ARSENAL BATTLE THE TEMPTATION TO PLAY VICTIM (AND WIN)

by .

Watford: 19 fouls. 2 bookings.

Arsenal: 6 fouls. 4 bookings.

We start on a gripe because we won which means I’m allowed to complain. So what is going on here? Why are referees allowed to go into a game giving a bigger team a handicap because they want to even out technical levels with fouls. Why don’t that have tech that tells them rotational fouling is going on? It’s so shoddy refs can be conned like this. Or worse, just uniformly favor other teams. Considering how nonviolent our team is and how little fouls we make, it’s striking how bad our sending off/booking rates are.

I also want to bring this point up because some people, including weird Arsenal fans, are complaining that we didn’t kick the ball out of play when there one of their players went down in the build-up.

I’m sorry, but just as I don’t think the police should help drug dealers retrieve their ill-gotten gains when a rival gang steals from them, I’m not going to talk about class issues when a Watford player, feigning injury, 60 minutes into a rotational foul strategy, doesn’t get sporting behavior when he hits the ground.

It’s mildly amusing that the sort of Arsenal fans that talk up Conte for his ‘win at all costs’ mentality now want to talk about Arsenal dropping a bit of that for the first time in a long time.

So what about the game? I thought it was good for a lot of reasons.

Everything went against us. Saka had a goal disallowed early on, please don’t ask me to explain why that’s now offside, but apparently, it was.

Ben Foster had an outrageously good game.

Auba missed a penalty after Lacazette was smashed down by Danny Rose.

Danny Rose didn’t get sent off.

Auba took a touch on an Odegaard goal that made it disallowed.

The atmosphere was one of those weird muted Sunday types where people are sensing something rubbish might happen.

We basically had all the ingredients there for a sucker-punched 1-0 home defeat we’d have to ruminate on for a few weeks.

As it turned out, we weathered the game and its travesties really well. Not everyone was at their best, but as Arteta said in the week, everyone was united around the mission and worked like monsters all game.

Our defence was rock solid all game. Ben White had one of his best in an Arsenal shirt. He’s everything we needed this summer and more. He opens the game up because he’s a non-traditional centre back, you can’t press him, stand off him, or lunge in because he’ll beat you like Aaron Ramsey and go on a run. In fact, his run led to our first goal… a tackle on him allowed Laczette in, with ESR sweeping in to open the scoring. He’s also a good defender, he’s sharp in the tackle, he’s surprisingly good in the air, and he won’t be shoved about. Let’s be honest, the debate that we didn’t need to replace Luiz with a ballplaying centre back really was one of the worst. Who is talking about his price-tag now?

The full-backs were really good again. Tomiyasu in particiular. He contributed well to the final third with some line-breakers and good crosses. It’s also really nice to have a centre back like object on the right, because it means we have 3 defenders that are good in the air from corners. 4 when you consider the height of Nuno. The Portuguese had another solid game, he doesn’t look inexperienced and his stamina is off the charts. Those mazy late-game runs will count as he gets older. I thought he had another reassuring 90 and he’s certainly asking questions of Kieran Tierney.

Gabriel. I read someone say that you just get used to him dropping 8 out of 10s. He’s moving into that level of reliability we’ve not had in that role for a long time. No one intimidates him, his passing is great, and he is an absolute menace from corners. He was very unlucky not to chalk up another goal when hos downward header bounced off Ben Foster’s legs.

Auba didn’t have a good day out, but I won’t knock him. He’s doing an immense amount of work for the team regardless of how he’s playing in front of goal. He missed a penalty, he’s in a bit of a rut there, but I just love his attitude at the moment.

Lacazette, Smith Rowe and Saka all had solid games. They’re finding each other and working out patterns. It’s nice to see the bonds forming and the trust grow with each game. Again, Saka was really unlucky not to be the first scorer.

Ainsley had a super game next to Sambi. I’m so, so happy he’s focused himself this season. He has it all to do whatever he wants in the game. Arteta made the point after that he’s just different this year. He’s more urgent, his body language is better, and he’s thinking about his career a little more. I was a bit worried about the two of them in the middle, but Sambi continues to prove he was one of the bargains of the summer. His pass completion was 87.3%.

It was also worth noting that Odegaard came on and looked like he wanted to impose himself on the game. He played a few really good balls, he should have scored if it weren’t for Auba, and his running was truly appreciated.

Ramsdale nearly made his first mistake missing the ball. Luckily Josh King couldn’t make the angle. Overall though, I liked his game. He’s trying to find Auba with daisy-cutters into feet, which is quite the skill. That’s a big improvement on the launch balls he was doing earlier in the season. His pass completion rate was 81.3%, quite exceptional when you consider the ambition of his choices. I love him

So we did it. 10 points from 12. 4 very different games. Palace on that Monday now looks like a really good result, Lacazette set the ball running for a really good run.

9 games unbeaten. 6 cleansheets. We’re 5th in the table. 6 points from top. 2 points from Liverpool. Our goal difference is back to 0.

Arteta has a better win ratio than Wenger for the first 100 (matching GG on 56%). Considering the team he inherited and the moment in time we just went through, that’s pretty decent.

The team is finding performances. They’re digging deep. Every summer signing looks like a winner. Every senior player getting game time is putting in a shift. The squad is unified. The fans are unified.

The progress is very, very real.

I like that we’re finally a club where everything looks like it’s in good shape.

There’s loads to do this season. We have to improve our in-game management. Squad rotation needs to happen so players are ready for a busy December. We still need to do better in open play. The players are all still sussing each other out. But this train is finally moving and it feels good.

What I like the most out of all of this: We did things the hard way after trying to short-cut for 5 years. We took a chance on a young innovative coach and gave him time. We stopped signing old bums (time thiefs acc to Arteta) and aged down the squad. Our approach to recruitment considered the character of the players as well as the skillset put through a very, very specific vision of how the game should be played… and you can see more than green shoots now.

It’ll still be tough. There will be bad moments. But now we can see the promised land, we don’t have to catastrophize every blip along the way.

Right, that’s me done. I couldn’t do the OTW yesterday because everyone is out and about but we’ll have some content for you this week.

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DM

Pedro, Saka’s goal was clearly offside by all interpretations of the rule — it’s not a new thing!

Bankz

The win against watford was a very important one.
I really detest international breaks as they always seem to break up momentum.
Hopefully we hold our own against Liverpool next week.
I think we can put out a consistent run of wins together again after Anfield.

Bankz

Need to steal the Tr4phy away from DM.
Sorry old friend

Bankz

Tr4phy!

grooveydaddy

Well in Bankz

DM

Sambi def looks a talent but I gotta admit I was very worried yesterday that he’d end up playing a loose ball and it would cost us. He had so many mislaid passes, really needs to work on that. I was desperate for Arteta to take him off cos last thing I want to see is him gift them a goal and the impact that would have on him. Luckily we were ok in the end.

DM

Lol hey Bankz, nice one

Bankz

DM

Haaahaaaa.
I miss the old rivalry.
Hope you’re holding up good?

DM

All good thanks mate, hope you are too

Saladin

ESR could be our new Ramsey.

Buckagh

SaladinNovember 8, 2021 09:31:35
ESR could be our new Ramsey.

He will be better than Rambo, and hopefully not as injury prone.

Buckagh

Zippy post Pedro
On another day they could have bagged 4/5 goals,
Progress is obvious, despite some naysayers on here, atmosphere in the ground is the best in years

Karsa

Very encouraging performance given all the potential banana skins.

Nice to go into yet another international break will a smile on our faces.

TR7

What a brilliant manager Pep Guardiola is. No striker, no problem. Absolute footballing masterclass from him against Man United. The league is blessed with some real titans of the game in Pep, Klopp, Conte, Tuchel etc. I don’t think we have ever had such great array of managers competing against each other in the same league

TR7

AMN has got good technical ability, pace and athleticism. All he needs to do is be more focused and he can nail down a starting spot in our midfield.

David Smith

I don’t think those refs are getting conned, believe it is a deliberate ploy to assist certain teams for whatever reason.
Mike Riley always did , and it seems still does have some issue with this club, no idea why
Wenger tried to deal with this by blitzing these teams making ref bias or instructions irrelevant, Arteta seems to have a plan as well.
All That said, guess miraculously, AMN got away with a foul leading up to the goal

eddu

How Watford survived with 11players on the field till that late in the game only God knows.

Bankz

ESR is currently my favorite player in the team.
I hope he keeps improving.

Pep Guardiola is just a genius and I will never understand when people try to write off his achievements by saying he is a “cheque book” manager.
He’s the Messi of managers.
I still think he will come out on top come May.
Once he leapfrogs Chelsea, no team is catching city again.
Played United at old trafford, Chelsea at Stamford bridge and visited Anfield already.

Kroenkephobe

Pedro You sound a little shrill and defensive. I’m personally delighted we won and, almost as importantly, that we clearly deserved to win. Watford paid us respect insofar as their strategy was to be dirty, overly physical and to waste time and con the referee. That suggested we’ve at least recovered slightly from being viewed as passive pushovers. They were, to a certain extent, hoist by their own petard, by conceding a goal to…. we’ll, let’s call it gamesmanship. Rose fucked up by kicking it out when, whatever the mincing Watford player was rolling about with, clearly wasn’t a head… Read more »

englandsbest

Super post, Pedro, accurate in every detail. The point made about ‘the character as well as the skill-set’ applies not just to the players, it applies throughout. And there we have the key to the transformation of the Club. And it ought to be emphasised that it began with the hiring of the manager. Arteta is forthright, honest, straightforward. And now those qualities permeate the Club from bottom to top. This showed clearly in Josh’s interview. We should take him at his word not play the ‘wotldly’ cynic like some on here do. The owner is always the most important… Read more »

Emiratesstroller

Watford came into this game intent on bullying our young players and that was blindingly obvious with the foul count in first half. It was also clear that Arsenal were punished with yellow cards when we committed a foul. By contrast it beggars belief that Rose was still on the pitch after his foul on Lacazette resulting in penalty. That was “dangerous” play in anyone’s book. My main concern about our team is that we do struggle in last quarter of games. We allow opponents to take control of games and that was increasingly the case yesterday. Most of the… Read more »

Berg10kamp

Don’t think that from AMN was a foul. To me Sarr wanted to block him off and AMN just bumped him over as he is stronger.

Leedsgunner

Watford got caught with their pants down, they were play acting and they are upset because we saw right through it… and played the advantage and scored.

Their defender who went down prompting Rose to throw the ball out should have been booked for simulation.

Watford have nothing to complain about.

Emiratesstroller

Leedsgunner

Arsenal should have won this game by a country mile. We should not be discussing this incident if the game was not tight.

TR7

Klopp although a great manager is a sore loser. Always comes up with weird excuses and accusations when his team loses. The first goal that Pool conceded was legit and Cresswell didn’t deserve to be red carded but still he can’t stop moaning about the two decisions.

Kroenkephobe

Arteta is forthright, honest, straightforward. And now those qualities permeate the Club from bottom to top.

EB
He has none of those qualities and you know it. And nor do you for saying it. You’re possibly being paid for saying some of this claptrap aren’t you? No one is buying it. Just state for the record that you’re categorically not Mark Gonnella or one of his minions.

Terraloon

Leeds Their defender who went down prompting Rose to throw the ball out should have been booked for simulation. How can that be? There was no foul to con the ref. If we are going to come down on simulation then I’d be 100% behind that initiative but in this instance Rose was fully justified in kicking the ball out. All I hope is that the failure to return the ball doesn’t set some sort of precedent when other clubs should return the ball should it be an Arsenal player who expects the ball to be returned. Look a win… Read more »

Spanishdave

Still struggling to score, Auba needs to be dropped. Running around a lot doesn’t produce goals .
We need a heavyweight CF who can stir up defenders so players can feed off the loose balls.a
Both our attackers are over the hill and overpaid.

Terraloon

TR7

Was the WHU goal much different from the Brentford goal in the first game of the season ?

I personally thought Cresswell was quite close to getting a red and I certainly have no love for Liverpool.

On the day WHU we’re worthy winners but just about every manager will point fingers away from their players if they loose.

Spanishdave

Don’t forget we replayed Sheffield Utd after Bruce moaned his head off for the same incident in the FA cup.
It is bad manners, no class

James wood.

Sissoko should have got another yellow for
the amount of time he spent in the refs face.

Pedro

Kroenke, not much of an audience for the anti-Arteta agenda today, think you’ll have to put a slab of humble pie in the oven and get the cutlery ready.

Pedro

TR7, Liverpool after the break will be interesting. Brighton and West Ham showed the way. I’m hoping with our defence playing they way they are we might ask some questions of Klopp.

Emiratesstroller

It would be interesting how Rugby would have dealt with the Rose foul on Lacazette.

He would have been sent off and most probably have been suspended for several games as
well.

TR7

Pedro

Yes, we are playing well as a unit. Obviously they have more firepower in the attack, we will need Auba to step up to stand a chance against them.

Bob N16

Karma smacked Watford in the face, sure our goal was dubious, AMN collision and not passing the ball back BUT the Watford team were constantly going down, wasting time and fouling. In that context, f*ck ‘em, I have no sympathy whatsoever. We got a deserved 3pts, it should have been more comfortable but we kept a clean sheet. One gripe, in the last 10 minutes or so we struggled to keep possession, Ramsdale was going for the champagne pass and we were giving back the ball too easily. Martinelli should have come on 10 minutes before he did but subs… Read more »

Ashwin Gunner

Very good game yesterday..

would be happy with a point against Liverpool and then go on to beat United… that will sum up our November perfectly.

Kroenkephobe

Pedro Your moral compass is awry. Fairness – and the semblance of fairness – matters in sport as it does in many other walks of life. I laugh at the ‘same old Arsenal, always cheating’ mantra from all those cunty teams that routinely abuse other players and habitually con refs. You should know that with your profound understanding of elite sport and PR. Image and reputation are important. To dress up what I said as anti-Arteta was hopelessly wide of the mark. We’re talking about Arsenal here – get real and stop being so Arteta centric. It’s sad and a… Read more »

Kroenkephobe

Bob
Ha ha. Dubious eh? Don’t get back on that fence mate – you’re much more readable when you’re opinionated. It was against the spirit of the game and that’s the inconvenient truth

Pedro

Kroenke, I know elite sport and PR and I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt… that incident yesterday will not do us any harm. In fact, it’ll work for us as teams realise we won’t be rolled. There’s a real theme or the type or fan that is bothering about that give ln the context of the game.

I’d package up your hopes for the Liverpool game with a little more subtlety, wouldn’t want the slim mask to slip. You wouldn’t want people to think you are putting your agenda over Arsenal.

Pedro

TR7, be intersting to see how we play. Deep block for a shit house? Or do we play with a bit more aggression?

Ashwin Gunner

Guys

When Jose Mou wins trophies at the end of the season, no one gives a shit how he did.

Wenger was the nicest guy and didn;t win shit. Its time we had some one who has some balls to play the game as it is. If you want to be a gentleman do it in your personal lives. Once in football win the games within the rules. I dont think anything was unfair in yesterdays game. Remember Nice guys finish 8th.

Pedro

Ashwin, you only care about Arsenal being nice when you have nothing else to complain about.

TR7

Pedro

I don’t see any point in playing a deep block against Liverpool. You can put your body on the line and still lose the game to a screamer from TAA or a piece of magic from Salah.

Their fullbacks are not great defensively. Antonio troubled them whenever he ran at them. If we can get Tavares, Saka, Auba and ESR run at their defense we can score. There’s no shame in losing to Klopp’s Pool, so I would rather we lost the game trying to win than parking the bus.

Ashwin Gunner

Sir Alex has won every damn there is to win. Was he ever fair. hell no.. he knows how to win a match. He had players like Eric Cantona, Roy Keane who spent more time in gym than in training ground. Were these players every fair? No.. They were there to win at all costs. because 10 years from now, all that matters is what you won and not how you behaved during a 10 sec passage of a game.

Ashwin Gunner

Pedro.

True. some people have sad lives mate.. really. why cant they be happy that Arsenal won and start moaning on one incident.

Had it been the other way round, these fellas who are advocating good behaviour would curse Arteta and the players for being too soft..

Damn if you do, damn if you dont.

SMH

Pedro

Ash, if it happened to us it would have been naive / rookie coach

LoveSausage

The “incident” yesterday was a storm in a teacup. It’s karma for Watford’s cunty tactics and I’m certainly not losing any sleep over it. If anything, I’m impressed that this young group of players were unfazed by the physical play. Didn’t let themselves be bullied or lose their heads. It’s a good sign for the future.

As I said yesterday, watch the replay and you can see Danny Rose furiously gesticulating to his own player to stay down, which obviously means he was ok and back on his feet so their was no need to throw the ball back to them.

Leedsgunner

We play best when we play on the front foot. When we play the deep block we give Liverpool too much space and respect.

Salah will punish you when you give him time and space.

So if we cheated by not giving the ball back, they cheated by kicking the ball out and wasting time by pretending a player was injured when it was obvious he wasn’t

TR7

Really really impressed with Nuno Tavares. Plays with so much confidence, purpose and assertiveness. Tomiyasu plays more conservatively obviously because Arteta wants only one fullback to romp forward which puts more responsibility on Tavares and boy he delivers.

Pedro

TR7, he looks very seasoned considering

Bob N16

Kroenke, Of course our goal was dodgy but Watford deserved f*ck all and but for brain farts from PEA and some decent goalkeeping from Foster we would have been out of sight. The fact that Watford were pushing ‘gamesmanship’ to the limit( and poor refereeing) means I have no sympathy. The referee stops the game for head injuries, this kicking the ball off has crept in far too much. Their player jumped up, fully ‘recovered’ just as Rose was kicking the ball off. It was a strategy all game to break the game up. I sort of don’t blame them… Read more »

Graham

I am with you on the ball out of play incident. Watching it live I thought – I really hope we don’t give the ball back – the player had been faking an injury (and was not even pretending it as a head injury) and was getting up anyway. And Rose largely kicked it out to waste time when under pressure. And anyway it just gave us a throw in in their half which they had completely set up to defend – hardly directly causing a goal. I was at the Kanu Sheff Utd game (right next to the Zheffiekd… Read more »

Pedro

Graham, don’t think I was ever aware two players needed to be behind the ball. Nor were the players by the looks of it. Celebration was a bit different to Odegaard

TR7

Well the real point of contention should have been AMN’s challenge on Sarr not adjudged a foul, not this furore on gamesmanship.

AFC Forever

Kroenke “Get real and stop being so Arteta centric. …It’s sad and a bit culty.!!” Fucking hell mate, you’ve got balls the size of melons….! Remind me who it was who was boycotting this blog because it wasn’t ‘Arteta Out’ enough? Who was it that was trying tor recruit for their “Arteta Out’ Whatsapp Group? (I still laugh at the sheer stupidity of that.). So to talk about being Arteta centric and cultist, has to be paraded as the most hypocritical thing ever said on here. Because you described yourself perfectly. You are so obsessed with your own opinion you’re… Read more »

englandsbest

Kroenkepheeble

Your pretence of gentility is hilarious, nice people don’t indulge in personal insults, something you do all the time..

Anyway, putting your make-believe temperament aside, pro football is not a gentlemanly contest like, say, golf. On the contrary, it’s a sport where you get away with whatever you can. That’s why we have referees with whistles. We see this happen in every game, to a greater or lesser degree.And that throw-in that you pretend offends you so much is certainly lower level, did NOT create a goal, and is piddling in comparison to what Rose did to Laca.

Pierre

Give Lacazette is due , he has mastered the art of going down like a sack of shit, just thankful that we don’t have to hear his pathetic screams as he writhes about in mock agony.

I suppose the means justify the ends and it’s the results that matter

Will be a shame if our less experienced players recognise this as the only way of getting results but if that’s what it takes , then so be it.

Nelson

“when a Watford player, feigning injury, 60 minutes into a rotational foul strategy, doesn’t get sporting behavior when he hits the ground.”
________________________________________________________________________

I fully agree. Even the Ref got fed up and ignored them. Now they blamed the Ref for the loss. They have only themselves to blame.

Nelson

Auba still carries the hope that he’ll get back his scoring form. He tried. But his first touch was getting worse. One of it resulted in Saka’s offside goal.

Pedro

‘ Your pretence of gentility is hilarious’

Amen to this. Will wrap an insult in some faux intellectual point about humanity or daughters, before spitefully popping off at anyone who doesn’t want to got to hell with him after a NLD win. Very sad. Good point on the boycott. 😂

Pedro

Pierre, Xhaka quite good at that as well.

AFC Forever

Graham

As you say that offside rule has always existed and always been wrong. I went to a coaching session once where a coach was trying to find ways to get his goalkeeper to advance and play attackers offside, it was absolute carnage. Most of the players didn’t even know it existed, so I am not surprised so many people didn’t know about it. It’s a silly rule but it was the correct decision..

Words on a blog

Kroenkephobe,

Maybe our decision to play on was against the “spirit of the game”.

But this was after we had endured another mysterious “non-red card” decision for the Rose foul on Laca, and a strategy of rotational fouling and time wasting from Watford, which was also dealt with leniently by the ref.

So yeah, for me, “spirit of the game”, whatever.

Graham

“Graham, don’t think I was ever aware two players needed to be behind the ball. Nor were the players by the looks of it. Celebration was a bit different to Odegaard”

Well to be fair the linesman had his flag straight up on the Odegaard/Auba goal. What the linesman and ref were doing on the Saka goal I really have no idea – classic case of where VAR avoided a major mistake.

Dissenter

Terraloon[ is indeed right
The Westham goal is identical with the second goal Brentford scored against us.
In both cases, the player went to directly foul the goal keeper.
Ogbonna just jumped into the goalie and raised his hand to thwart Allison’s catching motion.

It was 100% a foul. Goalies are going to start using counter measures that will cause head injuries.

LoveSausage

We just need to sort out the goal scoring now. 13 goals in 11 games is really poor. But at least it’s not because we’re playing negative low margins football anymore. We should have had 4 yesterday.

Arteta needs to be willing to drop Auba and experiment a bit. In a way our striker situation is almost a blessing. Laca and Eddie will be off in the summer and Auba is spent. So there’s no value to protect. Arteta can be completely pragmatic because we’ll be getting a new starting CF either in January or in the summer.

AFC Forever

Pedro

“Good point on the boycott.”

That was me.

He was trying to cancel you, which is funny when you remember his political rants. But the icing on the cake had to be the Whatsap Group. I have read some weird stuff on here from so called fans but that is definitely in the ‘Ridiculously Stupid’ category. Still I’m sure he and Tony are enjoying themselves on it….?!!?

TR7

Dissenter

There is no rule which says an opposition player can not stand in the line of sight of a GK when attacking a corner. West Ham goal was legit.

Ashwin Gunner

For Pool start our strongest team. The players are getting used to each other. Pool have very lethal forwards. It will be challenge to hold them too long. Best strategy is to attack as we cant defend for 90+ mins. If we attack and score some goals we have more than enough chance of securing a draw. Defend and we will loose.

InsideRight

“…some people, including weird Arsenal fans, are complaining that we didn’t kick the ball out of play when there one of their players went down in the build-up” Watford players had been rolling around like they had been shot too many times, trying to con the ref. We were right to play to the whistle because the incident before the goal was powder puff. AMN is a lightweight and he came away from the contact as if nothing had happened. It wasn’t a foul, there had been too many instances of play acting, damn right we should carry on. If… Read more »

Topside Northbank

Pedro etc, Getting the foundations right, the back four has been the catalyst for our recent recovery. We are 2nd in the table since Ramsdale came in and coincides with Tomiyasu, he is more in the mold of Lee Dixon in hard to beat, massive asset in the air, huge leap for a RB. He has been excellent one iffy game at Brighton but even that night stuck to his task to compare the previous RB Bellerin is chalk and cheese a player that would point to others and visably look nervous on and off the ball. That Tavares is… Read more »

AFC Forever

Dissenter I agree. When you do set-piece coaching you try to disrupt the goalkeeper as much as you can. However, goalkeepers are a protected species so jumping into them or putting your arms on them is always a foul. The West Ham goal was a foul. Especially in view of the fact that they are usually so well protected. We used to encourage our goalkeepers to use their fists in those situations, if you punch the player heading the ball so be it. Allison seemed a bit soft to me which didn’t help imo. I think PGMOL and their guys… Read more »

LoveSausage

AFC,

I honestly didn’t see anything wrong with the West Ham goal. Looked like Alisson jumped into the WHU player rather than other way around.

Either way, the hammers showed how to beat Liverpool. Mid block, get up in their faces every time you can so they don’t have time to look for cute passes, and hit them on the break.

Topside Northbank

TR7 agree on standing near the GK.

Rewind 12 months we got a shocker of a VAR call v Leicester and certainly cost us getting something out of the game, no infringement other than VAR official got it horribly wrong./biased delete as you feel.

VAR has not been kind to Arsenal be it red cards or goals ruled out Sokratis v Palace at home probably the worst we have had. Perfectly good goal ruled out for no reason iirc Atkinson the ref even gave a shake of head as if to say he was surprised.

TR7

Ogbonna didn’t touch Allison, so no foul there for me.

Against Brentford, Leno couldn’t even move from his position as he was held by an opposition player, definitely a foul.

The two situations can’t be compared.

AFC Forever

Tposide Yes agree. Last season our back four and goalkeeper were poor in possession. This made our play slow and we struggled to beat the press. Leno would often find touch or put a player in trouble. Ramsdale and White have transformed us. Add Tomi and Gabrielle plus the back-up player Tavares and we’ve completely changed the backline. Now we beat the press with ease and we are playing faster. White and Gabrielle look a great pairing, White’s ability to break through the press into midfield positions opens the pitch up for us. Often Tomi tucks in to allow Tavares… Read more »

Dissenter

AFC
Do you remember when Ospina almost decapitated Oscar?

Goalies will start deploying such measures; knees into back catch or flatten anything between fist and ball.

El Gooner

first – they need to sort out access to the stadium – very weird queueing to get in which lasted about 10 minutes before everyone just decided to ignore. Either get stewards out there or just go back to before. Don’t get the Tomi love in – he will be a cult hero, always gives 150% but get’s turned consistently. Better teams will attack that and he will need support. AMN got off to a flier but disappeared after about 20mins – still happy to have them to cover and start against the weaker teams. Auba work rate off the… Read more »

TT

@Dissenter

Isn’t that something similar to what we have seen Ramsdale doing already? Sometimes when he comes out to catch the ball he goes up with one knee raised. As to say to the attacker this is what you will get if you crash in to me 😀

Dissenter

TR7
Go watch it again
Ogbonna jumped into Allison and used his hand to push Allison’s hands.
He obstructed the mechanism of the keeper catching the ball.

Referees call that a foul 99/100
Simple foul called and Ogbonna wouldn’t even complain.

Dissenter

We ought o kick out the bal, when the opposition player is down, that;s the convention but the spirit of the Watford game was different.
Watford were deploying street tactics to misuse that convention so we reacted streetwise.

Most teams wouldn’t kick out the ball when the game is still competitive in the last quarter hour, that’s just the way it is. Professionals know when a player is injured or when a player is just full of beans.

AFC Forever

Dissenter/TT Yep. We used to get our ‘keepers to do that. When you jump up for a ball, it only needs.a slight touch with an arm to prevent you from getting to the ball cleanly. Affecting the goalkepper is important at set=piece play, West Ham did it all game. We used to always put a player in front of our goalkeeper to protect him. Your goalkeeper has to be aggressive, knees up into the back or side of the challenger or fists first. The goalkeeper never gets penalised. Allison was soft yesterday and too worried about Anthony standing in front… Read more »

TR7

Dissenter Come on now !! Like Allison, Ogbonna had the right to jump to attack the ball and natural momentum of his body led to his arm coming in the way of Allison. What is Ogbonna supposed to do there ? Duck in so that Allison can catch the ball easily ? Even the Cresswell foul wasn’t a red. His leg rebounded off the ball and again due to momentum of his body his leg ended high up at Henderson. No malice behind the tackle. Klopp is a whiner, the facade he puts on of being a nice guy slips… Read more »

Danny

9 games unbeaten.
———-
Pedro, it’s 10 if one includes the 2 Milk Cup matches.

Leedsgunner

I just don’t get this faux out rage at Arsenal for not giving the ball back.

If the player who went down had legitimate cause I can sympathise but they were doing it to take advantage… on the field of play and nothing to do with anyone’s actual welfare.

The REAL travesty is why Rose didn’t get sent off for a dangerous challenge on Lacazette!

The Bard

We need to get real. Not returning the ball wasn’t a good look but then neither is rotational fouling or forwards going down like they’ve been shot every time they get touched. Cheating in football is endemic.

Matt

It is generally true what they say that what goes around comes around. We have been victims of such incidents before and I am sure we will be again in the future so I am happy to be on the other end this time. I’m really not sure why some people are feeling so aggrieved by it. Surely the more pressing debate is Auba and whilst I agree with pretty much everything Pedro wrote today, I have to disagree on Auba not being a concern. He is a huge concern for me. All the running around in the world doesn’t… Read more »

Asoa

Finally Wenger admits he should have left around 2007 , that he stayed on too long.
Something everyone was saying for a long time. Guess hindsight takes 14 years to kick in.
Wonder whether Arteta will admit in the far future that it would have been appropriate for him to start at Championship level instead of wasting 2 seasons of AFC.
After all quite a few saying that too now😁

Bob N16

TR7, agree about Klopp, Wenger was the same. Do accept that the interview you’d get a couple of hours after a game would be much more considered than an emotionally wrought 20 mins( or whatever it is) after a game.

DivineSherlock

I think all these decisions and Sky choosing to focus on Arsenal not giving the ball just makes it clear to me they are all trying to protect the refs , English refs are just plain incompetent . I dont recall a single contentious decision during the Euros , why ? Simply because they are professionals.

Tom

I liked how we played and I thought it was a very good win for a lot of reasons, not least because it was scrappy. Also agree with Arteta that Arsenal players are probably the most honest around so the entire controversy of not returning the ball to Watford is a bit overblown for me in a game when one team is desperate for a point and kicking the ball out offers a chance for a breather. The lopsided card count normally would be a bit of an issue but the most important wrong call went for Arsenal — the… Read more »

AFC Forever

Matt

Yesterdays game should have been dead and buried, they didn’t have a single shot on target. We created plenty of good chances and tactically we are proving well organised and efficient. The back 5 and midfield are doing a great job out of possession. For me, our weakness is we just aren’t clinical enough in front of goal. We are creating chances though, so we just have to be more clinical and that’s down to the strikers.. I think we do need to buy.

Terraloon

Divine

At the Euros there were 18 referees. In terms of numbers England had as many refs in that 18 as any other country

You have to factor in that neither were allowed to take control of either of the semis or indeed the final due to England progression to the final but both. Control of three games which must say something in terms of how they are rated
Fast forward to the 2022 WC and Oliver’s name is included as England’s representative and Pawson and Tierney it seems will be there likewise as VAR

underrated Coq

Sportsmanship, spirit of the game…..what a bunch of bs.

Football is a millionaire’s game now complete with cheating, thuggery, bribery, you name them. That’s why we have teams like Watford playing the way they do.

If I were Arteta, I’d ask the team to do it again. And again, another time. All these thuggish teams bending the rules to the max, give them a taste of their own medicine.

Topside Northbank

Going into the international break after a win is a massive plus. It should of been a comfortable win yesterday it wasn’t Auba left his shooting boots at home, but it’s a similar game that we have seen us drop points many times in the past. AMN & Lokonga controlled the midfield Watford offered no real threat a Ramsdale mistake thankfully didn;t cost us near the end. Rose should of had teo bookings and been off by HT how he wasn’t booked for the penalty is a mystery, Would of been a traversty we had not won that game, we… Read more »

Bob N16

Aubemeyang can make amends by getting a teammate to leave one on Sane and then Salah in the following match, as Togo play Senegal and then Egypt. Either that or Agent El Neny can find a way of crocking Salah at least.

In recent years, Liverpool always seem to be at their best against Arsenal. They are vulnerable at set pieces and their midfield isn’t all that but a point against them would feel massive.

Topside Northbank

January will be intersting in the market for many teams.

Newcastle will be a player and agents dream they are going to get rinsed, with their wealth may not matter but if they get their initial recruitment wrong.

We need a striker and realisically I don’t expect anyone coming in January, Vlahovic being linked but I doubt unless Man City come in for him he will be better served keeping his options open until the summer.

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