A well deserved 2-1 win over Man City tonight even if the final stages were a little more scary than we might have liked.
Great goals, two Ozil assists, the perfect result to take us to Christmas. Here’s how the players rated.
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Friday, April 26, 2024
With a fit Mesut Ozil i believe we will win the league!
Don’t jinx it! Argh
No place for superstition where we’re going! Ya Gunners Ya!
my bad haha
yes, you’re 100% right..
But anyone watched Gibbs over the last weeks? For me his time is definately over – he lost every duel on the pitch, so he should search a job elsewhere because I don’t want to see his demotivating outruns every game after the 70th’s minute
a healthy fuck-off-go-watch-spuds to you. will we ever get rid of this stupid tradition of criticizing our lads every time they hit a rough patch? it’s so fucking stupid i can’t be arsed to elaborate further.
I watched him score the equaliser v Spurs
bonus rating: 10/10 – sound volume in arsene’s car when he listens to bob marley on his way back home. “positive vibration”
Don’t Worry About A Thing!!!
Bonus rating: 10/10 for De Bruyne kicking the corner flag!
Arsene Wenger 10/10
EXACTLY!! Not many options personnel wise but got the tactics spot on …. let ’em have possession and dont let them play the one – twos . Why dont we have a rating for the manager as well ?? 🙂
He should especially get credit for brining on Chambers and getting him to do a job on Toure after that goal, good stuff.
Why blog never put the bonus rating on espn too?
Fucking a. The shit this guys had to endure while building the team to this point. He deserves so much credit.
Joel Campbell is getting better with every game. His work rate is phenomenal. Fair play to him, he’s proving most of us wrong.
I think a 6 for the Ox is a bit harsh, thought he actually looked pretty good compared to his recent performances, showed much more confidence on the ball.
I always believed in Campbell. From that cracker against manure when he was on loan and I watched closely every single one of co*ta Rica games. My only issue was that he was operating in a crowded position. To flourish he needs game time and plenty of it. Now he is getting there. Just needs to score goals but getting there. He was a nuisance for Citeh’s expensive defense tonight
And for their attack. He forced them to concede two corners (at least) and another concession of a throw deep in their half
We had 12 men on the field last night
There should be a rating for the attendant crowd too. The Guardian mentioned “dominant”with respect to the crowd. Let’s keep it that way and put this “library” bullshit to rest once and for all
There was once, Bellerin had to defend alone against, I’m not sure either Kolarov or Delph. And then Campbell, ran from the center of midfield to the right hand side of the defence to help Bellerin as if he just missed the bus and was late for school. I gave him 8 for that.
He ran back like his hair was on fire. He tackled like they stole something from him.
He. Campbell.
Thought you were doing another limerick for a moment then
Twas a zen limerick.
Campbell has proven me wrong. I was never a fan – though I’ll always support Arsenal players – but clearly I know nothing about football because he’s actually a very good squad player with plenty of potential. He’s just one of the many players that prove Wenger to be a genius. Hope he continues to progress.
Like I said a when after he scored against swansea, if he can contribute to our attacking numbers with consistency he can usurp oxlade chamberlain in the pecking order the ox has had potential for a little while too long and I can see Campbell taking the initiative over the remainder of the season. I hope his form acts as a kick in the back side for the ox as walcott seems to have been for giroud’s potency in front of goal.
What a great win! Nervier than it needed to be, but glad it’s done. Now let’s all laugh at the United and City tossers. Merry Christmas!!
In the future, young players will watch and learn from Mertesacker and Koscielny’s defensive masterclass tonight. Thought he was MOTM because he was the most important presence on the field through the 94 minutes.
Meaning Mertesacker!
Man of The Mertesacker!
Mert of the Match
lol…
Fantastic! Well I guess playing Theo back on the flank was not a bad idea at all, he was just brilliant! Henryesque goal, right mr. Blog. And Campbell showed his capability once again. Great result!
I’ll just continue nickin’ a livin’, if you don’t mind..
HAHA !! Brilliant !!
Bonus rating 10/10: Mesut’s first interview in English on MOTD.
Holy shit I saw that live and it didn’t occur to me that was the first post-match interview he’s done in English after a game. When Theo said, “Mesut sees things that other players can’t”, the expression on Ozil’s face was priceless!
Was it also the first time he’s been awarded MOTM this season?
There once was a fella called Rambo
Struck Hart in the face much to the delight of Ox Chambo
Who came on & squared when he ought have shot
Like his fellow winger Theo Walcott
But a relief it was that this part ensued
After the Oz put Giroud through
Or something like that
I thought I was interested in poetry
But then I tried singing this melody
I’ll try to forget
It’s not good regret
Especially after beating Man City.
There once was a bloke called xY,
Who thought he’d give limericks a try,
But he somehow contrived
To have more lines than five
And I’m struggling to work out why.
There once was a German called Mesut
Charged with nicking a living. “Confess it –
You don’t work for your team,
Not like our Raheem.”
“You’re insane!” “Well, Michael Owen says it.”
There once was a Spaniard called Hector
Who ate wingers like Hannibal Lector
They said “DNA, like the Snake?”
He said, “Your mistake.
I’m not shit, finished or a defector!”
10/10 for the best poetry.
5/7 poetry
This 5/7 comment gets the perfect rating from me.
Agreed….10/10……best poetry….lol
Mesut Özil now has 15 goal assists – only five players have ever managed more in a single Premier League season.
Player of the year incoming, Good times ahead gooners 🙂
he did predict this season that he wanted to win the Ballon D’Or.
He’s top 11 world class territory now and a bloody joy to watch!
On a related note: with his back to the ball, how the fuck did he know he had to duck so that Theo’s shot could go over his head and into the net??
This guy has 360 radar vision – it’s unreal!
Happy Christmas everyone ! Santa Mesut Claus gave us two more assist…
I’m usually not a fan of Per, but he was an absolute beast today. Thought his performance was better than Koscielny’s (who had a few scary moments leaving space in behind him after bombing forward to press unsuccessfully). Per made some very vital interceptions and tackles, including one that, I believe, would have allowed City to level towards the end.
Loved that sort of acrobatic clearance Koscielny did, too.
Good game lads, Looking good for league champions come may unless we suffer more injuries..
Aaron Ramsey mate I love you, but ya didnt track Toure for his goal and then should have scored atleast once to make it comfortable. Arsenal win by 2 goals was the prematch value bet, and I was on track for many hundreds of dollars until that Toure screamer. Oh well arsenal to win the league @ 8-1 at the start of the season still looking good, roll out.
Ramsey is a gamble at the best of times (gives us more attacking threat at the expense of Cazorla’s defensive security) but I bet he’ll doing something later on in the season to pay you back. Definition of a wildcard that one.
I think Flamini has been quietly decent recently..Legs are gone and he is not Coquelin but he is performing well..Didn’t give Silva a sniff today.
Still defends too deep leaving space around the box but not as bad as people make out. We’ll get by without Coq for now but in January we need a replacement for Flam and Arteta who will surely be one the way out this summer. Buy a replacement in Jan, give him 6 month to either get used to the team or establish himself in the side, then he can fight with our Coq for that spot going forward.
Agree.
Completely agreed. Maybe we should just have some faith in Wenger, because all those people who claimed we were “one injury to Coquelin away from disaster” clearly didn’t know what they were on about. The game during which he got injured didn’t go well, and neither did the next game during which Cazorla got injured, but apart from that we’ve been fine so far. Flamini may not be as good as Coquelin, but he does work well with the rest of the team, and that is something you cannot simply go out and buy. I’ll take a strong cohesive squad… Read more »
spot on – and what I’ve being saying for bloody ages! There are still those out there that believe problems are resolved purely by spending cash! Let’s ask Man Ure, Spud, Chelski and even Villa fans, shall we?
I find the mess United’s squad is in incredibly amusing. 250 million spend, completely dependent on the form of Rooney and Smalling. I also reckon Chelsea are going to go down hard from where they are now. Over the last few years they have strengthened their squad while adhering to FFP by selling all the talent outside their first 11, leaving them with almost no competition for places and no succession plan beyond ‘Zouma is really good.’ If Abramovich continues to try to adhere to FFP without investing in youth and without setting up some City-type overvalued sponsorship deals they… Read more »
Agree that Flamini is doing a great job but if he gets injured before the return of Coq I wouldn’t want to depend on Arteta as a solution. He should try and bring someone in this transfer window for cover
Wow, what a game! Fully deserved that win against a city side as good as I’ve seen them this season. Campbell and Walcott were superb out wide both offensively and in defence. Ramsey was brilliant, particularly 2nd half. Mertasacker played like a man with over 100 caps for Germany. Ozil was pure class and Giroud was everything you want in a lone target man up top. I could go on, they were all superb tonight. Merry Christmas to all, I do love Christmas, the sentimental old fool that I am, and this certainly was the best early present a lifelong… Read more »
I had to thumb up my own comment to compensate for the individual who saw fit to thumb this down.
I comment on her regularly and never get sensitive to thumbs down as opinions are there for us all to enjoy, discuss, agree with and disagree against.
But struggling to see how anyone can disagree with this particular comment.
To that particular individual I suppose try and have yourself a Merry Christmas, or should I just say bah humbug. ?
I am no fan of Campbell, but that was awesome!
Add to that a defensive minded Theo (maybe those two points could be interrelated? Maybe someone got inspired by someone?) – and we have something great on our hands! – Defence from the front and all that…
And it’s an encouragement to see Bellerin struggle (and struggle he did!) and never really get to the byline – with so little significance, after all.
He needs someone to breathe him down his neck…
The last two games Campbell has surprised me. He is fitting in to the team and style really well. Didn’t see an iffy performance from anyone.
MISSING: Sergio Aguero
Found: In Kos the Boss’s pocket.
The way he plays for Arsenal, he’ll be the highest value defender in the world.. No one could afford to pay for all those strikers in his pocket.
The thing I like most about Le Boss is that he’s considerate. I’m pretty sure that the pocket he stuffs so eagerly with the world’s best strikers, (Lewandowski, Muller, Costa, Aguero etc.) is quilted to ensure their comfort for their full 90 mins stay.
Dont forget that was 6 points to City! What i don’t get is how Yaya and Pellegrini in their post match interviews can say they were ontop mot of the game and should have at least had a draw? we missed so many chances! they need to wind their neck in and spend another 150 mil in jan to have a chance at our 10 new signings we will be getting back from injury
To be fair, the last 20 mins were genuinely hairy – they could easily have equalized as we basically stopped playing, stopped running and sat deep. Even Ram and Flam were near our boxes. It is high time we put this fear of conceding to the dustbin but Wenger’s defensive subs didn’t help at all… One interesting thing to note was the quality on the bench on each side – they could bring on Navas or Bony or Sterling whereas we.. well. And reg. Gibbs, that was the worst sub display from an Arsenal player I’ve ever seen. To think… Read more »
One thing about Joel is that he always seems like he’s on the verge of committing a reckless challenge, such is his work rate and desire and love for tackling, but he always seems to know just how much to hold up. He has a bit of the Tasmanian Devil in him, arms and legs always seeming to be in motion. Full marks to all the lads today. That was fun to watch a fully switched on team. On a side note, had to watch the match on my computer in a coffee shop and the fellow sitting next to… Read more »
OK let’s think: -Ozil is overrated, lazy, doesn’t contribute -Arsenal cannot perform against big teams -Wenger has lost his flair -Arsenal players are more interested in selfies and six packs than playing football -Goonersaurous is fat -There is a distinct lack of leadership in the team -Arsenal are not title contenders this year or next Fatgooner is more knowledgeable than Wenger OK the above as we all know are from experts. So they must be true. But this coming May, when parade bus will be decorated, we will throw it on their ugly fucking faces. Roy Keane already had a… Read more »
In fairness Gunnersaurus is fat.
You forgot: “The jury is still out on Mesut Ozil” Moyes 12-2015
Beautifully put AntiSpud. And NOW you’re gonna believe us!
But that same jury found Moyes guilty of impersonating a football manager.
Campbell works and works and works some more. I often think Arsenal could do with more players like Joel who will do anything required to play rather than more highly skilled players who want to play a certain role/position.
In some respects I am thinking of AR today who got forward far to often for my liking in the second half. And I love AR
Bonus Rating: Corner Flag 10/10 It disappeared after half time but was best defender in the first half, besides our 4.
Mesut, I was about ready to murder you 2 seasons ago, but tonight, I am about ready to caress your soul.
Bonus Rating: Ottamendi and Silva – AbsoluteCunts/10 ….kicking shoving and pushing the precious Goons when not getting a sniff of the ball.
10/10 for Andre Marinner for the dirty look he threw at Ottamendi after that childish foul on Giroud.
Brilliant win tonight.
Flamini
Ramsey
Ozil
Walcott
Campbell
Giroud
All players that have been written off at some stage on these comments pages as not good enough.
Makes you think…
Actually Ox was pretty good tonight. Look confident and made good decisions.
There once was a German called Mesut
Charged with nicking a living. “Confess it!
You don’t work for the team,
Not like our Raheem.
The proof is: Michael Owen says it!”
There once was a Spaniard called Hector
More exciting than that snoozefest Spectre
He said “DNA?
No, I’m sorry to say,
I’m a Church of the Goon genuflector.”
Great performance, so many hard working players today! And Mesut, Mesut, Mesut, what a player! Happy holidays Arseblog and to all the lovely supporters on here – COYG!!!!!!
Koscielny is still massively underrated. Had aguero in his back pocket the entire first half and then whoever the eff replaced him. His agility reminds me of Cannavaro from 2006 – very quick to press and great against pacey forwards. Only had one error the entire game, which considering the number of chances we had to score shouldn’t have even mattered.
Onwards and upwards then!!
I hope Leicester stay at the top until we play them. It takes the pressure off our players. Imagine all the bullshit articles from the press if we were first…
Anyone else feel like Bellerin and Kylo Ren look alike?
There once was an artist named Mezut
Much better than David Trezeguet
He was quick on the ball,
And mod’rately tall,
David Moyes is a goddamned moron.
Was a bit worried in the first half that we were conceding too much possession to City and were giving them too much space and also some of the poor passes (esp by Ramsey) that led to counter attacks, but once we started to defend a bit more aggressively higher up it really made a difference. I do think that Walcott needs to work harder defensively more consistently, yes there were stretches he did solid work in the 2nd half, but in the first half too often he would be jogging back (reminiscent of Denilson) while other teammates sprinted past… Read more »
What are you like when we don’t win Mark?
All fair points and for all the joy, folks need to be reminded that a draw would have been a fair result despite the good number of chances we created. Had De Bruyne not been that selfish and Navas not utterly diffident, we’d well be singing a different tune. As for Ramsey, nothing has changed in his game to suggest that his starting every game in CM is a disaster waiting to happen. He just lacks the mastery and technique to control the game from that position, not to mention basic close control. And for those praising his runs high… Read more »
1) We need a world class striker. Giroud does not score enough. We have to be like City, show ambition have Aguero and Bony. Or maybe United with injured Rooney and over priced Martial. Or maybe Chelsea with Loic Remy backing up Costa, he’s better than Giroud. Walcott cannot play CF. Walcott cannot play out wide. Walcott has no footballing brain. Wenger wasted 15m on him. Should have bought Sterling for 49m 2) Do not panic buy players like Ozil. 42.3m is a waste. Should spend more and buy De Bruyne for 55m 3) Flamini is useless. Never mind we… Read more »
Time zones niggles and work meant I missed the game. Amazing news to wake up to. Don’t we just have the most likeable bunch of players! My love for Özil is getting to silly levels now.
Campbell is clearly rubbish.Dick law and Wenger wasted their time around the Costa Rican jungle trying to sign him for under 2m. Should sign Sterling for 49m (never mind rubbish Walcott for 15m, he will never score you enough goals) Or De Bruyne for 55m (Never mind panic buy Ozil for 42.3m, should have got Fabregas) Or maybe Otamendi and Mangala for a combine in excess of 60m never mind slow Per Metersecker or calamity Koscielny. Wenger is clearly clueless. We will never challenge anything and never be able to go through into the kock out stage of CL. If… Read more »
Ya Gunners Ya!
But Hector still shone
And ate him like Hannibal Lecter
This is definitely an outstandingly result considering that Alexis, Santi and Coq are not playing.
I still feel that Monreal is the most undervalued player in the squad. who deserves more recognition
All will be singing praise for
Ozil for his assists,
Giroud for his goals,
Ramsey for his runs,
Cech for his clean sheets,
Bellerin for his pace,
Kos and Per for their interceptions
Sanchez for his workrate + drive + commitment + overdrive + energy
Coq for his …..err…… Coq?
Only four words tonight:
Get… The… Fuck… In!
Total team performance tonight. Ozil, Campbell and the two goal scorers were the stand out performers but everyone really put in a shift today. A bit better decision making from Ramsey and we could have really had a flattering score line but that’s nice picking
Bellerin had a subdued game today. One suspects that was part of the plan. We didn’t have the fullbacks bombing forward and that, in part, explains why we were solid at the back. But he didn’t give Citeh anything. In fact, when Per was holding off the 2 on 1 when Navas should have shot it was another completely inexplicable covering sprint from Hector that made the square pass a mistake.
Welcome back, fella.
It is true that Hector sprinted back superbly but hate to point out that it was Per who still made a brilliant read and intercepted it. As for Navas, well, keep it up fella. BTW, wasn’t he offside?
Navas is the most expensive dreadful player ever.
I think you forgot lord Bentner
I miss Alexis though 🙁
Time to finish those rhymes.
I’ll start with Hector
…And then Sterling came on,
Hector dubbed him a pawn,
and outperformed our defector.
(Harsh on Sagna, but true)
And Ozil
…left Hart on his ass (great lead-in blogs)
And notched two more to his credit
A striker from France called Giroud
With a beard and bicep tattoo
Was not blessed with pace
But against City found space
To shoot and score goal number two.
Ozil. great assists, but may I point out something he did which just showed the brilliance of the man. for the Theo goal, just after passing he RAN past Theo creating an extra body for City to worry about and thereby sowing confusion. his run ensured that Theo was now afforded a few precious second to move in, compose himself, pick a spot and then shoot.
furthermore, as Ozil moves in he beckons Theo to where he should place the ball, at the same time continuing the run that fluttered hart. Brilliant.
I was actually worried for a sec that Hart (and City) would complain he was obstructing GK’s vision as he was in the way of the shot (and offside too).. but thankfully no complaints. Now, if that was Barca in the CL, can you imagine the brouhaha the ref would have been subjected to?
BTW, the shot from Theo was pretty unexpected though and a pleasant surprise. He is one player who seems to have visibly improved and upped his game, especially his passing and reading of the game, apart from the oft-mentioned defensive work. Long may it continue.
Ozil ducked after his pass to Walcott, knowing what was coming. The reflexes!!
The best thing is that the team is now appreciating the factor of working for each other. When you see Walcott tackling players at 40 yards, Ozil chasing back, and the guys with the biggest lungs (Ramsey and Campbell) now those are a pair of lungs one wouldn’t mind. I am gals that we are second, and i wish we can stay second till around March, the pressure of going to position one now would be enormous given the media strategies. I love this team, and i must admit sometimes this teams gives me watery eyes.