A bit of a nothing game against Southampton today. It’s at home, where we’re unbeaten in 22 games against them. They are also very deep in a relegation battle.
That said, Arsenal are having big problems focusing when games don’t matter. Burnley are right up our backsides again, with just 2 points in it (they have played one more games than us), so if we don’t want further humiliation, it’d make sense for us to try and create some daylight.
The Southampton story is an interesting one this year. They’ve relied heavily on their neverending supply of talented kids, along with their keen eye for scouting to see them through absolutely brutal summers. That strategy isn’t a long-term one, and this year, it initially seemed like they’d hired poorly, but now it just looks like they sold too many players and recruited badly. Puel went to Leicester and they’re having a solid season (despite losing to Newcastle yesterday), whilst the Saints flirt hard with relegation.
The game also carries a pointless milestone for us… if we win, it’d take our win total at the Emirates to 150. What a moment, bust me out a party popper and let’s celebrate with an expensive pint of Carlsberg.
Injury news is Mikki will not be making it, due to an injury on Thursday. Ospina wouldn’t be making it anyway, but he’s also injured. Southampton are missing Lemina, a player linked with us last year.
I’m hoping to see another rampaging Aaron Ramsey game. His season is looking like a fine one. As much as I love watching him devastate shite teams, I really think we should be looking to sell him in the summer at top whack. Replace him with someone who can maintain fitness all the time. I know that’s not a popular opinion, but I do think the fanbase are desperate to grab onto anything, and I’m just not quite sure I’m a believer.
No doubt in a smarter system, we’d get to see his true potential. If the Welshman has any sense, he’ll flee Arsenal if Wenger is offered a new deal. There is no excuse for wasting your prime years under the failing Frenchman, unless of course no one else will give you the money you want… then you’re not really in it for the right reasons. So whatever.
Right, that’s me done. Enjoy the game, we’ll be recording a podcast for your ears on Monday morning.
SEE YOU IN THE COMMENTS.
I rate Rob Holding, he needs polishing but his mentality is top drawer.
Welbeck just needs to grow a head where his feet are and he’d be fine.
Brilliant
How poor is wilshere keeps losein the ball Jack prickshere
CC
Always rated Welbz..
Really? Wellbeck is a poor man’s Heskey with pace.
Burnley will be motivated to finish in front of us. We are so shit. Hard to pick an Arsenal motm.
Wilshere is very poor
We can do better.
Tony
but 3 year deal for Wellwide now
Of course. A yes man deserves his pay rise doesn’t he?
God Wilshere pick yourself off the fuckin pitch
Make wilshere captain what a joke
Exciting and edge of seat stuff we are playing
Big thank you to Wenger for treating us all to such a tight game…not easy considering we are playing against a team close to being relegated.
Btw the Welbeck miss is better than any CB clearance seen for awhile with Laca poised for a lap in…
We need a top class right back, centre back and centre midfield before you can even really consider us top 4 threat.
Wilshere is fucking shit. Never rated him.
Wilshire is so shit plz never play this idot again
Nah Welbeck shouldn’t be at a top 5 club.
Wilshere shouldn’t be at a top 10 club. Fucking dumbshit player not worth the trouble
Lol Elneny what a cunt.
Wilshere is a fucking little cheat
Wilshere was pathetic and thuggish there.
He never let go of the short even when they play was dead.
He’s the cause of the row. He’s the reason why Elneny was sent off.
Wishere needs to fuc* off.
Wilshere should just Fuck off. Rubbish player done nothing and causing all the trouble
Elneny off too. Another fucking idiot
Wiltshire should have had red and should never play for us again.
Jack could’ve got 2 yellows there. Pulling and then aggression. Idiot Elneny there.
Pashunnn.
Wtf just happened here????
Can’t the ref send off AW for being a shit manager?
Mustafi’s positioning could be improved with better coaching, but his decision-making might be beyond remedy. Watch their first goal again: no good defender waits for his keeper to make a play on that ball; you clear the ball yourself. Maybe, possibly, his lack of assertiveness there is down to the lax atmosphere created by Wenger, but that is not the decision or mentality of a quality CB.
Is wilshere reali England’s best midfielder? Fucking Bournemouth reject
Wenger just sits on the bench like a lifeless dick.
A lot of fake tough guy stuff in this Arsenal side, Elneny another whopper.
Cedric got Elnenys Handprint on his face looool
Jack should have been sent off there. If he had stayed in the floor after the push then fine but the idiot jumped right back in the Southampton player’s face.
Jackass Wilshere.
Dissenter
And the at the end of the game gets up and pretends to be involved.
Pashunnn
Was gonna say the same thing. Bet people say Elneny was dumb but Jack showed passion.
*then
Wenger wouldn’t have seen anything of course and Wilshire will play the next game
Wilshere was finished some time ago. False dawn a few months back. Wilshere out.
New GK. New CB. New CDM. New manager.
Take the three points and run for the hills. That was honestly a very poor performance from Arsenal. Southampton deserved more for that effort.
As for Jack Wilshere – fucking worthless punk. Deserved a Red for that shirt grab and tear, but the Referee was useless pretty much all match. Again, take the three, its a steal.
Re Wilshere: I believed he could get back to the level he was but that 2 year stint out of the game has totally killed off his instincts.
Looool
Being a lil hard on Jack here.
A cunt he may be but he is our cunt.
We should drop the offer on the table for Wilshere down further to make sure that he gets offended and walks away.
That should have just been a professional foul to break up play, grab thew shirt and fucking let it go.
Instead Jack attempted to disrobe the player.
I don’t blame the Southampton player, the natural instinct is to challenge anyone that challenges you in a disrespectful manner.
Banford
Didn’t see the stats you went to get yesterday about Ramsey from last season mate?
Odd that..
New manager
Two new CBs
New RB
New GK
New DM
AT LEAST
Brilliant from Ronaldo
“Welbeck with the most confusing performance of the season? Was he great/lucky/poor? All three?” – @WengerOutBot
That was an inch perfect pass from Gareth Bale top Ronadlo, seemed laser guided.
@steve yep…and two years playing together to gel….wenger out
It’s funny that Wenger thinks we’re actually in good form while we’re playing shocking stuff honestly. Bar like 4 games this season we’ve been bad to unconvincing
If xhaka did what the English cheat wilshere did the media would be all over him. Give him a new contract and make him captain??
Ronaldo taken off in the 63rd minute. Zidane definitely gone in the summer
Charlie He was out most of last season with a hamstring issue. When he did return for a bit in the second half of the season (13 games) he was solid, including his excellent performance in the FAC final. I don’t have to spend my free time chasing down stats for you; his pass completion was 88% in the PL, which is pretty damn good for a box-to-box CM. He’s going to get a new contract — as he deserves — and all this discussion will be moot. Ramsey has been excellent this season in every respect, including in disciplined… Read more »
@Marko
It’s just Wenger doing his usual buy some more time routine. He’s trying to change the narrative to the season. He knows he can go on a run here against a bunch of bad teams to finish the season. He’s trying to make it out that he’s doing a fantastic job.
Opinions on Welbeck / the tweet re Welbeck above? I feel like this has at least a chance of dividing opinion here.
Newcastle away after going to Moscow should be interesting.
his pass completion was 88% in the PL, which is pretty damn good for a box-to-box CM Not a box to box midfielder. Ramsey has been excellent this season in every respect, including in disciplined positional play — see both AC Milan matches — which was the biggest mark against him. Sure he has been. Probably half a dozen games where he’s been cluelessly caught out of position but of course you’ll mention the FA Cup final and the Milan games. I suggest in the future when you criticise someone for foolishly rating Xhaka all the time remember you do… Read more »
One, please cite these many games and moments when Ramsey was “cluelessly” out of position to the detriment of the team. We would all like to review and scrutinize these. Two, if he’s not a box-to-box midfielder at Arsenal, what is he? (Note that Wenger has often played Wilshere or Ozil in front of Ramsey and another CM, thereby eliminating the possibility that Ramsey was being played as a CAM. Note, further, that it is obvious Wenger expects Ramsey to get forward in his assigned role and not simply hold, thereby eliminating the possibility that he is playing him as… Read more »
And by the way, a B2B CM is precisely what no less an expert than Frank Lampard thinks Ramsey is.
Someone like Ruben Neves is a player we should be looking at. A deep-lying passer that is actually a good at passing.
Again today,Xhaka tries these ambitious long passes and it’s tumbleweed every time. An awkward silence just descends on the Emirates when he tries to use the laces to pick someone out.
Lampard told the Evening Standard: ‘I’m an admirer of Aaron Ramsey and Arsenal must try to secure his long-term future at the club. ‘Ramsey has just over a year left on his contract and once again Arsenal have got themselves in a position where one of their key player’s deals is running out. ‘It will probably come as no surprise to people that I like Ramsey. Like me, he makes late runs in the penalty area and he showed that with aplomb for the second goal at AC Milan last week. ‘One wonders if he’s ever felt he’s the main… Read more »
Banford I didn’t ask you to go get stats, you stated you were going to get back to me with stats that showed Ramsey wasn’t “largely ineffectual” last season as I had stated. I said as much based on what I’d seen, then when I saw he’d mad 13 starts in the league scoring 1 goal and getting 4 assists it made a lot of sense to me. You then argued and said goals/assists don’t tell the whole story and that Ramsey was really good the other side of play defensively last season. I don’t remember that being the case,… Read more »
Beating Southampton…a nailed-on relegated team this season isn’t anything to crow about. Wenger presides over another win. It sickens me to think that these insignificant victories will help him argue the case for yet another disgusting extension to his contract. It’s likely arsenal will finish 6th, but finish strong in the Europa cup. This will be enough to get this leech off the hook. It’s fckin depressing…..I wish this cnut would just retire and fck off to France.
Charlie Nope. Not what happened. What I did see is that he was out much of the year with a hamstring issue. His stats for the games he did play are quite solid. Ramsey is a CM and should be assessed as that. Goals and assists are something of a bonus for a player that plays the role he plays for us. As someone who was long critical of Ramsey for his Hollywood antics and pointless backheels to no one, what I remember from his play last season ( when he returned from injury) is that he had eliminated this… Read more »
Serie A is so crap nowadays. Painful to watch.
“Of course you want to turn this into a “show me a stat” thing, as do a number of other people here who imagine the game or a player or a performance can be reduced to or understood solely in terms of stats. It can’t — none of that can — and one must also use one’s eyes and qualitative sense of the game to assess this or that player.“ I literally just stated I DIDN’T ask for any stats on ramsey, it was you that said you’d be back with some stats on him to argue my comment that… Read more »
are Barcelona really unbeaten this season ?
Ramsey IS A VERY GOOD PLAYER,,,the arguments about him on legrove rate on and on. One fact that is “missing” from the debate is that Ramsey is playing for Wenger.
In my opinion Ramsey would be likely to produce twice as much goals/assists with a better manager. Those negative aspects to his game would get taken out as well.
For me, like lampard says, Ramsey is a vital part of arsenal’s near future.
If there are strong grounds to sack Wenger and the Coaching staff at Arsenal it is the performance of our defence and goalkeeper.
Most average Managers and Coaches would devote time sorting out our defence. Yet year in and year out we see the same performance level whoever is
being recruited.
It is really time that the club recognises that the problem is not just down to
playing personnel but the manager.
We have played two home games against relegation opposition and could have easily lost both.
@Wenker-wanger
Wenger has been doing this shit for years. Win a bunch of meaningless games at the end of the season against shit teams to give the impression that he’s doing a good job and thus should get another contract. Disgusting man.
Emirates, agree…..in fact I spoke to a guy whose son works at arsenal…said bould wanted the defense to coach himself, but Wenger refused saying we all train together. That control-freak mentality and stubborn arrogance is just one reason in many to rage against this fraud.
Paulinho
“Lampard told the Evening Standard: ‘I’m an admirer of Aaron Ramsey and Arsenal must try to secure his long-term future at the club”
Interesting…it’s nice of lampard to have arsenals long term interest at heart …but I don’t buy it from him.
He hates Arsenal ,always has done and always will do…..
He would never suggest anything that is to the benefit of Arsenal so I would take it with a pinch of salt and tell him to stick his opinion when the sun don’t shine…
Disgusting ca
Disgusting captain cheat wilshere
Stroller
“Most average Managers and Coaches would devote time sorting out our defence. Yet year in and year out we see the same performance level whoever is
being recruited.”
I agree ,we look vulnerable whoever we play against .
On Thursday in Moscow we could be in for a hard time in defence as they have a big lump of a centre forward who got the better of kosielny and mustafi last Thursday. If cska play a more direct game then we should bring in Rob Holding,who I regard as our strongest defender, and put him on their centre forward.
Emiratesstroller is talking shit again.
The defence has been ignored by Wenger for 20 years and not just the last 5 years…..fruitcake
Bamford10April 8, 2018 16:03:31
One, please cite these many games and moments when Ramsey was “cluelessly” out of position to the detriment of the team. We would all like to review and scrutinize these.
————–
Look to the last decade-dick head..
Champagne CharlieApril 8, 2018 16:57:08
You talk absolute bullshit and churn out lie after lie. It’s actually pathetic. You’d think your recent history on here would’ve gone some way to showing you how to interact on a platform like this.
====================
It’s the usual with him(Bastardford)..It’s never ending with him.
Just watch the misrepresentation(lies) that spews forth..
The devil’s spawn on form.,on time, spinning, twisting and convoluting every tawdry web of deceit.
At least they had a man on the post for corners today.
How long has it taken them to work that one out ?
What’s the problem?
The finishing above Chelsea trophy is still on.
New four year contract for Wenger if that occurs.
Emiratesstroller
“If there are strong grounds to sack Wenger and the Coaching staff at Arsenal it is the performance of our defence and goalkeeper.Most average Managers and Coaches would devote time sorting out our defence. Yet year in and year out we see the same performance level whoever is
being recruited.”
Wenger has always been in the entertainment business and he has never hidden this fact. And he is cherished for his philosophy.
Wenger’s mantra:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-H0uIH5HHQ
Redtruth
100% agree!
Wenger has absolutely no concept of the ART OF DEFENDING.
It was the players own experiences and knowledge that glossed over his successes between 1996-2004.
The guy is a joke and a fraud and how the fuck anyone can defend him just beggars belief.
He is lost up his own backside.
Ishola70
“Wenger has always been in the entertainment business”.
Mainly a COMEDY OF ERRORS over these past ten years.
Ishola
The Jam are my favourite band ever
Of course we all fear what could happen in Moscow on Thursday
Remember folks, this is Arsenal.
I saw more potential in 15 minutes of rob holding today than I’ve ever seen of Callum chambers in an Arsenal shirt. What a calamity our defence is.
Napoli
What a way to win. 1 0 for 20 mins 2 goals late late ( 89 and 90+3 )on keep their Serie A dream alive.
Poor Chievo
Somebody got free of his strait-jacket again.
Yeah, somebody got free to spout the usual daily nonsense.
How’s “NEYMARGATE” ?
The mother of all total f**k up’s on Le-Grove..
Classic..Epic…Unrivalled..
I’ve watched the Elneny red several times and I think all he tried to do was waste a bit of time by arguing about the spot from which the free kick should be taken. Cedric pushes him and shields the ball from him and try to take the free kick quickly. Elneny then pushes him in the shoulder/neck and get shoved by two saints’ players in the scramble, which happens in every fucking game. Unless he uttered some expletives to the ref(which I doubt from his body language), the decision to give a red to him was laughable. He has… Read more »
Cheers.
Jack’s shot to pieces as a footballer. Wouldn’t be suprised if he goes into early retirement at some point or ends in a lower team and even then playing from the bench. Was a never a big fan of Jack, but I can admit back in the day he had good dribbling skills and agility coupled that with a low centre of gravity. Never had pace but had enough acceleration like a young cazorla or an isco to beat his man. Now with all the injuries he is incredibly slow and lethargic, everytime he trys to beat his man he… Read more »
Champagne “[You] churn out lie after lie …” Get a grip, mate. Otherwise you too might soon be in need of a straight-jacket. I’ve never lied here even once. You’re just frustrated and confused. Yeah, I said I’d look into some numbers of Ramsey’s from 16-17. I did, and I’ve summarized what I found there above. If you want more research than that, do it yourself. None of it will change the fact that Ramsey is a good footballer whom Arsenal would be wise to sign to a new contract. As for previous disputes here, the most important thing they’ve… Read more »
London
Yep. And actually, it was obvious some time ago that Jack was finished physically.
“Get a grip, mate. Otherwise you too might soon be in need of a straight-jacket. I’ve never lied here even once.” Except you stated the following just earlier: “However, I feel like a guy (you) who thinks Xhaka is as good an athlete as Fernandinho or who thinks AMN is ready to be our starting RB or who thought last summer that Wenger was still capable of winning titles” I didn’t say AMN was ready to be our starting RB and I didn’t say Wenger was still capable of winning titles like you’ve said about a dozen times. So you… Read more »
A shame about Jack. Probably the most promising home-grown player since Ashley Cole, it seems that bad injuries have slowed him to a snail’s pace, his legs pump like mad but he scarcely moves. How did he get the injuries? Recklessness, always diving in. A good manager would have calmed him down, protected him. Instead Arsene promised him he would be Arsenal skipper one day. Sadly, we saw another very promising youngster who has not improved. Reiss Nelson sparkled like a diamond on tour, today he was as dull as ditch-water. A magical ability to go past players (as a… Read more »
Champagne
Actually, you said both of those things. Now you’re just denying things you’ve plainly said, and not for the first time.
You’re not even honest with yourself, guy.
Banford
No I didn’t, you’re doing your standard misrepresentation in an attempt to undermine another poster.
I can state exactly what I said and the context in which I said it. So quote me or shut the fuck up, that simple. Nobody believes a word you type.
Keep digging that hole dickhead.
Poor Charlie.
If you can tell us exactly what you said, guy, then why don’t you do so?
Could it be because you know very well that you said (in so many words) precisely what I’ve said you said?
Yeah, that’s exactly why you don’t just state what you said, Charlie.
As for quotes, I’ll let you waste time and energy chasing those down, thanks.
Banford I’ve stated what I said re: Wenger, and the context, multiple times. You continue to ignore and speak your own shit days later, so what’s the point rehashing? There’s no “us” I need to tell, you’re the only moron that can’t absorb what I said and insist on preaching falsehoods in some lame attempt to discredit my point of view. I’m also not about to dig up quotes from the summer because you’re too stupid to comprehend written English. Continue your petty nonsense, just expect me to correct you and highlight your lies every time they concern me. Ok… Read more »
Why is it that wenger never stands up in matches to try and yell instructions! He truly is a limp dick!
Looks like he is taking a constipated shit on the bench
Actually, Charlie, Marko also called you out on your bullshit attempt to deny you claimed Wenger was still capable of winning titles. And quoted you.
And everyone else here knows you said this as well. They just can’t be bothered to comment on it.
But you keep lying to yourself, guy.
What was Welbeck doing trying to deflect a bouncing ball into the net (albeit from one yard) when an unmarked teammate was behind him?
The guy simply hasn’t the skill to attempt such a feat. He’s a liability.
Bamford10April 8, 2018 21:40:26 I’ve never lied here even once. —————– The devil’s spawn.His work is never done or complete.Always spinning his web of deceit.. ‘Let’s talk again about Neymar when he shows up in a big game against the best players. I have yet to see that.’ “The Neymar I’ve seen is very talented, but when things get difficult and everyone on the field is world class and up for a battle, he fades.” “Actually, I never belittled him and never said he had no impact in big games. You need to read more carefully.” “Has anyone shown that… Read more »
PhD07
BLOODY HELL, we’re not back to that again are we?!?
Michael24April 9, 2018 06:00:40
PhD07BLOODY HELL, we’re not back to that again are we?!?
============
No,just that he said-I’ve never lied here even once.”
Just disproving that statement.
Cheers 🙂