Blimey, I could get used to this winning games one after the other thing. We probably should have hammered the Hammers with all those second half chances, but in the end we hung for a second 2-1 win in a row.
Here’s how the players rated.
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Monday, December 23, 2024
Tony Gale, eh?
Tony Gale is a real cock, isn’t he? Insufferable moaning about everything… Fucking bellend
what happened to neutral commentators? he was a bloody cheerleader for West Ham.
Yeah, I’m getting a little fed up of colour commentators basically coaching the opposition rather than just being neutral. So frustrating
Actually I get around this problem of partisan commentators (or so called pundits) by turning off the volume. I enjoy the game much better then. Try it sometime.
tony needs to be neutered.
All were good, Santi and Wojciech szczhaded it.
I did not see the game so I can’t judge Szcz on his overall performance, but, watching Songs goal that was not -Szcz just watched it go in holding his arms out like it was going wide, it looked pretty poor to me. He should have been able to save that pretty easily and it looked like he misjudged it only to be saved by the linesman.
I’ll take the win. I think overall we played really well. Wenger’s late defensive subs make me a little uncomfortable though. I never like sitting back and inviting the other team to play in our final third. I would have liked to have seen Poldi come on and help the attack. I really do think he deserves some more pt.
Wow, I can’t believe all the thumbs down, watch the video of the goal again -and I am not saying that it was onside or the goal should have stood. Szcz does not even try to save it -he completely misjudges it.
He didn’t even see it until it was past him, you nutbar. The ball went through one of the offside players’ legs. All three offside players were in his line of sight, the very definition of interfering with play while in an offside position. Good grief, some people are never happy unless they’re unhappy!
Then why is he moving to the right and why does he open up his arms as if to say “all clear”?
I’m not at all unhappy, Arsenal are improving and players are coming back, with the amount of injuries we’ve had it is no wonder we have suffered. I just thought it looked like Szcz bottled it.
I like coquelin, he’s very scrappy but never gives up. Watching him is like watching a little french orphan kid fight for the last brioche roll, get it by any means necessary. “Don’t mess with our coq or it will take you from behind” gotta work that into chant somehow.
hahahaha
I’d like us to keep Coquelin to be our next Flamini.
We should definitely keep Coq. He’s been a favourite of mine since I first saw him in the under-17s. Am dismayed at the suggestion that he has no future at the club. Why on earth not? Arteta and Flam are on their last legs, and it’s not like the new defensive midfielder coming in Jan – well, he’d bloody better be – will never get injured or suspended or be in need of a rest. Poor Coq has had some dismal loan spells where he was often played at right back or on the left wing, both of which he… Read more »
How Cazorla doesn’t have “tireless” in his rating is beyond me. He was everywhere today.
well said, inspired by Sanchez’s energy!
Fat Sam could do with a tyre less
Really liked Coquelin’s performance today. Lots of energy and grit in the tackle
Two good 2-1 wins in two days. I don’t mind now that they were both nail-biters. 6 points!
I know that ima get a shit load of downvotes but I think Alex Song was really good for them. With out him playing i thought we could of won by a more comfortable scoreline.
Song has nothing to do with the fact that our final pass and finishing suck bigtime
Apart from the disallowed goal what did he actually do?
He “BTK” them
Actually he wasn’t very good for them, not after the first ten minutes. Even the rabid ex-Hammer Gale couldn’t hide his disappointment at how poor Song was. Towards hte middle of the second half I was beginning to wonder if he wasn’t still secretly under contract with us, he passed us the ball so many times.
I don’t know what game you were watching but I thought he was very poor.
A big slog as I had anticipated. But a win nonetheless. Now with a couple of players coming back we should push on. COYG!!
I might get slagged off for this, but we need a striker.
Welbeck, for all his hardwork and pace is a POOR finisher, same with Giroud.
We have to be far more clinical and ruthless than we are. For all our defensive problems, we also are poor at finishing chances. We’ve lacked a lethal striker since van rapist left.
Welbeck HAS TO work on his finishing or he better not complain when he’s played on the left.
You would have oust TH14 and Pires from Arsenal in their first season….oh heeeey of all knowledge and patience. Danny and Ozil will have a first preseason with us next summer and they will be fab. Save this comment
Not really the best examples, comparing foreign players with a player who was brought up and played for the most successful British club ever.
I get your point, but you can’t claim welbeck is adjusting to the league like they were.
I agree that we need more end product in our attacking line. 4 goals in half a season from Welbeck is not exactly gonna help us close the goalscoring gap between ourselves and our rivals. Santi recently scored his first goal since January and a 100+ attempts ago. Alexis is the only one producing goals consistently. We were Over 30 goals behind pool and City last season, and 30 goals is potentially alot of points. Our defense certainly need more depth, but we just as certainly need more end product up top if we want to compete with the best.
Nice scrappy win lads … on to Southampton!
It was a really good performance from the team. I was particularly pleased with Coquelin who put in a hell of a shift in midfield. COYG!!!!!
Coquelin was terrific. So good that Wenger in all his wisdom Will loan him out again in January when arteta comes back for three games before injuring his calf again.
Does Ozil walk back into central AMC? I don’t think we could cope without santi currently, and in his favoured central role. So I’d say no. Santi should play until he can’t. He’s one of the best, if not the best, player in the team at the moment. Works hard defensively and its almost always him working the ball out from defense. Such quality use of the ball at times. I don’t think a team missing arteta and Ramsey can accommodate ozil.
dude, you’re talking about Mesut Ozil here, not some random guy
so yeah
he definitely gets that position by default
Ozil should earn it like Santi does. So should JW10. No one should walk in the team.
I would like to see Ozil rotated in and out with Cazorla, to ease him back into match fitness and Cazorla to give him some rest, that will probably be needed.
Huge fan of Ozil mate, even when he was getting a lot of misplaced criticism last season. But cazorla is doing such important work off the ball currently that ozil doesn’t offer. I think santi os much more tenacious with the ball too, he’ll wriggle his way out of trouble and create chances, and that’s something we’re really benefitting from atm, as teams are really pressing and having a go at us. Again, ozil doesn’t offer that. So with so much steel/guile missing from the middle could we afford to push santi wide for ozil?
By reading you, i truly wonder what Özil has…
I call Wenger’s tactic of bringing all available defenders at the end of the match the WengerLock (patent pending, TM, etc).
It scares me when he replaces forwards with defenders for the later stages, when we’re winning. The number of times that ploy fails is phenomenal. Attack is the best form of defence.
I’m so sick of people playing Coquelin down, as if he didn’t deserve to be at the club. It’s preposterous that he hasn’t been playing instead of Flamini, and the game today showed that so very well. Where Flamini draws away from the opponent and lets them take over the midfield, Coquelin steals the ball and starts a counterattack. A real defensive midfielder. If we don’t get Schniederlin or someone on par with him in January, I seriously hope the professor will let him play.
I think Le Coq and Flamink play different positions and different roles. In past years Coquelin has been given the chance at DM but he likes to burst forward and doesn’t want to be the guy who sits. I agree he’d be a potentially be better than our ageing DM’s if he was willing to hold, but it’s his choice, and it seems he’d rather be playing box-to-box at somewhere like Lille than holding for Arsenal.
Where did you get any of that from? The guy is a DM. He excelled as one in our reserves, came as one, and enjoyed a good spell on loan as one in lorient. He’s always been a tenacious, tigerish DM with decent passing, as Jorge Bird about him. Just because a player has work rate does not mean he shouldn’t be a DM, or doesn’t want to. I agree with the original poster. Ive sung his praises on this site before, and dont get all this “has no prospects here” bullocks that’s being made. He’s better than this current… Read more »
Totally agreed. I can’t make sense of it. Wenger clearly is seeing something that I can’t. Why send him out on loan? I hoped a few years back that it would be Coquelin’s break out season. I was so convinced (and still am) that he’s got the ingredients. Tidy on the ball, good passing, really pretty good in the tackle and has a decent engine. Sure we could and should do better than him (give me a Schneiderlin any day) but when it comes to what we have, I cannot understand how we’re sticking with Flamini every game as if… Read more »
I agree too. Flamini is 30 plus and his legs are gone. The Aguero goal comes to memory when I say this. Will he ever be able to mark the runs of the likes of Aguero/Hazard? I would think not. Flamini shouldn’t be a starting DM for Arsenal anymore. Not that Coquelin is starting DM material, but he would make standing/sliding tackles and mark his man better because he has the legs, whereas Flamini has to make that last-ditch lunge and quite a few times he goes in two-footed, which is extremely dangerous. I think Arteta should be given a… Read more »
How is it preposterous? He spent most of the season at Charlton!
Wenger’s Coq shoved into the rear of the referee. Now thats a moment to savour.
Thank smeg we didn’t have to savour it. That’s a very creepy image.
Would’ve been nice to see Theo in the latter part of the game, one of those counter attack chances would’ve been perfect for him. Szcz was awesome to watch!
How the hell was that 2 minutes wasted for both of the subs.I noticed the timer for Ox sub.It took only 40 seconds.Tony Gale is a twat
Right on the money with that Tony Gale comment, what a total fucking nob. Now I have someone who I hate more than that monotone boring Liverpool biased cunt Owen. And Bell-end-amy, another fucking tool.
Tony Gale has to be up there with that Cunt Stewart Robson as they most anti-Arsenal commentators. How he taught that Song goal should have stood ill never know and as for Debuchy getting elbowed in the head(back in my day crap) he drove me mad.
You could hear how annoyed and not fair it was in his voice when the offside goal was quite rightly judged…………………… offside
There goes another clean sheet, But happy as long as we get the 3 pts. So it is just 5/19 clean sheets in the first half of the season .. Last season we had 8/19 clean sheet.
Well played all- still want to see theo play- is Wenger just waiting to unleash his speed or has he lost it all- I’ve had 3-4 friends who have torn their ACL and lost pace… (To be fair Ox was exhausted and in the end defensive subs were far better, I wouldn’t have removed ALexis or Sanit)
He’s already had a set back. Wenger is just being very careful, and doesn’t want to throw him in unless the circumstances are very favorable (yesterday was very physical, could’ve been dangerous for him) or we are truly desperate.
I reckon he has planned to give him 20mins or so in the last two games but due OG being sent off like an absolute ****** against QPR & then the game being tight & tense at 2-1 yesterday, he probably feels they aren’t the best conditions to throw a player who has been out for a year back into the fold. Hopefully a 20min run out at Southampton followed by 50-60mins against Hull in the FA Cup can get Theo’s campaign up and running
2 defensive midfielders? What is this sorcery?
Great win. I can’t see what you wrote about The Coq as there was a big Boston Pizza ad in the middle of the fucking page. Thought The Coq was excellent in the tackle. (He he) Why won’t Arsene sub off Sanchez? Ever! I get he’s important but he’s gonna get injured any time now because Wenger just won’t rest him. It’s better to have him miss a few minutes here and there before he is missing for months due to burn out. He just can’t help himself, and this is why we get injuries. No other reason. We get… Read more »
Arsene subbed off Sanchez in two of the four matches prior to today’s.
i saw this one on a stream, so its difficult to assess Coqs performance
anyone got a comment?
one site afterwards said he did well, upstaging Flambo?
The Coq circumcised’em, get it circumsised’em, had to go there couldn’t help it!
No pun intended – you’re a dickhead!
Perhaps over the last couple of months Santi had some sort of physical issue we never knew about, he was really looking like he had completely lost his shot, and his pass completion rate was way down. Not to mention, my teen daughter could do a better corner. But thank goodness, he’s starting to look like his old self. There were chances he should have scored, but at last…real killer pace on all of his shots. And not only that, all but one of his corners didn’t suck. He used to be pretty deadly with his shots, and it looks… Read more »
What a great day. all teams above us drew while we won. plus, Schneiderlin is suspended for Thursday which is a big boost.
They still have Wanyama and Ward-prowse
While 2-0 at halftime probably flattered us a bit, was an honest effort and polar opposite of recent demonstrations away at Stoke and first half at Liverpool. Kos is such a calming influence in the back, changes everything to have him fit. Running out of superlatives for Alexis and will soon be the same for Santi. AOC clearly not 100% but put in a fabulous shift, once he adds finishing to his repertoire, will be unplayable. Not a huge fan of the “double-pivot,” but got away with it today. When Rambo healthy, not ashamed to say that I prefer Le… Read more »
1) Ox. Another great contribution today. Yes, Alexis has been good for us but where would we be without Santi or Ox as well? The sort of facile commentary based on just statistics alone fails to appreciate the important contribution from the rest of the team. One Alexis wont win you these games. 2) Le Coq. Who said his career is over with us? I suspect Wenger may afford him and Calum an audition in the middle of the park from here till end of season before deciding on long term solutions to Arteta. Likely the DM situation will be… Read more »
Welbeck’s run and strenght in the 66th minute on the left hand side was excellent. He was quick, direct and confident.
http://arsenalist.com/f/2014-15/whu-vs-arsenal/ooh-great-welbeck-run-keeper-gets-a-touch.html
That was a fantastic moment but he absolutely has to do that more often
Taking on defenders from the outside and then cutting inside to take shot.. It was more henry’esque.. If only he could’ve finished that. Really feel welbz has the potential. If only he had been nurtured by Henry instead of nistelrooy. Still not too late.
Great post Santori.
So happy Welbeck scored. I want him and the Ox to keep making driving runs at defenses – if nothing else it keeps destabilizing the back four and varies our offense. Hopefully finishing will improve with in-game practice.
I like the idea of Coquelin and Chambers being seriously tried in midfield. I love the fact that Coquelin has returned with determination – says a lot about his character.
Most satisfying win in a long while for me. The team is gradually getting their confidence back. Can’t wait for more options in the middle as players come back injuries. We might see a good run in the new year.
West Ham down, up next Southampton. Time to knock them out of the top four.
am i the only one that prefers ox over wilshere? seems ox can play anywhere across the mid and looks better than jack even though he’s younger.
santi was great today and nice to see welbz get a goal. can’t wait to have ozil, ramsey and walcott back soon! defence looks so much better with some veterans playing. still need january reinforcements in mid and defence. i see that arseblog doesn’t see a future for coq at the club, but i’m wondering why we wouldn’t keep coq and let flamini go instead.
No, I think we look a better team with Ox also.
I would take the Ox over JW any day. He reads the game far better and is a better team player, imo.
I think an issue with Jack is that his style is so unusual. It has an impact on the whole team and maybe causes us to play in a way that doesn’t suit us that much. Also, Jack gives away a lot of fouls, and he gets targeted a lot because a) he is easy to wind up and b) his running with the ball invites tackles and c) he then gets easily injured. It’s like Jack demands the ball, then goes on a rampage gliding past 1, 2 midfielders pulling our shape in every which way, and his team… Read more »
i agree. it seems like the rest of the team doesn’t know how to play with him and consequently there’s not as much movement on the pitch. i’ve seen some comments questioning how ozil gets back into the team. i don’t think that’s an issue because ozil and santi can play with each other or rotate. plus ozil is pure class in the number 10 role and it will show when he’s back in the new year. people should be asking where jack fits in this team. i don’t think jack has a place in this side – especially with… Read more »
We hardly had penalties at the beginning of the season but we’ve had 3 in the last 5 games. I think that is a sign our attacking play is improving and we are getting more into the box. Will only get better when Walcott and Ozil are fit and firing.
Or maybe the refs start giving them to us because i remember from the start of the season we have blatant penalties waved away every second game and if the refs continued to do that all season the FA would bring internal investigation upon themselves. All the penalties we got are deserved, and dozen more were deserved but not called and given to us, now i would like to see refs giving us a penalty against the big teams because every derby we play we have strong appeal that is waved away, like the cheslea game and fabregas blatant handball… Read more »
Honestly I felt Coquelin deserved at least a 7.5. when I saw his name on the team shit my first thought was ‘what the fuck’ but he really helped us defensively today. He battled hard and played his heart out in the middle of the pack. You can ask more than that from him. I felt his performance helped cover some of flamini’s deficiencies
No booking for flamini….?
I don’t understand.
Glad to see that your distain for Song has continued, Blogs.
I would take another 2:1 win over Southampton as well. It would put us in 4TH
Would like to see Ox get a rest so he can full recover. Think he deserves a slightly higher rating too
We hammered the hammers with our flaming coq combo!
Coquelin has no real long term future? That was a disappointing line, after a performance like today if I’m told to fuck off and thanks for helping for one win I’d be damn pissed.
He’s a real talent and gives 110% always. Beast. Hope he gets to play more. Atleast FA.
When in form and on his day, Santi Cazorla is easily one of the best players in the Premier League. Some of his touches, movement and dribbling techniques are a joy to watch. I hope he stays with us for the foreseeable future. Love him.
Coquelin may not be the long term answer to our DM worries but with Flamini and Arteta both over 30 now he could be a important squad player for us!
Tony Gale what a Dick!
I don’t really appreciate it when you constantly remind us that a player has no future at the club (knowing that you are wrong more often than not). If a player is here, he’s here. If he ain’t, he ain’t. Just commend him for the good job done as an Arsenal player that he is presently.
It is becoming shameful and embarrassing to watch Arsenal these days.. There is something called control of the match and its proceedings, usually held by a dominant team with better players.. It is disgraceful that Arsenal under Wenger can’t keep or retain possession for more than 30 secs nor win it back quickly… So much idiocy, mediocrity and carelessness in possession that they are losing it or rushing it like mid-table teams (perhaps, we already are one). In this, I can’t believe comments like ‘satisfying win’, ‘good win’. WTF?! Retreating into our own half not able to see/keep the ball… Read more »
For all the talk about a lack of depth in our squad we were without at least 5 of our “first 11” yet still won away at a team supposedly a potential challenger for top 4. As the injuries clear up this shows no player should be consider automatic. Pick the team on form and fitness not reputations