Yep all the so-called experts got it wrong, but our little hope that Martinelli would start was fulfilled. He is the line up.
As you may have noted, we do a round up before each match to see if these pundits actually know anything at all, and this time we found a much higher number than usual who couldn’t even be arsed to put a prediction of the line up forward.
And of course we are grateful for those who did. We did it for ten years, only occasionally getting it right, but at least we tried – which is why we support those who do try – as opposed to the sneering know-it-alls who can’t even be bothered.
But the fact is none got it right. The list above is the official Arsenal line up tonight.
So we have presumably got Martinelli on the wing and Lacazette at centre forward…
Runarsson
Mustafi Gabriel Kolasinac Maitland Niles
Elneny Ceballos Cedric
Willock Lacazette Martinelli
Balogun who was highly tipped is on the beach.
There is also a screamingly hilarious piece on Football Insider in which Kevin Campbell (noted in the headline as “Campbell” in case we think it is the ex-Southend manager and so read on, goes through transfers that are up to ten years old and says we have not been able to move them on.
Of course Football.London got in on the act with the headline that “Gabriel drops Instagram hint over Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal team selection vs Man City” which was that he would play, and he is, but that was fairly obvious.
Meanwhile Caught Offside are quoting Tim Stillman knocking the Arsenal management saying “If Mustafi and Kolasinac are in the squad and Saliba isn’t, this is not a “long term project”, it is a “must win now” project and should be judged absolutely on immediate results.”
- Arsenal v Manchester City: the team and some of those past results…
- Arsenal v Manchester City; Saka and Martinelli together?
- Arsenal always do worse when they spend more on transfers: the facts
Anything is possible . Best of luck Arsenal give it your all , can’t ask any more 👍🤞.
Can’t make a move without getting a yellow
Ceballos almost gets his eyes poked out…I’ve seen our lads sent off for less.
yes
The commentators make a joke of the fact that VAR is not available to catch Fernandinho poke his hand twice into Ceballos;s face.
Worse still is Alan Smith is one of these brainless idiots.
GGG have you taken your Menace transformative pill again ( joking ) Totally out of the game
All of a sudden back in the game. That’s football
The goalkeeper kicks Martinelli on his shin almost breaking his leg.
The ref sees it but ignores the nastyness of the tackle nad allows City to handle the ball without a card, It is a terrible indictment of the officiating againsArsenal -with or without VAR,
Rudolf get back to Santas sleigh! Your brown nose is making you stink.m
1. Martinelli is starting to look good
2. Our lads look like they have never played next to each other. They are stopping and looking before passing.
3. We have fouled, to be sure but it seems each and every one of them results in a yellow.
Rudolf…did I miss something? Ceballos was poked twice in the face by Jesus. No? Nothing was called. Personally, I think a rugby player would have played on but is it not a foul in association football?
Read my comments, I see where we are…and we are not playing that well but it is also clear that we are not getting the calls.
That one is on our keeper
The wall was pushed sideways by a city player. It is a foul and opposition players must be one yard away from the wall. That is only the Law but not for a game involving Arsenal.
That does not excuse butter fingers in goal.
Well Foden would have been offside with VAR ha ha ha but that would be another day. So what the fcuk is the assistant on the line for?
didn’t cover himself in glory on the second either…too easy for city. In fairness, Gabriel was slow in moving over.
Menace…I agree, he seemed to be a couple feet offside. But, we were slow in covering.
Oh Damn! Just realised the assistant ref was looking for a red nose reindeer! That’s why he didn’t see Foden off side.
Alan Smith is another of these reindeer chimney specialists.
Pretty straight forward… Slow to close him down…and not boxing out the runners. Predictable result…Mustafi has had a tough time of it today.
We’ve been screwed!! The ref is a cheat the linesman is looking for …. and our keeper is in Kindergarten. The one that was sold (Martinez) was not good enough to keep even though he was better than Leno.
Every foul against us is ignored but the slightest touch that brings a city dive is a foul.
We deserve better but then it is the Mickey mouse cup.
Mahrez should have been booked for simulation, but perhaps Atkinson wants his shirt for his mistress.
Well as Menace says, that’s the Micky Mouse cup out of the way, which leaves avoiding relegation, winning the ELC thereby qualifying for the CL, and obviously, as we own it, winning the FA Cup.
I was hoping for the Quadruple but I suppose a treble will have to do.
As Trump would say. Fake News . We won by a land slide . Cheating won again . I’m calling in the army. It’s not bloody fair. I’m not playing any more. Best we concentrate on steadying our league position we were going nowhere in this competition. I do have faith in the manager and most of the team to pull us out of this perilous position. Good night. God bless
We lost…they were better than us. It didn’t help that our keeper lost his way on the second and that the third was offside. The first and the fourth were absolutely on us. Unfortunately, you could see that after the fourth we had packed up our bags.
There was not much worth looking at after Martinelli left the pitch except for some nice moves by Smith-Rowe.
Enjoy your time at home (even you trolls – Rudolf, that’s you, you cheeky bugger :))…hang on we’re all at home these days!, so crack a few and…Up the Guns!
There are lessons that can be taken from this loss. The wall can be pushed by opposition players. When VAR is not active, many things are pushed into selective vision.
Our goalkeeping coach needs to be replaced if the keepers are not coached to handle crosses and to control their six yard box. Coming out of the penalty area is leaving the goal open to a long distance shot.
Arsenal have an excellent group of players that need to learn aggressive forward movement rather than sideways and backward passing.
We will not get good officiating as long as the PGMOL are the chosen children of the FA.
City deserved their win, even without the help of the referee.
I was disappointed though, with our goalie. He was not the master of his area and appeared to be at fault on a number of occasions. He was signed with a good international pedigree, I seem to recall
so there is no real excuse.
Menace
“We will not get good officiating as long as the PGMOL are the chosen children of the FA”
I do think you go a little overboard at times, but by and large you are correct, we are constantly screwed by the PGMOL and their agents in Black. Of course they are not to blame for everything, but they certainly haven’t helped. Anyway I have put up some stats on the ‘Leicester heading for all time record number of penalties, and the away win figures’ thread, you might like.
Happy Christmas all 🎄🥂😀
Arsenal 1-4 Man City was a fake away win to Man City as did not beat Arsenal by themselves in the Carabao Cup q/f match at the Ems tonight. But Atkinson the match centrereferee did the fake away Cup win for them.
But no accountability? Atkinson and his 2 match assistants had in their anti-Arsenal match refereeing this time in the Carabao Cup but not in the PL plotted to heap a fake away Cup defeat result on Arsenal. But is that all? Is there nothing that Arsenal can do to sterm the trend?
Michael Oliver did a 2-1 fake defeat result to Arsenal away to Everton in the PL at Goodison Park last Saturday night and got away with it. No accountability followed later to hold ref Michael Oliver responsible for the Arsenal defeat to Everton.
But is this how Arsenal will continue to keep quiet without taking any action to stop the PGMO from battering them with fake defeat results in domestic competitions this season?
Nitram – I agree that I go overboard by justifiably so. Look at the free kick with the wall lined up and the push of the players alongside the wall. That is a foul and no matter how the ball ends up in the net it cannot be a goal!! Remember the penalty for some other club that was chalked off because the VAR replay looked like there was a touch of the ball.
Unfortunately I cannot replay the incident as NOW do not give me recording facility.
There’s no doubt that City were deserving winners but with so much officiating assistance it makes it bitter.
Menace.
As I said, by and large I agree with you, we get screwed. Look at those stats I pointed you towards in the other thread, they are ridiculous.
What I think some people don’t realise, or at least don’t want to concede, is that it only takes a relatively small tilt of the pitch to make a big difference.
As you will see if you take a look at those stats there was a 30% and 70% shift against us in those penalty stats respectively, between pre Mike Riley and post Mike Riley being at the head of the PGMOL. When you consider just a 9% drop in average points per season was enough to see us fall from 1st and 2nd place finishes in the PL, to 3rd and 4th and then worse. I have done many analogy’s on here demonstrating just how much difference tiny percentages make in elite sport. Percentage shifts like those are enormous obstacles to overcome.
Anyway, take a look at them,they are damming.
@ Nitram
I’ve just seen your work on the “before and after” penalty issue. Fantastic bit of analysis. I knew Riley had his agents working against us but I didn’t realise it was that stark.
Can you do free kicks, fouls, cards and offside decisions next please? 😉
Mikey
Thanks.
Those statistics are shameful. As you say the contrast between the before and after is stark, so stark in fact that I would of thought it impossible that it had gone unnoticed at Arsenal, in the media, in fact across the whole football community, yet not a word. I for one have posted similar stats many times, as have others, yet as you know people, many of whom are Arsenal fans, still insist nothing is amiss. Can you imagine Man Utd or Chelsea staying silent about them, even if they just used there allies in the media to do there agitating ? Not a chance. I remember a spell when Chelsea seemed, in fact were having a hard time of it penalty wise. Mourinho wouldn’t shut up about it and low and behold the media jumped all over it, with appropriate headlines. The article that sticks in my mind is one by Martin Samuels. It was either in the Mail or London Evening Standard I cant remember which, and it ran with a headline much like this:
MOURINHO IS RIGHT. CHELSEA ARE HARD DONE BY WITH PENALTIES
or something very similar. Suffice to say the media campaign worked and the penalties returned. Now this ‘drought’, if I can call it that, lasted about 2 months and ran as I recall from October to November, and was on the back of some high profile ‘diving’ accusations involving Diago Costa.
We have had over 10 years of this **** and not a word. Not from Arsenal, not from the media and noticeably not from Samuels.
As for your request. I’ll give it a go but alas, the way we are going we may well be in the Championship by the time I get it done 😉
Nuno Espirito Santo (Wolves manager) said it loud and clear that the official (Lee Mason) was not good enough to officiate at the top level.
I would say that PGMOL are not good enough to officiate at professional sport anywhere and at any level. They have no integrity nor do they have transparency in their selection process that lends me to accuse them of racism. They do not appoint officials on a free process but select officials to manipulate the league without having any checks and balances.