Crazy. This is just about the worst series of injuries we've had in recent times, and that's saying something!
So that means the following are unavailable for tonight;
Ospina
Koscielny
Monreal
Hayden
Chambers (suspended)
Rosicky
Arteta
Wilshere
Ozil
Ramsey
Diaby
Walcott
Gnabry
If Debuchy plays CB as Wenger has suggested then we might be seeing;
Szczesny
Bellerin-Debuchy-Mertesacker-Gibbs
Flamini-Cazorla
Sanchez-Ox-Welbeck
Giroud
Apparently Hayden is back in training, and Coquelin is back too - so one or the other could be in for this game?
Good call Paulm! Half time 1-0 we should be at 2-0 between Mertesackers header and Welbecks disallowed goal, couldn't believe how soft that foul was! Lee Mason has been pretty inconsistent with what is/isn't a foul and what is/isn't a card.
good double save from sze!
several times today when we have been on attack, our players seem to all have different ideas of which runs to make or where the ball is going to go. it seems very odd.
and as i type this we score a 2nd....
fudge yea santi!
ohh and that was sex from Giroud. what a touch
Needed that. The first half was very similar to the United game but thankfully this time we got a goal. Was only going to be a matter of time until they scored though so was very relieved to get the 2nd then 3rd quickly. Since it's Arsenal (and Newcastle), I briefly had fears of 3-3 when they got their goal but there was never really any danger of them scoring again. Very nice goals today and Cazorla has finally found his scoring boots.
Amazing what a week and a bit of confidence can do for a team.Not a perfect game but pretty bloody good.Thought Ox was decent and our front 3 looked pretty good too.Bellerin impressed going foward and was reasonably solid on defence and Santi scoring last week has obviously given him a bit of confidence.Overall a good result and nice to hear the crowd chanting for AW!
Important 3 points
Gibbs and Ox have been superb this season.
Welbeck less so.
Nice to see 3 "junior" players on the field.
E's Flat Ah's Flat Too
Agree with most of the above but to add a couple of other points...
Debuchy was excellent as a CB, if we need someone to fill in over the next while I think I'll take him there rather than Monreal. Despite the co- commentator (who was frankly terrible with his adamant narratives) claiming we weren't tested at the back I beg to differ. Big ups go to Mertesacker and Bellerin who snuffed out their game plan from the first minute - they were going long to Cisse and the Sack had him in his pocket, or they would hit Ameobi to run at Bellerin/Debuchy and he was similarly unsuccessful. Very good backline performance considering the lack of training/playing time those four would have ever had together in that formation.
I also think Flamini deserves a lot of credit today, as well as for some of his other recent performances (Stoke aside...)
Hard to believe with all the sh*t that gets talked that we've actually won 5 of our last 6 now.
Excellent to see Giroud bounce back from Stoke with a good performance against an established and very decent backline. And Cazorla looks to be coming right with his finishing.
Wonder what Sanchez' passing accuracy percentage is? Big weakness in his game, I hope Wenger is working on that with him all the time. Lets not forget that's pretty much what got him dropped for a week early on in the season. He needs to be better there, for all his talent in the rest of his game.
Ox with some concerning giveaways today but overall another excellent performance, what a player he's turning into.
Yea I think the ox is destined to be in midfield, he does look like a natural fit when he plays there. Wenger's always had a strong belief that young midfielders should spend a lot of time as a wide forward during their developmental years. I read that he believes it teaches them how to keep the ball better as they're often squished between the opposition and the sideline and under pressure to hold onto it.
We've seen him do it with Diaby, Hleb, Denilson, Wilshere, Ramsey, and even Fabregas on occasion.
Of all of them I'd say Hleb and the Ox were/are probably the best wide players, although Wilshere has shown he's pretty decent there too.
I like Ox in the middle too, he has those bursts through the middle that open a lot of space which can be very helpful. You're right Paul, few missed passes / controls in the game that were concerning, but playing in a (fairly) foreign role can put your composure out a little I am sure.
Also would add to that, he needs to gain better spacial awareness as isn't aware where defenders are quite often - but again, that comes with time spent playing that role, which I would welcome.
Great result today, happy for Giroud and Cazorla.
I'll add to that with a big thumbs up to the collective performance today - we pressed and won the ball back so quick all over the field today. Great to see.
Agree about Chamberlain. He could make a career in a number of positions but could really be a world beater in a central role. Got everything in his locker really. Could be unstoppable once he adds regular end product to his game. Pretty good stuff from Debuchy in a makeshift role none of us had really considered too.
Agree about Chamberlain. He could make a career in a number of positions but could really be a world beater in a central role. Got everything in his locker really. Could be unstoppable once he adds regular end product to his game. Pretty good stuff from Debuchy in a makeshift role none of us had really considered too.
I'd love to see the Ox hitting them more too, he's got a hell of a strike on him.
You guys noticed how Cazorla is just taking the piss with his left footed and right footed set pieces? In that game he took a few free kicks with his left and a few corners with his right! To top it off in the recent video Arsenal.com produced featuring Szy, Cazorla, Podolski, Ox for a tyre company where they were shooting into the tyres Cazorla hit them all left footed! Mental the level of talent in that guy.
Also Santi hit 30 today, I wonder how many more seasons the boss will give him, maybe one more after this before a move back to Spain/USA?
Also Santi hit 30 today, I wonder how many more seasons the boss will give him, maybe one more after this before a move back to Spain/USA/Wellington?
So glad the train wreck that is Liverpool FC is our next destination. They and Brendan Rogers are the media bashing victims at the moment. I like it when they don't talk about us for a change.
Won't be taking anything for granted. We were 4-0 down after 20 minutes to there last season.
This game has fudge-up written all over it.
Was facebooking my cousin who lives in England and he reckons Santi is getting a shark load of stick for his penalty , apparently he was disrespectful and arrogant
Decent result at home despite the makeshift defence, the Ox is having a great season so far.
Anfield away is always fun, home of the best finish to an English top division football season ever. Deluded City fans will think otherwise
Was facebooking my cousin who lives in England and he reckons Santi is getting a shark load of stick for his penalty , apparently he was disrespectful and arrogant
This grinds my gears.
It's the Eduardo dive all over again.
Everyone else does it, then we do it and suddenly it's the worst thing in the world.
Ridiculous.
Was facebooking my cousin who lives in England and he reckons Santi is getting a shark load of stick for his penalty , apparently he was disrespectful and arrogant
Where is said 'stick' occurring? Haven't seen any in the Sunday papers I've glanced at today.
www.kiwifromthecouch.blogspot.com
Was facebooking my cousin who lives in England and he reckons Santi is getting a shark load of stick for his penalty , apparently he was disrespectful and arrogant
It's weird. Is it really that arrogant? I was confused on PLP when commentator was saying Cazorla should be expecting some rough tackles coming his way from the Newcastle players because of that. It's just a penalty isn't it? I don't understand how it's more arrogant than smashing the absolute life out of the ball in to the top of the net. Cazorla can see the keeper is going to dive, so why not go central. You run a risk of the keeper going the right way no matter what.
Some tweets, pffft
http://goonertalk.com/2014/12/14/richard-keys-cazo...
Richard Keys, who cares, zero respect for that s*xist piece of crap.
Cudicini, professional bench warmer.
I've seen a lot of panenkas yet I've never heard criticism for any of them until this one.
I mean come on, it was his birthday!
Bit of strange one. Takes a lot of confidence to do and if you score it looks classy but if the keeper stays or you overhit it and chip it over you just look like an idiot. Don't see what the problem is though, players do them all the time. Usually means we're doing well when everyone hates us though. Bit fed up with sympathy and everyone feeling sorry for us.
I understand the comments about the rough tackles. If someone took the piss out of my keeper like that I'd leave a foot in/lead with the elbow, but when the games over it's done and you move on.
Who remembers this? I think RvP copped flack for it before:
FWIW I think giving players stick for this is like giving other rugby nations stick for using drop kicks. It's in the rules, but for some reason we're above using it.
Richard Keys can do one the hairy nonce.
Three for me, and two for them.
I dont see why anyone cop any flack for a peno like that.
As HW outlined it's a great way to score. If you hammer it down the middle the keeper may save with his legs as he dives away, but with the chip he's got no chance unless he stands completely still.
When pirlo did it everyone just talked about how amazing he was.
Fudgeing hell, apparently Ox is out now. Getting a bit ridiculous even by our standards. Anyway, CL draw in a couple of hours..
We have Monaco, which i am very happy with. Not so happy about the news on Ox. He was just hitting his straps. Any idea on how long he will be out?
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