal would re-sign Alexis Sanchez.
I just got back from the game & was surprised to read about Auba being off side. From behind the goal it was the last thing I was looking for, because the assistant had not seen any off sides when Everton were attacking the same goal. The fact that others thought it was off side makes his decision making keep up with Rileys 98%. The handball in the box was so damned clear that Moss gestured with his elbow (perhaps Moss wants to get shafted elbow deep). The annoying thing is the assistant didn’t signal penalty so confirming that he is one of Riley’s blind mice.
I was happy that we kept a clean sheet because of Cechs amazing display of goal keeping. He has also improved his passing to the defence but that still needs a lot of understanding & direction.
I must complement the crowd for giving Theo a good cheer & sharing the love.
It turned out to be a good day even though the clouds & rain in West London signaled something else. The sun was shining in Islington & the Arsenal was playing to it.
Menace where I was (Upper east opposite the 18 yard line) there was no thought of offside, but we were quite sure that several Everton attacks were offside. Even allowing for our bias in supporting the team there was some very questionable stuff going on in the middle and down the lines.
Same old same old. Two clear cut penalties not even mentioned by the media but a hint of offside and apparently it’s lucky lucky Arsenal yet again. Completely sickening.
I’m in the North Bank Upper behind the the goal & off sides are not so easy to judge. The view from high up helps & quite honestly the assistant on the East side was in the 98% Riley camp. Correct decisions because they suit the agenda. He didn’t get any off side decision right – if Auba was. He didn’t see the handball just as Moss didn’t.
Last season I called the PGMOL & Moss included corrupt on twitter. Moss responded ‘are you calling X, Y and me corrupt?’ I responded ‘Yes’. I cancelled my twitter account later last year because they wouldn’t allow me to call Piers Morgan a choice word. It is probably safer for me and all who annoy my thinking that I’m not on it.
@Mike the funniest thing was when I looked at bbc website they were more intrested in stasting how offside Lcaz was.
Menace,
I was in that part of the ground today – Walter and Carine using my and my son’s seats in block 114. First time I’ve been in that part of the ground so a different perspective. I wasn’t even sure that Aaron had touched the ball and Auba certainly wasn’t offside.. stewards there were more proactive with telling us to sit down and calm down when all those around me started showing dissent at the nor given handball penalty. Moss as usual too far away and could only guess at the answer so of course gave the decision in accordance with long standing PGMO guidelines.
Moss has been called a cheat by many other than you, I don’t know if you have come across the ‘football is fixed’ blog, there is plenty of juicy reading there about him and his links to certain supposedly dodgy characters in the betting world as well as football agents.
It’s only the last few games where Moss has started to tilt the pitch significantly against us, surprisingly he has never been given a match between Arsenal and any of the top 6 teams. Maybe that will be his reward! I wouldn’t trust him any further than I could kick his little rotund body.
It was a good victory – we won despite being the second best team (not by a large margin but we were) for 45 minutes. The system Mr Emery is trying to apply is yet to show full benefits but five victories on a spin is not something we should disregard quickly.
At this point, Torreira-Xhaka pair in the middle is the first thing on the team-sheet. Whilst I have my doubts about Xhaka, it’s becoming visible why Arsene and now Mr Emery put so much faith in his passing game. Torreira adds bite to our midfield and is also a decent passer himself. The pair is some way off doing the whole Coquelin-Cazorla magic but figures with Torreira-Xhaka playing together suggest it’s a winning combination.
Lacazette scored another fantastic goal. If that Batistuta-like shot against Cardiff wasn’t enough, he decided to score another Goal of the Month contender yesterday. He’s been instrumental for our attacking game in terms of his link-up game, his intelligent movement and technical skills. When he receives the ball, you can actually see him thinking what to do with it and that his choice is cleverly made.
Auba scored a goal and came close to score a fluke in the first half. He is a goal-machine, that’s what he does and that’s why he is the most expensive Arsenal player ever. Here is a bizarre fact: Aubameyang scored an offside goal on his debut against Everton (4-1). Both times he was too quick for incompetent linesmen which bosses don’t want to see VAR in English football.
Rambo is a weird one. His engine was never an issue and his ability to get into a poacher’s position upfront is not bad either. Yet, there is something missing from his game. He got two assists yesterday though (one goal should have been chalked off).
Čech was MoTM, absolutely our best player so far and maybe even the best goalkeeper in the league this season. His foot-work needs improvement but Petr is a hard-working intelligent man who gets better every week. Leno and Martinez can learn a lot from him.
Our defence… Well, I thought Holding did well after his introduction. Bellerin and Monreal struggled to cope with Richarlison and Walcott while Mustafi got Sokratis into a trouble.
As for the ref, Moss looks completely unfit for Premier League. He is incompetent and the goal we were gifted yesterday was his linesman’s mistake. He gave a stupid handball against Monreal when the ball hit his face. He denied us two penalty calls and was eager to find any excuse to stop the game in Everton’s favour (that’s how it looked to me at least).
Four victories in a row in the league and if we beat Watford at home (it will be even more difficult than the yesterday’s game), we might even get into Top Four after a long time.
On the possible Everton offsides my criteria for being suspicious is when Sky fail to run a replay to check. There was one where Calvert Lewin may have been well off but no replay.
makyyb – spot on mate.
OT: Corruption News
Barnsley/Tommy Wright in court over a bribery charge, involving a person banned by the Italian FA in 2005 for match fixing involvement.
https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11713/11507250/tommy-wright-to-appear-in-court-on-bribery-charge
(Oh trivia – I think Sky was just sold to Comcast.)
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NZFC on the lookout for corruption
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=12130059
Football in NZ is in play at a time when there is no football elsewhere, which makes it a target of people involved in gambling.
The article mentions an “app” by a Finnish company to report things of concern anonymously.
With this game finished, game day 6 was complete.
Wolves was issued some min-minutes of caution, but not enough to push them past Liverpool (who didn’t get any caution). Teams under lots of caution are: State Aid (498), CPalace(513), Southampton(542), Everton(554) and Leicester(558). The Top-6 are: Liverpool(155), Chelsea(220), Man$ity(241), Spuds(292), ManU(425) and Arsenal (472).
Watford is the team which has the fewest (apparent) treatments (1), and Everton has the most at 19. Top-6 are: Chelsea(2), Man$ity(3), ManU(4), Spuds(5), Liverpool(7) and Arsenal(10). One of the Man$ity and one of the Arsenal treatments involved opposition being carded.
The inverse treatment league has Wolves leading at only inflicting treatments twice (Burnley close at 3), and Southampton worst at 13 (CPalace at 12). The Top-6 are: Chelsea(4), Liverpool(6), Arsenal(8, 2 are self-inflicted though), Spuds(11), ManU(11), Man$ity(11).
Officials oversee treatments. I believe all games had at least one treatment (which was mentioned), and the most was 3 (mentioned). Craig Pawson didn’t work on game day 6, but still leads at 18. Kevin Friend now second at 14. The fewest treatments with 5 are Christopher Kavanagh and David Coote. Paul Tierney next at 6.
In the course of looking for treatments, I once looked at 6 (7?) different commentaries of a particular incident, and only seen the need for a treatment mentioned in one of them. The medja either does not feel the need to mention these stoppages, or has been told not to mention them.