Arsenal swatted Tottenham aside in one of the best North London derby days of the last 5 years. We didn’t have to bet on Spurs dropping their level. We didn’t win on luck. We outfought one of the best teams in the league and dished out a deserved destruction.
The game had everything you could have hoped for. The atmosphere in the ground was venomous, the players were hyper-charged, and some of the goals were sublime.
Things were looking pretty good early on in the game, Arsenal were in control for the most part. We even managed to pick up an early goal. Vertonghen swiped the ball from Mustafi’s head from a corner, Mike Dean of all people was paying attention and the penalty was granted. Auba stepped up, looked immensely nervy, but sent Lloris the wrong way after one of those awful slow run-ups.
The good vibes didn’t last all the way until half-time. Arsenal would be 18th in the league if there weren’t a second 45minutes. We made sure that poor record carried through with a bit of help from Son’s dark arts. The first of their two goals came from a dubious foul on the edge of our box. The Eriksen freekick at the front post caught the slightest of glances from Dier, he was helped along by some poor keeping, Leno failing to get his body behind the ball, palming it into the net.
The impending OTT celebrations caused a massive ruckus on the touchline. Aaron Ramsey, Guendouzi and Lacazette all involved in some serious handbags, notable was Eric Dier telling Aaron to sit down.
Things went from bad to worse 4 minutes later. Arsenal allowed Son in on the back post, Hector and Holding were jockeying the South Korean, but Holding slid in and grazed a standing foot. Son collapsed in a heap, there was no doubt Mike Dean would blow up. Super harsh in my opinion. Should contact not be meaningful? I find the ‘if there’s contact, he has every right to go down’ mantra so tired these days. You go down if the contact is heavy, otherwise it’s cheating. I hope VAR stops this nonsense. Anyway, Harry Kane sent Leno the wrong way and we were 2 down heading into halftime.
The manager made some ruthless decisions. He took off Iwobi and Mikhi, who by their standards were not having particularly bad games. Lacazette and Ramsey came onto the pitch, Emery obviously admired the touchline aggression his bench was offering up.
The decision paid dividends. Bellerin played a beautiful ball into Ramsey who cut back to Auba on the edge of the box, the man from Gabon delicately curled a first-time strike into the bottom corner. A second assist followed, Ramsey counter-pressed Foyth, released Lacazette who cut the ball back on the edge of the box, set himself, then placed a shot expertly off Dier’s shin past Lloris. BEAUTIFUL.
The final goal was my favourite of the day. Aubamayeng slipped a perfect pass between 3 Spurs players, Torriera kept himself onside, bore down on goal and instead of squaring the pass, he unleashed fury across Lloris into the bottom corner. An absolute pearler. What a goal.
The game got better for Arsenal. Vertonghen was sent off for a sloppy challenge on Lacazette.
Arsenal took the spoils. North London is red again. What power shift?
Concluding points:
That was the big one for me. That was how you measure your success. We lost to City and Chelsea earlier on in the season, but you could forgive because the games were literally our first. Yesterday, we played a team that destroyed Chelsea last week and beat a solid Inter Milan side midweek. That was an immense victory and no one can take that away from Emery.
We had everything we’ve been crying out for packaged neatly into a 90minutes that’ll stick hard in the throats of anyone who uttered ‘careful what you wish for’ over the past ten years.
Ruthless Decisions:
Mesut Ozil didn’t make it into the squad. Rumour has it the German wimped out with back spasms when he heard he wasn’t starting. Not like we haven’t been here before, is it? Remember Wenger’s last game at home? Emery has sussed Ozil inside three months. There’s no fucks given for your Twitter following or commercial star at Arsenal. It’s all about what you give. Big question is what do you do with the biggest white whale in the Premier League? I think Emery’s press conference tells you a lot about the rumours.
That decisive thinking carried through into the game. Mikhi and Iwobi were having pretty ok games. Some sloppiness in the final delivery and finishing, but not terrible. Emery yanked both of them off and put on the bad boys from the touchline scuffle. A masterstroke. We’ve been dining out on the ‘it’s 70mins, maybe we’ll make a sub’ line for 20 years. Great to see someone manage the game and the tactics on the fly.
Paaaashun:
If a fan says they hate transfer windows or paaaashun, it tells you a lot. But there was a lot of that over the past ten years as people tried to make sense of the cold blue lips of our squad and manager. Not anymore, Emery’s face is all of us. That guy feels every strike of the ball, every missed shot, every goal. I love him on the touchline. It’s sunk into the players. Everyone is fighting. It’s like a brawl out on the pitch. We will not be bullied. We are a team of fighters, and if I’m honest, we were shithousing today… and I fucking loved it.
The Arch Bishop of Shithousery is certainly Sokratis. He’s a real piece of work. An absolute man-beast on the pitch. Getting in people’s heads, gouging at their shirts, niggling all game long. He fucking LOVED yesterday. I love him. But they’re all at it, even Aaron Ramsey was giving it on the sidelines.
Also, look at those celebrations. That’s team togetherness. That’s love for what you do and a belief in what is going on at the club. Beautiful to watch. I’m falling back in love with the club again.
Aaron Ramsey:
Gotta give it to the man, who wouldn’t package Ozil’s contract up in a bow and hand deliver it to the Welshman on your knees? He put in a fantastic 45minutes. He was electric. A total professional. He understood the gravity of the game and put all his feelings to the side. An unreal display given the circumstances.
Performances:
Xhaka was excellent the whole game. I loved his smirking when he’d caused a melee. Torreira embodies everything I admire in the new setup, what a signing. Auba proved he’s more than just an outrageous scoring record with a cracking display. Kolasinac continues to look fantastic. Hector Bellerin was a beast out on the right, so much good stuff game from the floppy-haired boy wonder. Leno made a couple of outrageous redeeming saves. Mustafi and Holding kept Spurs quiet. They all done good people. All of them.
Fan Vibes:
You know what heals divides? Winning. A project to believe in. Knowing your club is doing everything in its power to succeed. We have that now. Everyone can rally round the new regime. It’s wonderful to see.
The only thing that could top this is burying United on Wednesday. Ending Mourinho would bring tears to my eyes. It’d be a thing of beauty.
Let’s pray it happens!
Onwards and upwards! x
Pierre
No, all I’m saying is that we now have a manager who thinks on his feet.
We all know that you know who, would not have reacted the way Emery did yesterday.
The signs are there for all to see. Problem is, some on here don’t want to admit it.
What a surprise.
Rambo
Your point made it sound like Emery was a consolation signing and as if half of the PL are operating on a different basis.
Tell me who do you think the Spud’s will be able to attract when the Poch chucks it in?
RH, when you come in with openers like
Loloollolool
That’s what I’d classify as childish. It doesn’t move the conversation in the right direction. Nor does obsessing over Arteta in an argument that can never be won.
That was having our Arsenal back
& the Hope.
Oh, the hope
TH
“Should i not laugh in Pierre face when he is simply out to troll??
Cos i have never called anyone names on this blog”
Contradiction there I’m afraid …..calling me a troll for expressing my opinions is ,in fact calling me names ….not that I’m bothered by the way.
RH, prime example right there. Grow the fuck up.
Artewho ???
Graham
“We all know that you know who, would not have reacted the way Emery did yesterday.The signs are there for all to see. Problem is, some on here don’t want to admit it.”
I presume you are (wrongly) talking about me.
Let me refer you back to my comment this morning and it will be interesting to see if you still hold the same opinion.
“What is a certainly is that he(Emery) is brave and is prepared to gamble to get a result unlike our previous manager who very rarely gambled in a game .”
Pedro I don’t know why you have such a problem with RH. He calls it pretty spot on. It’s obvious to see he just says it. The same people laying into Emery after 90 minutes are he ones saying a 19 game unbeaten run culminating in beating Spurs utterly is no real evidence and we should be cautious/not celebrate too much. I mean. The agenda reels like shit. I always said they are zealots and that is exactly what they are. Not a word of protest for 7 years, except obviously they wanted changed just quietly *wink*, yet suddenly you… Read more »
I’m sick of this Arteta talk, he’s not been a manager at any level. This is not championship manager career mode.
No one’s comment has been taken down here all day Absolutely no one Am i to believe i am being picked upon for some reasons i have not been told which has been dressed up as being childish?? I repeat. i just stand my ground against the obvious hypocrisy displayed by certain posters, and i do not believe i have even mentioned Arteta’s name in a long long while, i am busy appreciating the manager we have and the job he is doing. I cannot apologize for that nor be forced to comment along certain lines in order to be… Read more »
CA, agree. The Arsenal fanbase loves positivity and loathes real analysis in the main. The biggest names in AFC influence have spent ten years taking the moral high ground despite being unbelievably wrong. It cost them nothing. So amusing to read the undertones of ‘really hoping this goes tits up’ in their analysis. This transition, as we thought, has been far smoother because Wenger was so bad, anyone half competent was going to make improvements. I’m just shocked at how good the improvements have been. Sure, there will be dark days, but now the team has spent 3 months winning,… Read more »
RH, stop whining and just post. I’m not banning anyone.
A&N, it can’t be proved out either way… just people looking for Ws against me.
The only thing people should be talking about today is how epic this season has been and how fucking great it feels to tank Spurs.
Personally I would like Arsenal to review their contract negotiating position with
Ramsey.He may not be the most gifted player on the planet, but he has shown loyalty,
commitment and passion to the cause not least in yesterday’s game
Absolutely not. Outside of two cameo appearences yesterday and Fulham in which he got 4 assists he’s been poor to average all season long. It’s that kind of foolish thinking that got us in the Ozil situation. No I think we stay the course with Ramsey and move on
For the first time in absolutely ages I am feeling confident for Arsenal going up against a Mourinho led team.
I think we could potentially embarrass them if we play anything close to how we did against the Spuds. The biggest doubt I have in my mind is if Maureen sets his stall out for a draw, we know he can get a draw against any team if he sets out to.
How confident is everyone else feeling about Wednesday?
All the players did well. Looking forward to destroying OT and nicknaming it Theatre of Nightmares.
Torreira, I’m in love with u. What a player!!!!
How confident is everyone else feeling about Wednesday?
We are a better team than them that’s for sure, players who actually want to play for the manager as opposed to the toxic atmosphere Jose is cultivating that
Having said that they can raise their game when they want to, yes Spurs beat them at Old Trafford but the scoreline didn’t exactly tell the story of the game.
I am confident but not over confident, we put a lot into the game yesterday, we will have to play smart to beat them and use our squad wisely for energy
My new favourite thing on Twitter is United fans bitching about how Emery has done a better job that Jose with fuck all!
BTW It was a Wednesday night fixture when Wiltord scored his famous goal at Old Trafford, take from that what you will.
I wonder if Emery is going to go for the 3-4-3 or 4-3-1-2 sort of line up we saw at the end of the game for Wednesday?
Xhaka is out, it would be a big game for Guendouzi to step into, full confidence he is going to be a very good player but that is a big one, a big occasion for him to manage.
That is why I wonder if Emery might go for 4-3-1-2 and drop an extra central midfield player in there?
People losing their minds on Ramsey and demanding he gets a contract, kinda funny.
He was never a bad player, just that we can do better. It’s all well and good calling out Xhaka and demanding an upgrade and then turning around and saying pay Ramsey whatever he wants, one is content to do his job while taking what the club wants to pay, the other is demanding a king’s ransom
‘My new favourite thing on Twitter is United fans bitching about how Emery has done a better job that Jose with fuck all’
After this weekend if we beat United and the game ends with Arsenal fans singing ‘we want you to stay’ to Mourinho I will just crack one out wherever I’m standing/sitting.
Im not confident at all about Wednesday.
Its one thing to win big games at home, its another thing entirely to do it away from home.
We are so weak defesively that we have to score 3 goals to win these kinds of games.
Chelsea, City, Spurs all put 2-3 past us.
If we are winning by one goal with more than 5 mins to play we will blow it.
“The biggest doubt I have in my mind is if Maureen sets his stall out for a draw”
They will park the bus, no doubt about it.
Gambon
True.
United are shit though.
Really bad.
Like really bad.
After this weekend if we beat United and the game ends with Arsenal fans singing ‘we want you to stay’ to Mourinho I will just crack one out wherever I’m standing/sitting That is what dreams are made of. We had to endure that horrible chant for two seasons, more so last season when we could not buy a win away from home. We need to beat United, that will give them a mountain to climb as far as the top four places is concerned. Whatever happens we must not loose. They have players who can punish us, we must not… Read more »
The problem is that they got some very talented players (Pogba among others), who can make the difference at any moment if they’re on fire.
I love Lichtsteiner, could start a fight in an empty room, it seems as if his attitude is rubbing off on others which is very good to see. Wherever we end up with Emery, it can’t be denied the players are fighting harder for the badge which is a massive step forward.
Cesc Appeal
We always shit the bed at Old Trafford, always.
Have done going back 20 years.
If we win on Weds, I will say we are 100% going to finish top 4.
In reality a draw would be a good result.
I have a feeling we will lose.
United are seventh with a -1 goal difference.
-1
We always shit the bed at Old Trafford, always.Have done going back 20 years.
They is a common denominator in the period you mention, he is no longer here
I don’t think we will loose, we have he;d our own against much better teams than Man United this season, Old trafford or not, Southampton sacked a man for losing a two goal lead against United, will be a shame to lose to the team they have become now.
A professional performance and we will be fine
We have history of losing unbeaten runs at Old Trafford.
Pathetic how knee jerk some people are regarding Ramsey. He’s had a half a good season five years ago in what ten years at the club and now the club should cave in to his wage demands. Embarrassing to say the least. He and his agent tried to play chicken with the club and lost. Good riddance. He’s also a bang average player.
Will be Pleased with a Point at OT
That lot always turn up vs Us regardless of form.
I predict a shady Manure win
If we do get something I can’t see past a draw.
Skinnywill, are you trying to put a curse on us ??
HighburyLegend December 3, 2018 16:15:56
Skinnywill, are you trying to put a curse on us ??
Lets hope not!
Love this stat on the BBC match report, proves what bottlers Spurs are:
◾Tottenham have dropped more points from winning positions in Premier League games against Arsenal than any side has against another in the competition (40).
Funny stat.
My OT hope is the players there can smell blood… they all hate him and know the club is closed to firing him.
A collapse against Arsenal might tip the CEO over the edge.
Yes but they are professional footballers!!
(lol)
Yeah I think records and previous jinx or whatever is gone out the window with the current manager who’s very much astute and will have the team ready and willing to battle. The only issue for me is it’s a game 3 days after the last one and 3 games before the next and we put in a lot against Spurs. That’s it really our away record so far this season reads 7 wins one draw and one defeat in 9 which is pretty good. Any way you look at it we’re hard to beat and fight for that record… Read more »
With Tottenham beating them earlier at Old Trafford, they’ve given us a perfect template upon which to beat them. We need to hit their defence hard with pace and quick crisp passing. Lucas Moura tore them apart, and in Lacazette and PEA we have two strikers who have similar strengths to Moura but who are both technically better. We need to get in their faces and show them they can’t bully us like they used to. Along with that we need to make most of our set pieces because United have not been the best at defending them… especially corners.… Read more »
Gambon Agreed. We usually shit ourselves there. But I think of all our games against the top 6 so far we’ve played pretty well. City was a pretty drab performance, but that was Emery’s first game. Chelsea was a good performance and we didn’t deserve to lose. Liverpool was a good performance and they were fortunate with the goal, Spurs was a great performance. We have enough to win there and the atmosphere might be such that United fans actually want us to win. I don’t think the crowd will be massively behind them and the players might have started… Read more »
The problem with PEA is that he rarely has 2 great games in a row…
I really hope we smack United silly
That imo would be Mourhino one loss away from being sacked.
😬😬
“I said yesterday, he’s had backache since last Tuesday. He couldn’t play in Kiev or yesterday.
“At the moment, I don’t know if he can play in Manchester. Today he was working alone, I don’t know if he’s okay for Wednesday.”
Sounds like it’s up to Ozil if he has a back ache or not but don’t expect him to be starting Wednesday
Receding I’ve not thrown any weight around, I opposed a comment from Gambon and stated exactly why. You’ve since come in and started your insidious rubbish in ultimate defence of Emery, where no defence was needed. Feel free to pull me up on precisely what you have issue with, but i’ll kindly direct you to my posts that have heaped praise on Emery both yesterday and today. Give them another glance before your usual barbed replies about ‘ilk’ and ‘agenda’. Cheers – Old Trafford is a different animal for Arsenal, I’d take a comfortable point right now and move on.… Read more »
Sitting on the bench can do that to be fair
https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11670/11570851/arsenal-and-tottenham-charged-by-fa-for-failure-to-control-players
Oooppssss
Guns of Brixton
If we beat Utd on Wednesday they’ll be 11 points behind us and most likely 4th with a goal difference of double digits.
I find it hard to believe that Mourinho can survive that especially if he is back to slagging his own players off – apparently he’s referred to Pogba as a virus. Their match at the weekend is Fulham at home but the following weekend is Liverpool away.
Morinho classless in his public attacks on Pogba. That public humilation is not turning things around for the team and Pogba. Some players respond to that but many do not. In fact its having the opposite affect. Pogba is gone this summer for sure.
As for our game. Manure is down to back up defenders. We can can take the points but i do see Jose making this an ugly game. anti football.
Knowing how he is, hes been fretting about this game for weeks.
” i do see Jose making this an ugly game. anti football.”
Totally agree.
What he nose best lol
United will raise their game against us, they always do.
SF
There are players who when publically challenged by a manager will respond but public insults don’t, worse still they can make other players switch off. If you see a manager (in whatever line of work you do) treating someone badly does it make you want to go all out for them?
They can raise it but we will raise ours. I love this new mentality. When the chips are down, we dont quit but push harder… Our 2nd half stats scream that reality. Most goals scored by us are in the 2nd half. Yesterday no different. I dont know what Emery is telling the team at halftime but the main thing is that they are responding to him, unlike the last manager.
I hope we get the win. What a jolt that would be for our confidence and attracting a really good player in Jan. 🙂
Not confident for Wednesday either.
They step up a notch v Arsenal and we’re so timid there. The last time I was confident of a victory there we got tucked in by a gangly teenager called Rashford.
In one summer Emery has turned Arsenal from an absolute joke to one point off third in December.
Hard to argue that he hasn’t improved the squad dramatically. All you can ask is that a manager gets the most out of what he has.
Marc
exactly what I said… all that does is also turn support away from the targeted player- no one wants to be the one in the next firing line so players act for themselves and it kills teamwork and coherency
I had many bosses that have done this. They manipulate to get their bidding done. I hate it and always think its a form of shaming- never works long term
I’d take a draw on Wednesday but a win would be brilliant.
Mourinho will not want to lose this one. I envisage a cagey affair.
One things for sure MU, will not be going gung-ho against us.
United will try but they are counting on us melting down my friends. Has that happened this season? Even in the losses to City and Chelsea- I think we played well. Not one game- have I seen this type of mental capitulation. I dont think Emery will tolerate this. Look at our boy Ozil. …. Rambo being show the door. There is a type or ruthlessness about Emery too. Mostly its about playing, performace and not personal. Where as with Jose- its almost always personal. that is why he is hated amongst so many former and current players
That failure to control players charge is laughable to both clubs, it’s not unexpected though.
There were handbags flying everywhere which made the game more delightful.
The Premier league markets these games as feisty derbies so it’s kind of ironic that they tend to level charges.
Suits have to earn their wages I guess.
United are absolutely appalling. We should be going to Old Trafford and beat them comprehensively. I hope our players do not carry the baggage of our past record and play with freedom and purpose.
TitsMcGee
“In one summer Emery has turned Arsenal from an absolute joke, to one point of third in December”.
Yep, to think we were the laughing stock of the Footballing world just a few months back and now we have some credibility once again.
Amazing what a decent manager can do.
Oh shite and there I was trying not to bring past history into the equation.
off third
“They step up a notch v Arsenal and we’re so timid there. ”
Emery once again will have a huge mental role to play before (and during) the game.
If there’s anything Jose knows how to do, it is to pack double decker buses side by side.
The only way we lose if if we give away a cheap defensive goal which we are capable of.
Mustafi still has a quota of cheap goals to fulfil it at least Koscelny and Xhaka aren’t going to feature.
Please don’t let Jesse Lingard score cos I hate that stupid celebration.
Dissenter
I had the conversation at the ground straight after the “scuffle” – Sissoko should have seen red and Lich could have been shown red as well but no there’ll be a slap of the wrists, £50 k fine and the PL can say we were punished.
In the past, Everyman and his dog knew there was a collapse looming every time we had a run of good form.
It doesn’t seem so this season. It looks like we still have an extra gear to negotiate as the players buy into Emery’s method.
Time will definitively tell no doubt.
Interviewer to Mourinho after we beat them.
“So Jose why do you think you lost tonight?” (cue a Jose dig at Wenger)
“It’s a new better Arsenal, under a better coach and manager, we wasn’t prepared as they was”
The end.
I’m confident Unai has a plan and we will pull it off. Jose knows and always knew how to play us with Wenger in charge. It was predictable. We are not as predictable now.
The players will be up for it.
The unknown factor is how much our key players have in the tank. Hopefully despite the frenetic pace of the game versus Tottenham our lads will have enough to see us over the line at Man United. With each game they are learning to play more and more Emery’s way. Momentum and confidence is a funny thing, if we play to our strengths and cut out our silly mistakes anything can happen. Besides our fitness, the factors that gave us the advantage over Spurs still remain. In fact with Koscielny back defensively we will be stronger. Will Ōzil be hungry… Read more »
Marc
Hat did you think of it when Pochettino was running to the scuffle like a fire man in an expensive suit? What did it look like in the stadium.
I thought he made it look worse darting in like a P.E teacher. It was just handbags.
We ran ourselves ragged yesterday
United need the game to make a statement after their performance on Saturday.
A draw and no injuries will be great.
Ah Graham
As you appear to be a man of integrity ( unlike many on here) I am sure you would like to apologise to me for your earlier comment which ,I think you would agree, I proved to be incorrect….
Hat did you think of it when Pochettino was running to the scuffle like a fire man in an expensive suit? What did it look like in the stadium.
I cracked up when he touched Emery on his way to put out the fire, a “don’t worry i got this ” kind of pat
We need to make hay while UTD are struggling.
In the second half of the season we have City, Liverpool, Spurs away from home.
Not to mentin tough away games like Wolves, West Ham, Everton, Leicester.
In the past we’ve often made the mistake of losing concentration when the second half of the season is tougher than the first. Hopefully Emery will be able to keep players fresh.
Dissenter
Truth be told I didn’t even notice the Poch down there. Was enjoying Lich going at it and Guendozi charging into the action.
I think the POch was clearly worried that he could lose players. They antagonised the crowd and got involved with subs warming up.
Can’t quite understand why Torriera is our first defender at the near post from free kicks…put someone 6ft plus in that position and that negates the threat similar to diers goal at the weekend…
Cant wait to see Lucas and Guen at OT. Younger and fresher legs. Guen in particular is much more mobile- strong and a great passer. Always looking for his pals laca and auba.
I do see an ugly game. Jose wanting to end the Arsenal winning streak. The master of the dark arts and satan worshiper will be eagerly wanting to put one on us
Laca’s movement really makes it easier on us for scoring purposes. He is all over the final third- defenders need to monitor his movement constantly.
Pierre,
“Can’t quite understand why Torriera is our first defender at the near post from free kicks…put someone 6ft plus in that position and that negates the threat similar to diers goal at the weekend”
That’s precisely where you put the shortest player…on the line because you know they can’t contest aerially [unless they are Javier Mascherano]
Really every professional player has a vertical leap to reach to goal post. It’s all about timing that jump.
Dissenter
Add Canavarro to that list. He had some hops back in the day too
We haven’t the quality players of city and no one of the extreme world class quality of Eden hazard. We have a kind of makeshift defense. However we have a manager that is currently punching well above his weight with this arsenal team. One of the amazing stats is that emerys substitutions have directly yielded 15 points additional to b4 those subs were introduced. Chelsea hsve 11 and the rest 6 or less i recall.This is a staggering stat. I wouldnt be surprised if Ramsey stays. It would be good for him and arsenal. To see him perform like that,… Read more »
Am I the only one bored with the often repeated ‘Arsenal in the first half’ stats. Football is a 90 ninety minute game of two halves. Strictly speaking you can’t win a match till end of second half.
RR
I think folks mention that as we are scoring more in the second half of games. I dont think we have led a game this season at halftime. Its a peculiar stat and pertinent as it speaks to how we start games and how we end them. Im not sure the players like fighting uphill all the time. Hopefully that can end soon. It does show what most of us are feeling good about though- the team has grit and fight. If this was last season, we were toast in games we were already losing
Not only have we got to beat a dogged mourinho , hell bent on ending our run, we have to contend with a virus he has now unleashed in the enemy camps weaponry!
RR
They need something to criticise us about. We need to start games better and assert ourselves more in the first half but the ultimate result is at the final whistle.
What I find amazing is that Emery had 3 formations already pre-planned for the spurs game. He was ready for all sorts of scenarios- and he did have to employ one of them- when we went 4-3-3
that is what you call smart prep. Unlike our last manager who never changed a thing- kinda makes you feel for the players under his reign
Dissenter
Did you not watch the game and see tottenham’s first goal ….putting your shortest player in that position is asking for trouble …and we got it .
Not sure why you was talking about standing “on the line” …maybe you’re getting confused.
Will guarantee you he won’t be there for the next game .
Atkinson or Oliver will be ref on Wednesday ….both have historically done us no favours.
Hasenhuttl agrees to be Southampton boss in principle after positive talks. Was he not part of the rumour mill when we were looking? They’ve lost their way big time have the Saints, not an easy job.
Pierre
Lol
You’re the one who’s confused.
The first goal we conceded was 100% a goal keeping error.
Leno should have made the routine save…he didn’t.
It has nothing to do with ” Torriera is our first defender at the near post from free kicks”
You’re just acting to type, looking for something to be “analytical” about. I wish you showed this side of you 2-3 seasons when a certain manager was still around.
Mark Hughes!!!!!!!
CC
Southhampton have made too many managerial changes. It’s bound to get them relegated at some point.
They should have kept Claude Puel when they had him.
Referees don’t do anyone favors.
They sometimes get decisions wrong. Decisions that split the footballing world even after the benefit of several replays, I should add.
If we lose to United, it won’t be because of the referee.
Dissenter
You’d better be hoping that Southampton have a case of new manager syndrome on Wednesday though.
Raheem
I’m not sure.
It is worrying that we are performing so badly in the first 45.
3-4 games, not a problem. 14 games is starting to look like there’s something not quite right.
Raheem
Also, I think it’s been proven that scoring the first goal is massively important in big games.
The problem with our slow starts is we are often playing catch up.
City, Chelsea, Liverpool games all examples of us conceding first.
If we were getting into half time at 0-0 it would be less worrying but I don’t think we’re capable of controlling games defensively like this.
Dissenter
One of the things I have noticed regarding Emery is he learns from his mistakes so I will be very surprised if Torriera is still defending that position against United if they have a free kick in a similar position.
Dissenter,I wouldn’t be so sure of that.History teaches us otherwise when it comes to refs decisions in Manure vs The Arsenal match.After all traditionally theyre the Fa darlings with their no 1 fan Mike Riley in charge of the pgmol or whatever you call the sorry mess.so no I won’t be surprised.not one little bit if we get shafted ….
Ref is absolutely important. United dive even worse than Spurs and they have been doing it against us since forever.