Arsenal

[Loik V credern]

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For the first time in 16 years, Arsenal have lost four games in a row; for the first time in 36 years, they’ve lost to Brighton! And what a performance that was from the Seagulls, who are now tenth in the table! Arsenal stay sixth, and presumably will remain there even if they accumulate no further points this season.

 

The most surprising thing there is..the Arsenal team of 2002 lost four in a row ?

[davidcotton]

2 hours ago, Gotters said:

in a lousy team full of low confidence and not good enough players Cech stands out as the worst of the lot for me

 

Cech quite understandably has never been quite the same since that injury.  Shame. 

[Loik V credern]

Quote

“When you have just the trousers on it’s easy to take the trousers off as well.

 

“But when you are naked completely you have to find the shirt to try to put it on again and dress normal again.”

 

how much does Wenger get paid a year again

[Larsen B]

I'm actually smiling at an Arsenal away game in 2018.

 

45 minutes to ruin it, lads.

[SeanR]

what Hogwarts house is Wenger representing?

[wev]

27 minutes ago, Larsen B said:

I'm actually smiling at an Arsenal away game in 2018.

 

45 minutes to ruin it, lads.

 

Theres the home tie too

[suzzopher]

A professional performance away from home? What’s the catch?

[Stagger Lee]

Losing 3-0 in the second leg.

[Baring]

Wenger In! 

[Loik V credern]

It's so Wenger and Arsenal to never slide too much though. As the first 4 consecutive losses since 2002 stat (despite the regular calamity since) shows. imo says more for the quality in the squad than Wenger getting it right. 

 

sorry, shitting up the thread

[Shoes]

 

 this guy

[wev]

Cech saved a penalty!

[wev]

And kept a clean sheet!

[Gotters]

the pen save received by far the biggest (ironic) cheer of the day, and the follow up abuse to Deeney was the only moment the ground raised itself above a murmur all game.

 

the whole thing was utterly 'meh' - we were pretty poor, especially at the back, and they were terrible at both ends of the pitch.

 

it felt like the first afternoon match on the Saturday of the Emirates cup in the ground.

[Silent Runner]

It was 20 years ago yesterday Marc Overmars got the winner up in old Trafford. I can remember it like it was last week - we're all getting old lads.

 

This article in the guardian is really good. And interviews that Arsenal fan with the black jacket and the curly who became a kind of cult hero that season. Great days.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/mar/14/golden-goal-marc-overmars-for-arsenal-v-manchester-united-1998

[wev]

Overmars

[Baring]

10 hours ago, Silent Runner said:

It was 20 years ago yesterday Marc Overmars got the winner up in old Trafford. I can remember it like it was last week - we're all getting old lads.

 

This article in the guardian is really good. And interviews that Arsenal fan with the black jacket and the curly who became a kind of cult hero that season. Great days.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/mar/14/golden-goal-marc-overmars-for-arsenal-v-manchester-united-1998

Oh man 1998 doesn’t seem that long ago. 

[wev]

I was in Year 9 at school when we won the Double that season, I did an assignment for GCSE English the following year which was essentially a season report that my English teacher scored highly, he was an Arsenal fan too

[SeanR]

so, when we get CSKA in the draw tomorrow...

[The Fox]

Another good performance from Xhaka. He’s been in decent form for a while now, fair play to him.

[humdrum]

CSKA it is...

[SeanR]

never in doubt.

 

now, who wants tomorrows lotto numbers?

[Larsen B]

First match in, what, 3 weeks?

 

Hopefully that's enough for Laca to remember how to score.

[suzzopher]

Got to hand it to Aubameyang, on a hat trick and let’s his teammate take the penalty.

 

Not a great performance, but still can’t complain too much about 3 points and a clean sheet.

[JDubYes]

Went (for only maybe the third time this season), and haven’t rewatched the highlights as yet, so I may not be entirely accurate on some detail, but generally I came out pretty happy, even after a first half in which we were relatively abysmal and lacking in ideas, and probably only went unpunished because Stoke are a bit shit.

 

Anyway, I’m on my phone, so here’s a random grab-bag of thoughts, with apologies in advance for any grammatical / auto-correctical errors...

 

I’m not necessarily the biggest fan of schadenfruede at the expense of those worse off, but I greatly enjoyed the Stoke fans getting a taste of their own medicine in the last 10-15 minutes. The away fans are often the loudest part of the crowd (especially when you sit in the Clock End as I generally do, partially due to my normal companion hating the actual sight of the clock), but the Stoke fans were there seemingly just to rile the home fans, rather than support their own team, and were inordinately pleased with themselves when they started their usual chant about the (then prone) Aaron Ramsey, only to be loudly booed in response.

 

(Yes, okay, precious snowflakes, blah blah, but I don’t care - anyone joining in that chant is a bit of a cunt, and if the Arsenal fan’s late retorts about Stoke’s imminent relegation come to pass I shan’t miss that team or it’s fans next year.)

 

Speaking of the home fans, I thought the ground was maybe two-thirds full, and subdued, again. Not surprising perhaps given the general malaise and the fact we’re already playing a constant stream of dead-rubbers, but still.

 

We were pretty crap in the first half, lacking in ideas and content to try and keep the ball, but frequently unable to even do that. Wenger seemed to have half an eye on the Europa, but not playing people also seems slightly odd after such a long break (especially in Lacazette’s case). Welbeck tried hard, and offered a spark, but showed his usual flaws. Ozil was subdued/frustrated. Elneny put in his usual energetic, slightly messy shift (and I remain a fan - he always seems to play pretty well when I go). Mustafi won every one-on-one with someone coming at him, and generally seemed pretty accomplished, though Stoke weren’t necessarily the toughest test. Aubameyang remained on the periphery, as often seems to be the case for long periods. Wilshere was trying to probe, as always, but his style seems to suit Laca being in front of him more than Auba. I barely noticed anyone else.

 

The 2nd started much the same, but as soon as Laca came on for Welbeck, playing as a 9 while Auba moved further to the left, the game changed. Laca did his usual solid hold-up / link-up play, while making probing runs up top, and Auba was given more space to run into the channels. Mkhitaryan and Xhaka coming on seemed to further the advantage, and I’m now looking forward to seeing what Mkhi and Laca look like together on Thursday.

 

Oh, and I also liked that Auba had no issues with not taking the second penalty, despite being on a hat-trick, and was actually the first to congratulate Laca (possibly because he’s really bloody fast).

[The Fox]

Dat Ramsey goal.

 

 

[wev]

Pity theyve left it till this is the only competition left to actually put in these performances, cant just turn it on in April/May.

 

Why does Mhkitaryan wear #77 in the Europa League but #7 in the PL?

[SeanR]

6 minutes ago, wev said:

Pity theyve left it till this is the only competition left to actually put in these performances, cant just turn it on in April/May.

 

Why does Mhkitaryan wear #77 in the Europa League but #7 in the PL?

 

registers as #7 for united, or something like that

[Stagger Lee]

Because Sanchez had already used number 7 earlier in the comp. 

[SeanR]

Just now, Stagger Lee said:

Because Sanchez had already used number 7 earlier in the comp. 

 

that was it!