Arsenal 2023/24

kwlap

Giroud's highlights from the Milan game this morning was not what I was expecting but definitely worth the watch!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37A-ONyiO-M

Geez I felt sorry for the keeper. Thought he’d made a couple of game saving headers. What did you think about that first red? I don’t know the rules and he did make a lot of dangerous contact, but…surely the attacker has to take some responsibility or we’d never see aerial balls contested…

No idea how Kovacic is still on the pitch. What an absolute joke.

Get the fudge in!! 10mins left and we are up!!!

!!!! Magic performance!!!!

Caught the last ten minutes and what a result. Hopefully no injuries or niggles going into the Chelsea game.

huge! only two unbeaten teams and its the north london derby!

Justice served there. Played against 12 the entire game. Take the goal no matter how it comes.

COYG!

What a fudgeing result. We'd lost 12 times in a row to them in the league. Had to get a result against them eventually. Was sure Kovacic was going to end up scoring the winner. Did Haaland touch the ball?

4 shots. they only had 4 shots. And the last of them came in the 58min! wild defensive effort!

And the only shot on target was in the 5th minute. Gabriel and Saliba in particular were immense.

Saliba absolutely bossed Haaland, and not for the first time. 
Awesome to see Martinelli and Partey back from injury.
Great result, well primed for the international break, hopefully Saka back afterwards.
Tough run of games when we return. Chelsea, West Ham, Newcastle all coming up. 

Man City had four shots. That's the fewest they have managed in a Premier League game since April 2010, also against Arsenal. City's last shot of the game came in the 58th minute. Their only shot on target was in the 5th minute.

Offensively there's more we could have done to dominate the game, but defensively this was an immense performance. They didn't have a sniff. 

I thought the game was a bit of a tale of the missing players. 
City missing Rodri and De Bruyne saw us out-play them in midfield. 
But we weren't able to properly take advantage with our usual front three either missing or out of position. Might have been quite a different game if we had Martinelli/Jesus/Saka across the front from the start. 

Was travelling in the US so missed the Lens game, got delayed on the way home but managed to catch the last 10 minutes. Lost my shark in baggage claim at Heathrow! Such a monkey off the back. Howard Webb and his cronies can fudge right off. How can it be so obvious that 24 hours later he is saying Oliver got it wrong? Only underscores that VAR has to go from being an error based system to the right decisions. That was a great example where they could have sent him to the screen for a look after a bit of a natter.

Can talk about not wanting to "ruin the game" or wanting to keep it at "eleven vs eleven" as much as they want, but that doesn't seem to be a consideration when it's our player who's tackle is being reviewed and that's the same ref who gave Martinelli 2 yellow cards in the space of 10 seconds for basically the one incident. Obviously the first for Kovacic should have been red but can understand how they went yellow being his first foul etc. There's no excuse for the second one not being yellow.

I don't understand why football can't do VAR the same way rugby does, which is currently on display at the world cup. You get to hear the full conversation between ref and video refs, see every angle as they look at them and they make sure everyone is happy and in agreement before announcing the decision, and then the ref goes and explains the decision to the captains and you get to hear that on TV too. Just makes it look so easy. The audio released of the Liverpool fudge up the other week genuinely sounds like a group on work experience who have no idea what they are doing.
Cricket does it really well too, although that's a bit different in that it's either out or not out (eg, LBW or whether the batsman hit it etc) without the subjective interpretation on whether something is a foul, and you don't really have any argument with a video decision.

ajc28

I don't understand why football can't do VAR the same way rugby does, which is currently on display at the world cup. You get to hear the full conversation between ref and video refs, see every angle as they look at them and they make sure everyone is happy and in agreement before announcing the decision, and the the ref goes and explains the decision to the captains and you get to hear that on TV too. Just makes it look so easy. The audio released of the Liverpool fudge up the other week genuinely sounds like a group on work experience kids who have no idea whey they are doing.
Cricket does it really well too, although that's a bit different in that it's either out or not out (eg, LBW or whether the batsman hit it etc) without the subjective elements on whether something is a foul, and you don't really have any argument with a video decision.

same sort of thing with NFL, coach reviews a call and its done out in the open so fans can see and hear what's happening.
Cricket is slightly different in that you're looking for absolutes, was the ball hit, where did it pitch etc. the laws are exact whereas football has some nuances about how the laws are applied. But still, having the comms between VAR and the ref being public would help fans understand the process more.

The philosophical difference between VAR and all other noted examples is that VAR intervenes when a clear and obvious error is made, which introduces a huge amount of subjectivity into the game. Move towards a "was the correct decision made" model, and you're in line with cricket, rugby, tennis, NFL, and tiddlywinks.

Throw in some tighter communication requires (i.e. make sure you're saying check complete player is onside to avoid the Liverpool example) and you'll be fine.

Pretty average first. Not creating much and chelsea are happy to let us dominate possession. Unlucky handball but not outrageous. Hope for a bigger 2nd half. 

Ffs. And they score almost immediately in the 2nd. 

Raya might be playing Ramsdale into the team. Eish. 

Got away with that. Two shark keeping displays. Almost nicked all three at the end there as well.

Crap performance and crap game but even at 2-0 down I didn’t feel like we were out of it. Not often in my two decades supporting this team have I been able to say that with a straight face.

Also, I remember how much we all wanted Mudryk a year or so ago. I’m so glad we lost out on him.

Worst first half all season, god we were lucky!
Raya was awful, Jorghino, Zinchenko, average,
Saka was played out of the bulk if the game, credit to the Chelsea defence.
The handball call was harsh for sure, but under the current rules it was a pen, Saliba's arm was extended, it had stopped moving so not really going towards the ball but still making himself larger.
Second goal from Mudryk was a cross gone wrong but Raya was too far off his line.
Our come back was great, but we waited for an error from their keeper - who I thought was weak physically the whole game and we didnt capitalise on it. He should have conceded a pen for the charge out and leap into Jesus.
Rice's shot from deep was a peach!
The ine actual decent piece of play was the one monent that Saka found space for a ovely cross but the touch from Troussard to guide the ball behind the keeper was superb.
Take the 1 point, remain unbeaten and hope the Spurs slip up.

Yea the keeper missing and punching a player, I never understand why that isn’t a pen. Especially as Sanchez was no where near getting the ball and looked like he clattered Jesus. 

kwlap

Yea the keeper missing and punching a player, I never understand why that isn’t a pen. Especially as Sanchez was no where near getting the ball and looked like he clattered Jesus. 

wasn't even a punch, he came flying out hand raised for the ball, missed everything as he was so late, body checked Jesus into the defenders. It's a foul all day and would have been blown outside the bo if an outfielder had done the same. But nothing from VAR.

VAR checked it and cleared it. Not sure it’s a var issue, rather a rule of the game issue. 

kwlap

VAR checked it and cleared it. Not sure it’s a var issue, rather a rule of the game issue. 

Given Howard Webb confirmed Onana in same boat should have been a penalty I was very surprised it wasn't referred to on screen referee.

few changes to the team from last game,
Oodegaard, Gabriel rested, Jesus injury. Smith Rowe, Kiwior and Nketiah start.

Saka Capt

Smashed em. Soo glad Eddie got the goals. He has really needed them. Also good for the squad rotation 

Sheffield absolutely pants! They played defensively for the first 35 and then we managed to unlock them. Nketiah just sublime, all three of his goals were peaches. A really good game to test the depth of the squad, and overall I'd say we came out with new confidence that the rest of the squad can compete for starting spots.

Eddie’s third goal was an absolute stunner. Any striker in the world would be proud of that. 

Very happy for Eddie. Hopefully he can kick on a bit.
How long we got Jesus out? Been pretty injury prone since we signed him, sadly. 

Was surprised not to see Smith Rowe play against westham. But it turns out he has a new knee injury. Expected to be out for a couple of weeks. Really disappointing ay. Hope it’s not another arsenal star who never reaches potential due to injury. 

Partey, Jesus, ESR are starting to look like long term liabilities for us. Cracking on their day but availability is going to cost us.

Feist old battle this! Cards being dished out, no complaints so far though, game needs a goal.
Dammit, just asI hit post Newcastle score a scrappy one.
VAR checking, is there a push? did the ball go out? was there an offside?
looking for every reason to erase this.

wow, after all that it stands.

Thought that was a very clear push on gabriel, home town call that

Fudge,
Dropped points there, spurs the only unbeaten team now.
Massive question marks on the goal, looked to be out!, Pretty clear push on Gabriel, think the offside was ok.
The Newcastle midfielder who attacked Jorginho a couple of times (elbow to the head and shoulder to the back) was lucky to be remain on the field.
But fair play to Neecastle, they held out for 15+ minutes and held us scoreless.

Fudge VAR, that was a shambles. "Couldn't get the right angle on the ball" - then WHY THE FUCK DO YOU EXIST. Poorly implemented tech is worse than no tech at all.

Beyond all of that - Raya needs to ride the pine. Bring back Ramsdale and stabilise at the back, especially in big high pressure games.