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Arsenal v Leicester City

Discussion in 'Arsenal' started by remembercolinlee, Aug 8, 2017.

  1. littleDinosaurLuke

    littleDinosaurLuke Well-Known Member

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    <doh>
    I'm no good at this wumming lark
     
    #81
  2. Tiddler

    Tiddler Hoshu-tekina

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    They will be playing a lot of games at Wembley this season. What's to wait for?

    They are ****ed now that they have to play on a decent surface, :emoticon-0130-devil
     
    #82
  3. Tiddler

    Tiddler Hoshu-tekina

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    P.S.

    please log in to view this image
     
    #83
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  4. Sanj

    Sanj Well-Known Member

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    ****ing crazy game, but it was fun to watch at least, even if we win **** all for the next two years under Wenger, I would by happy enough if we produced this kinda of attacking football on a more regular basis, the last time we played great attacking football as a whole unit was probably the 2011-2012 season. With the amount of attacking players we have, this season might just be the most entertaining in years.
     
    #84
  5. lazarus20000

    lazarus20000 Well-Known Member

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    I agree. **** winning anything, i want to see some throw back Wenger teams that produced some scintillating attacking football. We've become so obsessed with winning the title or CL that it's sucked all the fun out of supporting Arsenal. Just sit back and enjoy is what i'll be doing.
     
    #85
  6. ToledoTrumpton

    ToledoTrumpton Well-Known Member

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    I agree. The end to the game last night actually reminded me of some SAF United teams at the end. We just threw everything at them, and consequences be damned. When you are absolutely smothering a team, fast and furious, referees miss decisions, because they like to keep the game flowing.

    I actually think that is perhaps what we have been lacking. Wenger got Mouriho disease before Mourinho did. If you think you win easily, then you try to avoid making mistakes, rather than trying to be brilliant, you end up with a very sterile boring approach that yields exactly the mistakes you were hoping to avoid, and you don't have anything to offset it with. I can't be the only Arsenal fan that has noticed that we seem to do worst when we go top of the table or seem to be playing well.

    SAF always used to have the approach, if you score 3 we will score 4, and it worked. I've said that I think there is an element of desperation in Wenger this year and I like it - I think it will serve us well. Champions or bust I say!
     
    #86
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  7. lazarus20000

    lazarus20000 Well-Known Member

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    I agree with you in that Wenger got stuck between two places and the pressure to win and be pragmatic cost the more entertaining side of his teams. But i also believe that the new stadium move, losing Dein and changing ownership had a significantly negative affect.

    But with Lacazette, Ozil and Sanchez, it should bring back something we've been missing for a few years now, excitement in attack!
     
    #87
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  8. Tiddler

    Tiddler Hoshu-tekina

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    It's what some of us have always done, but have often been criticised for.

    Welcome to the club though <cheers>
     
    #88
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  9. BrunelGooner

    BrunelGooner Well-Known Member

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    Just got back from Cyprus so haven't had a chance to comment on the game.

    Well, it certainly was a pulsating, nail-biting opener! <laugh>. I've forgotten just how nervous I get when I watch Arsenal sometimes.

    The downside was, obviously, our defending. Vardy caused Holding all sorts of problems, but it didn't help that Bellerin wasn't dropping back to help him out. He was always going to vulnerable to Vardy's speed and movement, so it came as no surprise that they targeted the left flank in the first half.

    Albrighton's delivery was immaculate and we struggled to deal with the crosses he put in, but again, there was no-one closing him down. He had acres of space.
    As threatening as Bellerin and Ox are in this new formation, they must remember to help out defensively as well otherwise we will get plenty of situations like that in the future.

    Holding had a nightmare of a game, but he's young and has been promising for us overall. Perhaps there could have been better communication from Monreal as he was the most senior player in our backline, but equally, we had our main 4 centre-backs out so that clearly played a part in that shambolic defending.

    The only thing I would say is, for all the justified hype around Holding, he still is prone to lapses in concentration. We saw it against United last season with that blind pass to Rooney, against Chelsea in the Cup final and in the Community Shield, and he obviously was culpable of these brain farts again on Friday night. Needs to sharpen up in that sense, but I have high hopes for him, so he should brush it off and keep his head up.

    Ozil was another player who I thought was horrendous. Holding you can forgive because he's inexperienced and was clearly trying his best, everything Ozil did was just not coming off. Sloppy passing, miscontrolling the ball and slowing us down on the counter. It really irritated me because I hate it when he plays like that. His body language does him no favours, either.

    That's the negatives out the way...

    Going forward, we were phenomenal and to be honest, I thought for most of the game we actually looked very good. We played with a high intensity, we utilised our width quite well, stretched them (though our decisions in the final third weren't great) and we created plenty of chances.
    When we went 2-1 down, I was in disbelief (though not entirely because it is typical Arsenal) because we were all over them like a rash and the only way they looked like scoring was from an individual mistake in a dangerous area. Apart from some occasional sloppiness, there only looked like there was one team in it. But we had some good attacking forays forward, so that's something I look forward to over the coming season.

    Lacazette was lively, Welbeck put himself about and Xhaka's distribution was excellent for the most part.

    I will also credit Wenger with bringing on Ramsey, as I personally felt that he wasn't the right player to bring on, but he ended up getting us a crucial equaliser at a critical time of the game.

    Shoutout to Oli G as well - he came on and looked hungry to change the game. Despite the attempts of Maguire to completely man-handle him, he managed to hold him off and plant a superb header into the only place that he could have placed it.
    I've always said that Giroud is a valuable squad player and can make an impact from the bench. I'm glad he stayed with us in the end as it would have been a massive blow for him to go. He's an integral part of the team and I hope he realises how much we need him.

    We still have a lot of work to do if we want to compete on multiple fronts, in terms of signings and defensive organisation, but our attacking display gives me a lot of confidence that we will be causing teams plenty of headache this season. <ok>
     
    #89
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  10. BrunelGooner

    BrunelGooner Well-Known Member

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    By the way, for all this talk about the Ozil handball leading up to our 3rd goal (which it was, I will admit), there was zero mention of Okazaki being offside for Leicester's first and the quite blatant penalty we should have had from Ndidi's handball.
     
    #90
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  11. AKCJ

    AKCJ Well-Known Member
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    Offside? Eh? How could he be offside when Maguire heads the ball backwards?

    I'd have been outraged had the Ndidi handball been given. Blasted at his hand from about 2 foot away, no chance of him moving out of the way.

    The Ozil handball was just utterly blatant and so obvious. Not sure what Dean was looking at.
     
    #91
  12. BobbyD

    BobbyD President

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    Not really.

    Okazaki wasn't involved when he was originally offside. Its called 2nd phase.

    Ndidis handball was blasted at him from close range. Unless you think Sanchez handballed it in FA cup final or when it went in against Hull then what happened to ndidi wasn't a handball.
     
    #92
  13. ToledoTrumpton

    ToledoTrumpton Well-Known Member

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    Well, obviously you have a bit of a Leicester slant, but I can tell you that if you charge down a ball rugby style with arms out, it is still handball, even if it is 2 feet away. This is why you see players putting their hands behind their back, when they think a cross is about to be put in. I probably wouldn't have given it myself, but you must have seen many of those given. Sanchez's charge-down in the cup-final (that led to the first goal) was less blatant and there are a ton of Chelsea fans that think that one should have been given.

    The only thing I would say about Ozils handball is that I doubt Dean saw it. He was a fair way behind Ozil, and it happened very quickly, and until they slow motioned it, not many people mentioned it or noticed it. Given Dean's track record with Arsenal, if he had seen it, I am pretty sure he would have given it.

    It was a fair while before the goal though, and if we go through the game and pick out every shirt-tug, and every push that wasn't given, 5 passes before every goal, you can find a reason to disallow just about every goal. The press love to do this because it gets people going, but it is like the Ramsey curse. With 150,000 people dying every day, it is pretty impossible to not to find someone notable who dies on the days around when he scores. Most refereeing calls are subjective and are pretty much always open for debate. We as fans of course always think the calls against us are a terrible injustice.
     
    #93
  14. cini65

    cini65 Well-Known Member

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    Only if the handball is deliberate.

    The rules state that the following must be considered:
    • the movement of the hand towards the ball (not the ball towards the hand)
    • the distance between the opponent and the ball (unexpected ball)
    • the position of the hand does not necessarily mean that there is an offence
    So to consider... Did he have his hands up because that was his natural position in flinging himself forward, or were they up because he thought that would increase his blocking surface area?
     
    #94
  15. ToledoTrumpton

    ToledoTrumpton Well-Known Member

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    I already said I wouldn't have given that one but quite frankly, you don't run with your arms out like Ndidi did. I think he knew exactly what he was doing and was deliberately trying to block the cross. I also think that, as a good pro, he made the right call because he got away with it. Ozil the same.

    It is like holding and shirt-pulling at corners, you have to know how much you can get away with.
     
    #95
  16. AKCJ

    AKCJ Well-Known Member
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    Edit; I misread your post. Ignore this one.
     
    #96
  17. blukyt

    blukyt Well-Known Member

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    What made me a gooner was the quality of attacking football. Winning trophies was a bonus. My main bragging line was "we play the best football". But the quality of football went downhill, FA cups here and there... That is not good enough for me. Give me a good attacking football any day of the week #SexyTime.

    Trophy wins taste that much sweeter when the football is buff!
     
    #97
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  18. SpursDisciple

    SpursDisciple Booking: Mod abuse - overturned on appeal
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    Well literally it is impossible.<ok>
     
    #98
  19. SpursDisciple

    SpursDisciple Booking: Mod abuse - overturned on appeal
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    Literally? What is it with Gooners and the incorrect use of this word <grr>
     
    #99
  20. TheBear

    TheBear Well-Known Member

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    I LITERALLY could not agree more. Annoys me too.

    Not as much as when people say 110% though.
     
    #100
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