via @Arsenal Instagram
I am SORRY for not being about for 2 days, it’s not because I’ve lost interest in talking about the pretty features of Dennis Suarez, NO, it’s because my brother-in-law gave me a HORRENDOUS case of BAD TIMES. I’m sorry to be so vague here… but I picked it up two days ago, but just the fever stage… I managed to fly to Chicago and back, and as I walked in the door it was the worst thing that ever happened to me. Truly tragic… but, but, but… that winter gut has gone… so who is really winning?
#SummerBodReadyThruTimelyIllness
I tell you who else won last night… Unai Emery. The Europa League machine from Spain only went and done it again with a pretty damn convincing win over Napoli.
He brought in the big guns, he shipped the not so big guns to the bench, and we witnessed the destruction of a very limp Napoli who just weren’t up for the test. They kind of reminded me of the period when we stocked up on tiny players… everyone was a LOTR extra, which made for pretty moments, but brute force usually wins out unless you’re Barca.
Aaron Ramsey stepped up for the first goal after some great four-way play between AMN, Ozil, and Lacazette. The final part of the move saw Lacazette thread a pass through a set of legs to AMN, he touched the ball, 180’d and swept it to Ramsey who was ready to poke it past Meret at the far post. Props to Ozil in the move, just couldn’t be arsed to write that many words.
The second goal was a little more fortuitous. LT hounded the ball off Napoli in a pressing move when they were fannying around in their own half, he drove at goal, cut the ball back into space with a neat turn, and struck his shot. Koubililaly, who’d initially looked in control in the Napoli defence dropped an unfortunate knee on the strike, the deflection was pretty beastly and beat Meret (who was very good).
The shame of the game was that we didn’t really capitalize on a very weak performance from Carlo. We dominated possession, we had them beaten for most of the game, but we didn’t make our 16 attempts on their goal count. The shooting boots were a bit dusty and the pessimist in most of us is likely concerned whether a two-goal lead will be enough for next week. Ramsey missed a very simpled chance with a lovely Mikhi cut back, and Auba fluffed his lines.
I did worry that Napoli started to find their way into the game late on, they were getting in behind us and using their pace to better effect. If they start like that next week, it’ll be tough to keep a clean sheet.
The only other groan that you could have is that Aaron Ramsey is in the absolute form of his life and making the decision to bomb him off look a poor one. I mean, even worse was keeping him on the bench when he was fit. But there we go, he’ll be a tough one to replace, and I totally get why the club didn’t want to spend that money on him… I just hope the makeshift recruitment team we have at the moment has a plan to replace his talent.
Once again, it’s odd that we can put in such an incredible showing against Napoli, then tank away from home against teams like Rennes and BATE. It does help when you leave players like Mustafi and Elneny out of the starting 11, but those two names don’t really compute why we lose our spirit and motivation.
At least we’re in the mixer. All we need is one goal. Napoli has to come at us and we should have the tools available to bully them and their flimsy brand of EURO MELT football.
I didn’t realise the semi was already drawn… looking like there’s a low chance of reuniting with Santi Cazorla as his Villareal took a 3-1 beating from Valencia… however, Emery has been at Valencia, so that’ll be a big one for him.
A fun game in Portugal, Joao dropping a hattrick for Benfica as they took down Frankfurt. He looks a very special player. Chelsea took a 0-1 win against Slavia Praha, so things looking good for them as well.
Right, good times, let’s be having you in the comments. x
Here again
For
Bankz is here for the tr4phy again
4
The
Nice try Boomslang
does anyone know how many losses we had AWAY with LT in the side
I think during winter period Torriera was in the red zone
but he seems to refreshed now from that ban
hopefully he has a strong finish to the end of the season
Two is not enough. Napoli will win a lot of fouls the crowd will be frantic and if the ref is week it will be hard.
We are not good sitting back the mid field needs to have 4 players to control the game.
An away goal is paramount.
Auba was poor again last night his hold up play is non existent.
PEDRO IS BAAAAAAACK!!!
“a very weak performance from Carlo.”
The man many of Le Grovers wanted to see as our new head coach.
“but those two names don’t really compute why we lose our spirit and motivation.”
Add Ozil as our Captain, and we’re all good.
What a performance by our lads..
The first goal was a true classsss act
Yep, the first goal was world class touch.
Emery:“On Monday, I am sure we are going to play different players but try to find the same performance,”
Bring in Iwobi, Mikki, Xhaka and Guen. Sub Elneny in for Torr at the 70 mins. We need Ramsey and Torr fresh for the return leg.
Merson the ultracunt predict a 2-1 win for watford.
I hope we’ll win just to piss him off. F*cker.
“Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea are locked in a three-way fight to tempt RB Leipzig’s top talent spotter Paul Mitchell to become their new sporting director.”
I am very surprised to see Pedro don’t talk about this…
Milan are reportedly eyeing a move for Arsenal manager Unai Emery in the summer.
Food for thought.
Nelson
Last week they wee going to go all out for the Poch.
Sounds like a bit of click bait.
HighburyLegendApril 12, 2019 09:58:55
Merson the ultracunt predict a 2-1 win for watford.I hope we’ll win just to piss him off. F*cker.
___
Lol why does it bother you so much? It’s just his prediction.
Watching the game yesterday I would say that Napoli’s biggest threat is the dink over the top …Napoli were caught offside numerous times with this tactic but they will only need to get it right once and they would be through one on one. With this in mind I would say that if Emery is serious about winning this competition then we should play a goalkeeper who is quick off his line , who cuts down his angles well, is brave and is good on one on one situations … Leno ticks all the boxes for me in one on… Read more »
@Thomas : no school this morning ??
For once I agree with Pierre. At this stage of the season with so much hanging on every result we should play our best players whenever possible. I think we have a potential maximum of 10 matches left – that is not too much to ask a keeper to play in assuming we made it further into the competition.
Boomslang, are you from SA?
No, I’m Nigerian.
Koscielny had a very good game last night. But, he could not make any sprints. Emery clearly sees Europa as the route of choice (for personal and club reasons), so little chance he plays against Watford. Reckon we’ll see the season debut of Mavropanos.
Really weird game last night, I can’t for the life of me figure out how Napoli got it so wrong, on another day we could have shipped 7 or 8 past them, honestly. We never looked under threat. Really pleased Mustafi & elneny were on the bench last night. Papa and Kos just need to hold out for a few more games. Keeping one eye on the TW, we absolutely need to get rid of Elneny and Mustafi, neither of these to would be starting for current top 10 in the EPL
Boomslang is an afrikaans word if I recall correctly? You been here before?
“Emery clearly sees Europa as the route of choice (for personal and club reasons), so little chance he plays against Watford. Reckon we’ll see the season debut of Mavropanos”
It would be suicidal if he started favouring one competition over the other. We really should be backing ourselves based on the amount of players available to just go for broke on both competitions
i think the Chelsea fans will get there team suspended from Europe
i cant remember the time when LT, ramsey and ozil all played together
Steveyg87
No I haven’t. My moniker means tree snake in Afrikaans, which also happens to be my favourite snake.
https://www.skysports.com/football/story-telling/11669/11689820/gerrard-the-story-of-the-slip
It’s a bit harsh, but also a bit funny.
A great perofmrance and so good to see Torriera back to his best. Rambo ? What can we say.
One issue worth raising is Auba. He is too lack-lustre, often on the fringe of play and does not get involved enough. Auba at times is like Ozil at his worst. He looks disinterested.
There is no doubt he is a good finisher and his stats speak for themselves. But he does need to get more involved, chase down defenders and use his pace more often.
Good to get the results needed. I think at this stage of the season, it’s not on the coach alone. About 85% lyes on the players to see us thru in both competitions (league /EL). though tactically, the coach needs too get it write. Looking forward to the Watford game. We’ll win.
Realistically, we so not have a big enough or good enough squad to compete on both fronts, the players who come in when you take out the main guys are just not good enough….. I’d give Willock, El Neny, Mavro, Mhiki and co game time against Watford….
I’m of the opinion we need to focus on the Europa league
@Batistuta : I’m not far to think the same… and mostly I have the feeling that Emery has already made his choice.
Great to hear – PedRo is on the Road to Recovery after his bout of illness- and yet still has time to post a compact match report on The Napoli fixture. And I thank him for it. Talking of Roads To Recovery- is exactly what The Kroenke’s would be doing ( especially Josh) if they still even at this late stage re-opened The Ramsey Withdrawal contract, Surely- Josh ( surely?) must be watching from a distance and thinking why are we letting our longest serving and clearly most outstanding player leave for zero pence? They are the ONLY ones at… Read more »
HLegend
“@Thomas : no school this morning ??”
why , does he go to the same school as you?
loooooooooooooooooooooooool
(serioulsy ??)
*seriously
When Charlie lolZ George is here, Pierre is not to far…
I want more constructive output from you High Leg
I don’t think – you are achieving your full potential.
(Don’t get hot under the collar in what Paul Merson says,)
use those brain cells – God gave us.
Although mine are diminishing, rapidly.
HL
We have to be realistic with our goals moving forward, Mourinho did it some seasons back when he just prioritized the Europa league over the league….Our away form suggests we should probably do same
Only Charlie George believes the Kroenkes can do anything about a contract that has already been signed
Another fantastic performance at home against Napoli last year.
Normally I come back buzzing from the Emirates and put down a few lines on Emery’s tactics, players performances etc.
I won’t this time – everybody knows that Emery has got us playing fantastically well at home. No point rehashing the debate.
The issue is away. Only if we solve the away conundrum, and we put in good performances against Watford, Napoli, Wolves and Burnley will more people come on board the Emery train.
As Deeney would say, time for Arsenal to show some cojones, starting at Vicarage Road.
Last year – last night!
Bat
They are billionaires. They can do anything they choose,
Ramseys Contract Fuck up-is small change to these folk- to rectify.
Its their decision.
If they allow or don’t overrule – inefficient poor management/executive decision making- THEY ARE CLEARLY NOT THE RIGHT CUSTODIANS FOR AFC.
So Peter has full blown AIDS?
I honestly didn’t even realise there was a game last night. Honestly. I am even more surprised we won.
CHrlie
Say you’re the Kroemkes and you want to go about pulling off this great feat of resigning Ramsey, pray tell how would you go about it?
Great win last night. 2-0 should be enough because I think Emery will be saggy enough to know attack is our best form of defence and will look to get a goal out there. Do that and they need four. We should be fine.
If we do get through, we should have a bullet with Valencia’s name on it for the all the suffering they have given us since 1980!
Chris
I still have nightmares of John Carew
“Surely- Josh ( surely?) must be watching from a distance and thinking why are we letting our longest serving and clearly most outstanding player leave for zero pence?”
Josh and the Kroenke clan don’t give a fuck and know even less about football, or their soccer-ball franchise called Arsenal. The sooner they piss off back to Trump-land the better.
Arsenal can score at least one in Naples, providing their mindset is right.
Bat Contracts are not worth the piece of paper – they are written on. ( an old cliche- granted) Didn’t Liverpool have a contract stating – if any club bids in excess of £40 million – they can sign Louis Suarez. Liverpools American owners just ignored -Arsenals bid. And then what happened….. How much would it cost to replace Aaron Ramsey ( inc wages) – in excess of £120 million? We must be the complete laughing stock of World Football- that this player is leaving for £0. Off course – The Ramsey Fuck up- can be rectified.(its only a pre-… Read more »
Shaggy Dog Story Friday – A landlord in Ireland by the name of Darby Connor operated an inn outside of Ballyshannon. He didn’t have many guests, but he had inherited a large sum of money from his grandparents and thought of the inn as more of a pastime than a job, per se. He lived in a house attached to the inn with his wife, who was a baker. One day, Darby was surprised to see a leprechaun walk through the door of his inn. Now, this was not a leprechaun like you would see in a Disney movie, with… Read more »
We’ll be seeing Gabriel and Coquelin again if we meet Valencia.
Hope the plonker who allegedly made a video to racially abuse K.Koulibaly is caught and severely dealth with
Utter disgrace to himself and his family,even a greater shame that he can be regarded as an arsenal fan.
What are the odds the racist is Legrove’s Rambo? such a Muppet
CG
We have been “the laughing stock of world Football” for a fair few years.
Bloody hell, where have you been hiding?
You must have beamed in from another planet.
Phd-?
Why are you bringing up stuff that happened over a week ago? Nobody cares about it and nobody cares abut your reputation… Is this going to be another situation where you spam the comment section for a week bringing up old posts and ranting… as you did with Nasris Mouth for months.. ‘
Give it a rest man… take a Xanax and relax.
This is comment section about Arsenal… not a trial about character assignation.. or whatever it is your worried about. ffs.
I like many thought we looked pretty convincing… but again it was a home match.. so as per usual we have to worry about away form. Tale of two cities this season.. but the train rolls on… and that’s a good thing.
Charlie George
you still didn’t say how you would go exactly getting the Ramsey contract rectified….
you still didn’t say how you would go exactly getting the Ramsey contract rectified….
_____
We could give them Suarez instead they look the same.. maybe they won’t notice.
😀
Why don’t you mind your own business and retire to being anally tree log shafted on a daily basis within your retirement home.
_______
Maybe Ill mind my own business when you stop posting absolute sh.it on a public blog.
For the return leg, as long as the CB pair/ triple remains the same and healthy, we should manage.
I think performance of our wing backs would decide how comfy we would be. If they do well, not only we’d defend a bit, our attack becomes that much more potent.
Ultimately our strikers need to shake themselves out of the hole, and start scoring.
Basically same formation and starting 11…
Anally tree log shafted… that’d be something alright
Graham “”We have been “the laughing stock of world Football” for a fair few years.”” I Know its difficult for you – to focus on The Here and Now. But do try. Wenger has gone. Long gone. Don’ t you think its laughable that owners and management are sitting around idily- whilst our most influential player is leaving for nothing- basically because our current coach does not rate him? Our previous coach had many flaws. But he knew footballing ability and talent. Emery must be the worst judge of a player- if he thinks Mr. A. Ramsey is surplus to… Read more »
Phd-
You know because just what Le Grove needs is you posting a bunch of toxic crap about stuff that happened weeks or months ago because you got your feelings hurt..
How many times do you have to be binned before you start acting like a human being?
Wenger has gone. Long gone.Don’ t you think its laughable that owners and management are sitting around idily- whilst our most influential player is leaving for nothing- basically because our current coach does not rate him? I mean ideally you sign up the player long before his contract ran out so Wenger’s gone long gone isn’t an excuse. But to be fair there have been seemingly contract offers made and rejected prior to us deciding to pull the final one. Our previous coach had many flaws. But he knew footballing ability and talent. He sure did. Worth pointing out though… Read more »
Sal is my witness that the said paragraph was embedded prominently in my post.
It’s such a good morning, not one to be wasted by exchanging words with a gas bag degenerate who’s clearly got reality testing problems.
Dissenter is a bit of a melt when it comes to discussing Arsenal’s search for a new DOF but he is correct at that time he did write what trivial point Pierre the man child decided to ignore and since refused to acknowledge. Pierre’s the type you know pick up on a mistake and run with it even if there wasn’t a mistake to begin with
The wing back system we used last night is a much better system than the one we used v Everton at the weekend. It makes us much more compact as a team and allows our players to play in their preferred positions. At the weekend we had Mhkitaryan and Ozil playing wide with Lacazette up top with 2 in midfield . This system left Lacazette isolated and due to Ozil and Mhkitaryan lack of pace we were unable to string together a decent move all game as it also meant the space that AMN and Kolasinac would normally use to… Read more »
PHD_ Just don’t know why you feel the need to rehash stuff from weeks ago. Nobody remembered anything about it much less cared. You instantly ruined the conversation.. and I could care less about the he said/ she said stuff. I wanted to talk about the game.. but now I can’t because I have to talk around your crap. That’s why it’s my business. And you know fuck all about me.. so don’t even try.. This isn’t a self help therapy site.. maybe your confused.. seems to happen with you a lot.. All the old timers remember how you ruined… Read more »
Mid.
Please just leave it…..
Divorced..
You have any comment about the game or Arsenal?
I can’t Same… once he gets started it won’t end.
” It does help when you leave players like Mustafi and Elneny out of the starting 11 …”
Teams are only as strong as their weakest link and Mustafi a mighty weak link indeed, he makes too many basic errors, he needs to be sold and better cb should be bought.
It is a mystery why Arsenal can’t consistently put in good performance away from home, don’t understand what happening because our home form is good but we lose the plot when we away.
Mid, no PHD will stop if you stop.
Ok.. done. But I wouldn’t put money on that.
People seem very dissapointed about last night.
But it’s sooo crucial Napoli didn’t get an away goal that is more important. Arsenal sides of past times wouldn’t have finished that match with a clean sheet.
People seem very dissapointed about last night.
exactly London. I was quite happy with the result and knowing how Arsenal players are being 3,4- 0 up would only breed incompetence into the players when they go to naples.
Although Ramsey missed a couple of chances I weren’t overly annoyed. I thought the performance was ok.
Someone mentioned play your best players all the time, Well anyone that’s ever managed a football team knows that that’s not an easy thing to do. Your best players will let you down at the best of times.
I think 2-0 .. is a good score line going into Napoli so I’m not disappointed by that .. if we score 1 goal they have to score 4. So .. I’m more disappointed in our inconsistency between away form and home. We missed a lot of chances too but that didn’t concern me as long as we were creating them.
It was huge we didn’t concede an away goal for sure but it feels less so because we really should have put 4 or 5 past them
We will catch them on the counter attack at their place.
I don’t pay attention to homewreckers…
_______
Really because you put all your past relationships on here for everyone to see or did you forget that part? We all had to hear in great detail about the end of your relationship. Selective memory?
I will give it a rest.. but try adding something to the comment section instead of whatever it is you usually do.
Absolutely disappointed with Arsenal. The huge stench of Arsene and his acolytes lingers on. A dark cloud that will take forever to find new horizons,slowly moving away from the Emirates and finding new territory-hopefully at the billion-pound Spuds stadium and beyond to the Kings Roads.
The horse manure of Arsene lingers on.The culture of mediocrity oozes out of every orifice of the so-called Arsenal players.
The place needs fumigating from top to toe.Starts with Kroenke!!
That’s my piece for the day..
PS
As for you dissenter-you slippery snake..Go fornicate yourself.
Omg are we talking avout ex wives? Jesus christ is this the real house wives of la blog or a footie blog?
I think if we beat napoli away that may be catalyst for change regarding away gane performances.
MidwestGun – “‘Never wrestle with pigs. You both get dirty and the pig likes it.”
London-
Ikr…. I agree if we could get a few consistent away performances in a row.. could change everything. Problem is now we have to chop and change our backline again due to suspensions.. For me the best defensive lines are usually the same personnel over the course of a season.. and we just have not had that which is what I attribute to a lot of our away form malfunctions. That and our defensive line is just not that talented to begin with.
Where’s Redtruth at? at least he is actually funny.
“Where’s Redtruth at? at least he is actually funny.”
Midwest
Redtruth is a Legrove legend… The story of Legrove can’t be told with him.
Midwest
Guy is so weird and awful. He’s classic gutter internet. Unstable, unhappy, insecure, weird. I haven’t posted much in recent weeks and yet look at his remark at 13:33:46. So weird.
You’ve obviously never watched the English show.So the nuance would be lost on you.
The story of Legrove can’t be told with him.
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Yep.. I remember one time .. there was some talk about starting a Le Grove tv or You tube site so we could see what some of the legends around here look like ala… Arsenal Fan TV. Hosted by the Mighty Gambon.
We could have done better than 2-0, and we will probably need to get a goal in Naples to keep things safe, but the team played pretty well last night, especially Ramsey, Torreira, Kolasinac, AMN, Koscielny and Sokratis. As for our away form, I agree with Andrew Mangan of Arseblog/Arsecast, who thinks it’s down to a lack of character, self-belief and spine in the team. I think this is probably the best explanation. As for whether we should put all of our eggs in the Europa basket, I’m just not sure about this. While I agree we have a better… Read more »
Bamford10April 12, 2019 15:03:26 Guy is so weird and awful. He’s classic gutter internet. Unstable, unhappy, insecure, weird. I haven’t posted much in recent weeks and yet look at his remark. So weird. ————– Coming from the guy,who has posted the below a few months ago!!Let’s recap shall we??Since you have selective memory!!Keep to your lane dude and mind your business.And if one wants to talk about gutter,there is plenty more from your end.It stinks to high heaven-dude.But you keep doing you..It’s all good. Banter around-the deluded douchebag. ——– BamfordFebruary 13, 2019 You do you and please ignore these cunts;… Read more »
“Yep.. I remember one time .. there was some talk about starting a Le Grove tv or You tube site so we could see what some of the legends around here look like ala… Arsenal Fan TV. Hosted by the Mighty Gambon.
Mid
May be we could set up a discord voice channel and hear all the swearing in real time during games…
“The more I learn about people, the more I like my dog.”
-Mark Twain.
PhD Huh? In the first instance, I was defending DM and others against those who were abusing them for posting “first”, “second”, “third”, etc., something that has been going on here since the blog’s inception more or less. I fail to see how I was in the wrong there. There was also nothing weird or personal about my remark; that’s your domain. I was simply defending DM and other posters against some very lame and unfriendly comments that were being directed at them. The second was in reply to TR7, who had seriously suggested that I might be a paid… Read more »
“I am hoping that Emery sticks with a CAM ( Ozil or Mhkitaryan) for the remainder of the season as a CAM is the key to Arsenal’s offensive play.” The key is number eight to run ahead of the number ten (when the number ten is Ozil). Ozil is not a Bergkamp, who could consistently stay within the width of the goal posts high up the pitch; he often drifts wide and deep. If you have Ramsey running forward to take up positions in the central areas Ozil vacates, it works well because there is an effective and hard to… Read more »
“As for our away form, I agree with Andrew Mangan of Arseblog/Arsecast, who thinks it’s down to a lack of character, self-belief and spine in the team. I think this is probably the best explanation.” Nonsense I mean if those are the real reasons why we’re poor away from home then it should be a problem in our home games as well except its not,get out of here with that rubbish if what you’re telling me is that the players only have spine and characters for home games but decides to switched them off when they go away I think… Read more »
Midwest
Most people are reasonable, decent and well-adjusted, though, fortunately. The internet attracts some of the worst, however, and its anonymity and impersonality allows people to behave badly. I think Twain’s misanthropy there goes a little too far.