Arsenal got ready for the Premier League kick off with an impressive 3-1 victory over Man City in Helsinki this afternoon.
Arsene Wenger selected a line-up of: Szczesny, Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs, Arteta, Wilshere, Ramsey, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Walcott, Podolski: with a bench consisting of: Fabianski, Jenkinson, Perez, Hayden, Zelalem, Cazorla, Giroud.
A week before the season starts and Arsenal have a 20 year old trialist on the bench, but it was the Gunners who went ahead in the 10th minute despite some early Man City pressure.
Theo Walcott got on the end of a fantastic Aaron Ramsey pass which dissected the City defence. The England winger took a touch and clipped it over Joe Hart to make it 1-0 to Arsenal.
James Milner thrashed a shot just over the Arsenal bar a few moments later, and Laurent Koscielny had to clear from almost off the line after Negredo beat Szczesny to a Zabaleta cross. He hooked the ball goalwards but Koscielny was on hand to avert the danger.
City were claiming a penalty when Kieran Gibbs blocked a low David Silva cross but nothing was given, before Arsenal broke forward through Jack Wilshere who played it wide to Bacary Sagna. The right back cut inside and lashed a left footed shot which Joe Hart touched onto the post and away to safety.
Vincent Kompany picked up a yellow card for challenge on Podolski, and in the 29th minute Wojciech Szczesny saved well with his feet after Dzeko found some space after a Yaya Toure pass and took a close range shot.
Negredo then created real danger, thrusting past Mertesacker, but not for the first time Koscielny was in the perfect position to snuff out the low cross, and the Gunners took the one goal lead into the half-time break.
For the second half, Lukasz Fabianski replaced Szczesny, Oliveri Giroud took the place of Lukas Podolski, and Santi Cazorla came on for Jack Wilshere, while chinless creep and former Arsenal man, $amir Na£ri got a run out for City.
The second Pole was quick off his line to deny Negredo after Toure played a ball between the two centre-halves which the Spaniard failed to control first time. And the former Sevilla man had another effort after good City build up, seeing his right footed shot go wide although Fabianski had it well covered.
Once again though, it was Arsenal who made the breakthrough, as Aaron Ramsey doubled the lead in the 60th minute. The Welshman started the move in midfield, played a one two with Theo Walcott with Cazorla letting it run past him on the way through, and the midfielder rounded Joe Hart and made it 2-0.
And within a minute it was 3-0. Theo Walcott played a brilliant diagonal ball right over Vincent Kompany, it fell for Giroud who controlled it and lobbed it over the onrushing Hart.
Arsenal then brought on Sebastien Perez in place of Mikel Arteta with the Colombian looking to impress Arsene Wenger as his trial continued, and only the offside flag denied Olivier Giroud his second of the game when he tucked away a Walcott cross.
Sagna and Oxlade-Chamberlain then made way for Carl Jenkinson and Gedion Zelalem, while the busy, but most ineffective, Negredo fired a low shot wide of the Arsenal goal.
But he got his goal in the 78th minute when he held off Koscielny and went through to slide the ball past Fabianski to make it 3-1. Youngster Perez picked up a yellow card for a foul on Jesus Navas, but from the resulting free kick Negredo hit the wall.
Arsenal lost quite a bit of fluency having made so many changes, and for such young, inexperienced players, but in the end saw the game out and more than deserved their win.
Overall, a very solid and promising performance from Arsene Wenger’s side. There’ll be some who will bemoan the fact that a win will make the Frenchman keep the chequebook closed but in the end the result should have no bearing on our need to strengthen the squad, something which is still obvious.
Still, in terms of build-up for Villa, it’s just what the doctor ordered.
It seems like home-sickness hit Navas in the face towards the end. Diving c*nt.
Standard really, I think most continental players find it strange when they dive they don’t get anything here. I was happy with that for once, dnt tell me City wern’t trying, they were and they couldn’t find a way, which is encouraging.
Now just open the wallet, get in the signings, rumours about Gustavo, might not have a meltdown come september, yeah.
Wouldn’t get too excited about Gustavo, story comes from The Metro. Arsene looks to have decided on Perez for that back up position.
I think at this point every story in the world originated from the Metro by the sheer amount of shit they put out.
I don’t think he’d get a 20 year old in as 1st choice when he has Dench and he’s loaned out Coq.
@ Anon: Well someone has to recycle that double decker sized pile of s***e from the Kingston sewer.
That’s funny, I think most UK residents have these hilariously mistaken ideas that (1) the EPL is not full of divers and (2) English players never dive.
Am surprised at the lack of comments. Not saying we don’t need to strengthen (we sorely do), but where are the booboys?
Boo! Boo!
I was actually saying ‘Boo-urns! Boo-urns!’
AW’s said we the squad need strengthening.
What’s the point of them moaning about something he’s just said when it’s agreeing with them.
that made me laugh, great first post
Unlike Arseblog, who is a legend, I note that even after an hour, there is no post in which to comment about this game on the Guardian. Has Durham laid siege, ably foisted by Robson patrolling the entrance to the building?
Even after a day, no mention. I notice they’ve predicted us to finish 5th again, below Spurs. The same recycled ploy to sell papers to the masses.
Great performance, but poldi you gotta take on a defender on a 1 on 1 situation, instead he looked for a pass and play broke down. If only we had ( insert player name), he would have taken on the defender and rounded off the goalie.
Yeah we should look to sign (insert player name), he’s a good player.
Black Magic!
Sorry to quite blatantly and shamelessly jump in on this post but this should settle some nerves:
From Arsenal.com
on if he’s [Wenger] happy with the strikers he’s got…
“I think what is important is the strength of the squad. Today is one game. We want to play 55 games and we are maybe a bit thin squad-wise to go through a whole season.”
That’s got to mean signings are on the way. It just has to.
We have so few players that according to Arsenal.com we couldn’t even field 11 players
http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/5540/sflc.jpg
brilliant performance even though it was a friendly. Ramsey was just class . poldi has to work hard for his place though
Ramsey looking fucking good I agree, could be a big season for him. It makes me so happy that it’s looking like he’s really starting to fulfil his potential, been the stand out performer for me this pre-season. Top top top quality.
the assist, and the goal were fabregas like..
With Ramsey, I just think it is so easy to underestimate how long it can take to fully recover from what happened to him. Second half of last season, we finally started to see the real Ramsey again regularly.
The really depressing thing is that the other two players of ours that suffered similar violations, never truly recovered.
poldi incredibly inconsitent but awesome player on his day. chamberlain is gonna displace him if he’s not careful or even if he is!
That rocket left foot…. man, he’d make it into the team on that alone.
The quickest post I have ever seen! Arsenal look impressive! Ramsey is a beast:)
Great game by ramsay. Ox was like a fucking beast in the first half. All in all we look good to face villa.
Great result, liked the shape of the team. Conceding one was a bit dissapointing, but overall a good three points… Wait….
WENGER OUT
If we get one or two more key injuries to decimate the senior squad and are out of the running again before Christmas, then hell yes. Good performance todaybut let’s not forget 4 shots on target will not normally win us points
They well if they end up in the net.
As long as those shots on target are goals, then you could have 2 shots on target and win. That’s how boring boring Arsenal used to do it
Very true, but I did say “normally”. And by the way Arsenal have never been boring, unless you find defending well and outscoring the opposition boring, it’s a myth, a chant made up by jealous c*nts who didn’t like us winning ugly…..
True TomJ, we are not going to be that clinical all the time, so in order to overcome that we need to be creating more chances and have a decent conversion rate, but its nice to know we can do it. Bayern beat Barfaloner 3-0 at the Camp with only 4 shots on target and Arsenal beat Bayern 2-0 with only 3 on target at the Alliance, in the CL.
No point having 12 shots on target then losing out to Bradford now is it?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/6513343.stm
1 shot on target, 1 goal, win the game.
I was sitting above the West Ham fans that day, and I’m struggling to forget their glee and piss-taking in the second half even today.
Nit- picking, anomalies, rarities. Mostly means dropped points
Let’s not talk about what this means in regards to signings. I’m just happy we played well and got the victory, even if it is just a warm-up.
Feo and Kos played particularly well. Always good to see.
I know, good to see Theo put in a great performance, if he can do that a little more consistently then Suarez can bite me.
Wait…
Theo was excellent, so glad he extended his contract.
Cos if we had sold him, we most probably wouldn’t haven’t replaced him adequately.
To think blogs was so sure he was going, you got that 1 wrong mate 🙂
In fairness Theo did buck a serious trend…
… is there a cup?
Yes, a nice big crystal cactus.
Cup comes in the form of “Chamakh has left the club”
Bet they gonn be Celebrating in the dressing room now!
Seriously, Rambo was awesome today. Really hope he carries on his pre-season form to the season. I really think Wenger is going to have a hard time picking the midfield, especially for the first few weeks. I can’t see him dropping Arteta or Ramsey.
seeing who Ramsay is now and what he and Wenger had to go thru, it shocks me why he didn’t give Gervinho a lil more chance (Song was worse when he came) esp now that we aren’t close to buying anyone.
Age. Gerv is 25 or 26.
Ain’t nobody got time for that.
The age difference is one obvious difference, the other is that Rambo had to come back from a massive, horrible injury.
Vs Gervinho, who just never settled and seemingly got worse over the 2 years he was here.
pretty big difference in situation if you ask me
Agree with age and potential. Arsene always knew what Ramsey was capable of, so it was worth waiting to see if he could get back to his best..
To keep Gervinho you have to have some faith in the idea he would get better; clearly not.
Song was brilliant, and it hurt to see him go, but I’d guess it was his lack of discipline in the role he was meant to do that sealed his fate. (Compare with Arteta)
I recall ‘having’ to defend him on message boards at the end of last season. . . would ya look at him now
Thoughts on the trialist?
Good awareness, retains the ball well, plays simply but effectively. The only thing is that he and Zelalem didn’t have the athleticism or teamwork (obviously) to press and get the ball back. All in all, he looks worth a chance, I think.
Seems pretty tenacious too, hard to draw too much from the game tbh, hopefully Arsene has seen what he wants though.
Redondante – completely agree with you mate. He’s very tidy in the pass, makes space for himself very well. On his short stint you can easily see he almost always provides an outlet when playing the ball out of defense. Kinda like Arteta in that sense. However not much was on offer regards to him sensing out dangerous plays early and breaking them up (something Arteta does to great effect). Arsene must know he requires this before he can sign up Perez so I’m not worried, it’s Wenger after all who transformed Arteta into one of the best defensive midfielder.… Read more »
Heh what do you know. Sebastian Perez is even close friends with Obama.
http://www.futbolred.com/suramericano-sub20/noticias/calendario-y-horarios-del-torneo-suramericano-sub-20-argentina-2013/12473001
he looks ‘ard.
Too early to tell, but its encouraging to see that there exists a trialist that we are trying to sign after all. The biggest worry of most fans now is that Arsene has gone crazy and we will sign nobody and commit the team to suicide. Trialists come and go, but the idea that we took one serious enough to play him in the first team shows that we are looking at signings after all. Phew
Yaya Toure was an Arsenal trialist
Watchd him exclusively after he came on, just because the idea of a trial in such conditions, being two up, seemed to be a pretty interesting situation for a player in the defensive midfield position. I thought his movement laterally was great, he moved forward when he had to, covered defense adequately, and in general had a good day out. On the game itself, in the tunnel the players looked a bit worried, but on the field performed magnificently. Bosscielny is the best. I fully expect a 40 mill bid for him from Real or Barcelona next year. At this… Read more »
Defensive cover, DM and winger priority, definitely.
Yep we might not lose anyone important this summer but with the transfer inactivity till now and if we indeed do not make any significant summer signings then this might well be a recipe for disaster next season. starting with koscienly and e.t.c
You who thumbed down, beyond your obvious negativity, do you actually have anything positive to say? I mentioned a great team performance and then three signings we not only could afford, Wenger-style, but that also happen to be available and in areas we need strengthening. I sometimes wonder why Blogs does what he does, I really do. Some of you lot are dire turds.
Interesting that Madrid seem to be sniffing around David Luiz.
They need a CB quite badly and Kos seemed to be their first choice. Good news for once; they are tapping up someone else’s player. (and presumably we’ve told them where to go)
Bollocks. Forgot to add that Perez looks interesting. That said, 20 minutes or so against even City isn’t really enough to judge.
But….considering when he was on, we were working with a midfield of him, Ramsey and Zelalem and City couldn’t take advantage says a lot. It says even more that with a few minutes to go, Wenger was happy to take Ramsey off and give Isaac Hayden a few minutes.
A win? Well that wasn’t in the script. A welcome boost ahead next week.
OR
just what Wenger needs to convince us that we have a great squad to challenge for the title without the need for any additions
Wenger, post-match: “Today is one game. We want to play 55 games and we are maybe a bit thin squad-wise to go through a whole season.”
I think we need to look at the history of such comments from Wenger to keep some context.
This generally doesn’t lead to a proven world class player coming in, or anyone who can hit the ground running. He will generally sign a Chamakh, Squillachi, Gervinho or Santos level player to fill a gap.
It is not an indication that he is going to go all out and buy a proven winner to slot into the first team.
Who is this perez person and why haven’t we signed him yet.
He sounds and looks enough like Pires for me to like him immediately. Make him grow a goatee and sign him up I say!
Perez looks like a fine player, he’s still young, but he obviously has potential. One thing is bothering me, though: he needs to embrace the fact that he’s going bald. His comb-over isn’t fooling anyone. We just shipped off Gervinho’s hair disaster, now Perez shows up with head band and comb-over. It’s tough for such a young man, but he should man-up, bite the bullet, shave it all off and focus on playing ferocious football.
we are a fickle lot aren’t we
Very good defensive, Counter attacking performance carrying on from last season. Didn’t know about that Perez chap being in trial with us, He seems good and a type of player we need as back up for Arteta hopefully we sign him. Overall happy with the performance. + Those spanish players Man city bought are diving Cunts!
There was a rumour that Thiery Henry persuaded AW to hand Perez a trial. Some scout there.
Henry is friends with Juan Pablo Angel (who played at Aston Villa a few years back), they played together at New York Red Bulls. He went to Medellín, Colombia to visit a few days and he was training with Nacional (Angel’s boyhood team, who he joined again this year and won the league).
I’m pretty sure he trained with Sebastián Pérez when he was there, so this looks like it’s true, Henry might has given his blessing for him to trial with us!
I hope we sign him, he’s quality.
Like Tyson facing Gary Coleman!
Wenger out
not now , Tommorow when we miss out on [insert player name here] to Chelsea
This was not a popular comment from my bro whitey. Interesting to know if that’s because people didn’t realise it was a joke, and don’t want Wenger to leave, or did, and do.
Perhaps it’s just a horribly overused phrase written by people who are joking, people who are serious, or people who are just plain confused.
Black Russian is a massive, massive, top, top, wanker.
(This is, as should be obvious, a joke. You realised that, yes?)
I’m sure he did
Feo?! I never heard of him!
After this ”top top top” performance Arsene isn’t going to sign anyone is he ? 🙂
“Today is one game. We want to play 55 games and we are maybe a bit thin squad-wise to go through a whole season.” – Wenger, post-game.
We still need to strengthen
‘TweetArse – We still need to strengthen’
Another of the “No shit, sherlock’ series of quotes!
Well someone tell Arsene because as of yet it doesn’t seem to be fucking elementary.
The smart arse brigade were poised and ready for a victory in a friendly, and they do not let you down do they?
Fool me once shame on you, fool me a million times I need some kind of fucking medication.
Heh. I see what you did there, GM.
No need to tell him, AWs stated he needs to strengthen his squad already.
Ramsey’s shit, whoops sorry I’m stuck in 2011.
Really proud of him, how did Perez do?
Was okay, got his foot in and chased the ball around. Could be useful next season as backup for Arteta, Gustavo (hopefully) or Ramsey.
“… Oliveri Giroud took the place of Santi Cazorla, and Santi Cazorla came on for Jack Wilshere… ”
Wow, Cazorla really does get everywhere!!
>_<
This was typed whilst travelling back through time in fairness
Ramsey was great.
Brilliant win against a strong team… but i so wanted us 2 loose this game.. so wenger could buy player not panic buys but just decent players.. anways onwards and up .. great start 2 the season.. bring on villa
How anyone can want the team they support to lose, under any circumstances, always evades me. Nice one.
Too right. The scarf comes out, shoo the misses and the kids, and get down to the business of supporting the greatest club there is. End of.
Again, who thumbs this down? Get off the Arsenal blog and go back to supporting Piers Morgan Adrian Durham FC.
Sometimes two steps forwards follows one step back.
Better than one step forwards one step back.
Man City scored after Jack Rodwell came on. Must be a very good player eh!
blogs, this is efficiency par excellence! how do you do it? well what a fantastic score. only if AW will just spend some f**king ££££££. already the great Mozart is being reported to be carrying some knocks.
Perez is a genuinely talented Colombian youth international . He is highly rated defensive midfielder who is two footed and can play good long balls from the back. He has obviously impressed Wenger. I think he can be a solid back up for Arteta
can he do the dirty work that Arteta does for the team as well? that will be key.
Young Cesc’s hairstyle+ Pires headband . how can one be dirty then maybe a swoon machine.
if he scores as well as Cesc or Pires, then thats plenty filthy for me
Two footed?? He had to be dude. You cannot play for arsenal with one foor 🙂
You hit the post when you ended with foor, otherwise funny.
Did you ever see David Hillier go round in a circle like a slowly spinning top?
podolski and wilshere would argue otherwise
*Giroud in for Cazorla @half time *huh* Blogs
Who is this perez and why haven’t we signed him yet.
Hopefully we do. I’ve seen him play in last terms Colombian championship final and he did amazing trough the whole campaing for Atletico Nacional. He was formed in the same academy most of the best players in colombia are from (james, jackson, zuñiga…)
I hope we sign him, he is a good one for the close future.
Would he get a permit easily?
By the way, is he top top top or what?
looked very impressive at times, sharp really excellent finishes for all 3 goals, we didnt create too many openings (against kompany and co, so not complaining) but the ones we did it was sharp and confident finishing we do need to sort out the defensive concentration for the first 15 mins or so, it seems to be a habit of ours being a bit chaotic in the opening mins i do worry about jacks fitness for an entire season, he does seems to get involved in lots of physical challenges, obviously he’s targeted a lot as he is always there… Read more »
I do have the same worries about Jack, but I am hoping that with the World Cup next year that referees will give him a good level of protection. The FA need him to be fit for Brazil, so hopefully they will not want a situation where Jacks season is not over after some Northern Troll does a two footed tackle on him.
I only saw highlights of the game yesterday and was concerned with our Cavalier attitude to defending in first 15 mins, otherwise good game.
Looking forward to new signings at midnight on the 1st of September
Wow. Great match!! Both team brought their A game, I almost forgot it was a friendly. & I must say, Giroud & Theo is awesome upfront. Btw where’s the Man City supporters in the crowd? All I can see is gooners. Word.
City fans really only exist in Manchester, but you will still hear this rubbish that they are a “big club”. I guess that’s just when they aren’t playing The Arsenal.
Good to see fans supporting Ramsey after all the hate he received last season! He had a brilliant game. Giroud is looking like an absolute killer this year.
All in all its good to see that spending 90+ million may buy you the best players, but not the best team… Now we just need to spend those pennies the board have been hoarding to strengthen our squad and we will be unstoppable!
I think this team ManC team will be challenging for the title come the end of the season. Respect where it’s due.
No respect is ever due to Manchester City. I’d sooner see Spuds at the top table than a team that has damaged the very mechanics of global football to such an extent.
Or both teams can f*** off. And I blame Chel$ea for starting it, anyway (or Real, if you wanna go that route).
90 plus million well that proves it FFP is a joke!
I agree… the whole FFP has been sort of forgotten about. Although I don’t see how it works when the team is owned and sponsored by the same company, they can just through money at it. Didnt Etihad sponsor the training ground for like 400 million or something stupid to get around the FFP. Anyways even if Manchester Sugar Daddy are meant to be one of the favourites to win the league money does not buy class. When we win the league it will be down to hard work and commitment and not because daddy bought us a a load… Read more »
You need to look at the rules for FFP.
The 400m was a ten year deal and was a mix of training ground development and shirt sponsorship. So 40m per year isn’t special.
There are quite clear rules about direct and related sponsorship deals.
Have a look at the financialfairplay.co.uk site for info.
Thanks for the link Andy. It has cleared up some confusion. Basically the mega rich clubs have nothing to fear as money to them is no problem.. So basically the FFP does not apply to clubs like Chelsea or Man C.. here is a copy and paste for others who are interested. “Let’s use an example of a club losing €30m during the first Monitoring Period. We can see that the club passes the Break-Even test (as the loss is below the €45 threshold). However the €30m loss is above the €5m figure and the owner will need to take… Read more »
poliver girolski, you missed out the ‘over 3 year’ bit which makes quite a difference.
lets just wait and see on ffp, it could have teeth for complacent clubs, wouldnt mind seeing city chelsea and the like suffer
Imagine what 3 or 4 quality addition will do to this team.
we’ve been imagining since 2007, i dont think it’ll ever turn into reality 🙁
But we didn’t have the money then.
There’s been talk of a mythical ’70 million pound warchest’ since about 2009.
GM, If Messi had become available for 70m then I’m pretty certain the club would have found the money but we didn’t have 70m for anything other than that kind of quality. We had a big debt for the stadium (which almost every other team in Europe is jealous of).
“If Messi had become available for 70m then I’m pretty certain the club would have found the money”
You see I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t, and I reckon the evidence is on my side.
Either way, Messi or 7 million back up player, please spend some fucking money.
GM, I’m certain we would have done then and now if he was available.
No evidence available to either of us as he wasn’t (and isn’t) available.
Everyone agrees that we want the club to get some top draw players in (not necessarily the silly expensive ones mentioned in the press) and everyone at the club is saying they want to get some.
He told Viera he was $25 m rich. By the way, your money is not enough, dushbag.
Great result, played with real purpose (forgive me I know it’s only a friendly). I’ve said it before I really have no qualms with this team, they’re actually very good. Both Ramsey and Walcott coming of age at the right time (hope Wilshere decides to join too), Giroud a year wiser and form picking up. The only real problem is squad depth, we had to play two players on trial today to cover for both of Ramsey and Mikel. Outrageous. I’d wager both of them will get played to the ground this season, and how long will we hear Wenger… Read more »
Only Perez on trial!
I’ve never understood the ‘its only a friendly’ arguments for a game like this.
Its a week before the season, the players are running at maybe 90% where they should be, and both sides took it as seriously as they could (the tackling alone says that).
The only point available today was a psychological one, but we won it, and you can bet that City losing to a rival at this point is the last thing they wanted. The boost to us from winning is equally powerful.
Giroud is getting better day by day. Hope he will be a class act soon..
Within three years he will score 25 in the premier league season. Guarantee it.
Giroud is getting better day by day. Hope he will be a class act soon.
I hope this result doesnt blind wenger into thinking this squad is capable of competing for the title this season…….
Read AWs post match interview.
He states clearly that the squad is too thin.
Come on guys be happy we won.
Arsenal suprised me today and i hope they get a really good start to the premier league season.
We had a strong started 11 my only issue is when we start playing FA cup, league and champions league games we are going to really struggle.
Wenger must ad cover surely he knows this.
Yes, cover is needed, but as Wenger says, QUALITY is the key. Buying players for the sake of buying is not right
Silvestre, Chamakh, Santos, Gervihno, Arshavin, Benayoun, Park, etc.
Panic shopping spree in 2011.
Look at a man’s actions, not his words.
Disclaimer: Doesn’t mean the likes of Cazorla, Giroud (hopefully), the BFG, etc haven’t been good signings. It just demonstrates he cannot be taken fully at his word. Revisionist thinking just to fit the perceived image of the man is flawed logic. Reality is King.
Except that in reality you are always gambling, even when a player meets your criteria for quality before you pull the trigger. Name a single manager that either 1) claims he buys just for shits and giggles and not for quality, or 2) has never gambled and lost, signing a flop.
Exactly.
So what on earth is your point??
To be fair to Man $ity it was a strong squad they put out and dominated the first 10 or so minutes but couldn’t capitalise. (sound familiar?) Disappointed with Podolski because of Giroud’s excellent ball retention and forward play really showed that there is next to no competition for that CF spot. Routine win in the end; soaked up pressure, didn’t concede early, took our chances. But you can’t help but wonder that with a decent attacking sub of [insert star forward] calibre, we could penetrate the final third more often and keep the ball there. man of the match,… Read more »
Nice victory, Ramsey’s a beast! COYG
Why on earth would this warrant a thumbs down?
Either someone has fat fingers or is a city fan trolling.
Good stuff. That will give the players some good confidence going into the first game. I particularly enjoyed how all the goals made a complete monkey out of Joe Hart.
Oh yes, Giroud chipping Hart is one moment I will savour. You have to wonder if it will be in both their minds when we play City for real.
aw most sing a prayer
You mean sign a player? Noticed.
Oh yeah, 2 or 3 actually.
Why must AW sing to players?
Is this a new training system?
Great result good performance. We always have a team that can beat anyone on a good day. The reason we stress so much about signings is because the fringe players are never as good and we sell players for such big money. We still need more qualitee players to really challenge for trophies. Having so little backup playing 2 games a week takes its toll and having 1 or 2 real game changers and 1 more general in defence or midfield with an experienced goal keeper would be cause for genuine belief. With this squad can we go for 4… Read more »
Bernard has just signed for Shakhtar. Wouldn’t mind it if we nicked Willian though, just for the “Willian: It was really nothing” headline blogs suggested a couple of years ago.
Willian is only interested in money. He moved from Shaktar to Anzhi when many good European teams (inc EPL teams) wanted him but he went for the cash. I’d prefer he went somewhere else.
Bernard also apparently had some 3rd party ownership deal. the PL does not like that kinda stuff, makes things harder if not impossible.
These have become increasingly common for any able-bodied South American player
Did someone say, “firesale”? Wenger is now on highest of alerts!
Hopefully AW’s having a good look at their squad.
You may take our players, but you shall never take our freedom!
Anyone clapped when Perez tackled the cunt na$ri?
Did someone say, “firesale”? Wenger is now on highest of alerts!
Doh. Replied to wrong comment.
His did Perez play? His body language OK?
No flibnobbers today blogs?
How did Perez play? His body language OK?
He put a foot in on Nasri; sign him up!
Great performance, great goals. Some really solid performances there today. Oh my god with just a few signings we could challenge. So so close. If anyone has the thought ‘would it have been better if we lost?’ please don’t refer to yourself as a fan of the club.
One thing i love about theo is that whether he has a good or bad game he always scores. Incosistent player but consistent scorer.
Excellent!
The squad is now a rock-hard chicken bone, with some tough, chewy meat attached. We’ve scraped off the crappy breadcrumb stuff, and now just need to slather the existing ingredient with some expensive sauce. Preferably not racist sauce, or sauce that might bite us on the lip when we try to eat it.
Or sauce that’s fatty and overly potato-esque.
Being short of transfers, shall we resort to trading recipes?