As we're unlikely to see terraces again at football, this is the virtual equivalent where you can chat to your hearts content about all football matters and, obviously, Arsenal in particular. This forum encourages all Gooners to visit and contribute so please keep it respectful, clean and topical.
I only seen the first half so will only comment on that, but my thoughts are -
(a) It concerns me a lot that maitland-niles is not getting a chance AT ALL in centre midfield - I was really hoping that this season we would be going with a midfield 3 of torreira, the dozi and maitland-niles, but if the only game time amn is gonna see is at left full, it suggests that dick doesnt rate/trust him in midfield.
(b) I look at willock and he reminds me of jet - a big physically strong player, whose size might actually turn out to be hinderance in the long term. We see players/athlete's in different sports these days who "bulk up" and it physically slows them down speed wise and reaction wise, and this could be another example in the making. I am forever speaking to my kids about the importance of "quick feet" when playing footy, and if a player is slow on his feet he will never be able for top level football. I hope willock is not one of those
(c) I now officially cannot stand seeing ramsey playing for our club - earlier yesterday I was delighted to see that he had been made to travel with the kids to the ukrainian backwaters, but within minutes of the game kicking off my feelings had changed to not wanting to see him play at all. His sprint to grab the ball to take the penalty was childlike and the kind of thing that you would see in a schoolyard match - it smells like a guy who wanted to boost his stats (how many goals he scored in various competitions etc), which suggests a "me" attitude
Half and half in a different alphabet, mmmm how good is that for a selfie ,jesus I despair but I blame it on mickey t shirts as it was he that came up with the half and half badges years ago and its spawned a huge industry .
Nice performance and a positive one ,nice to see Jenks get a game ,and only marred by yet another female who I've never heard of droning on !
Wasn’t Baso ( or whatever he called himself) wearing half and half Arsenal kits about 20 years ago ?
The sight of him in shorts and socks still burns my retina to this day.
Jesus Stuart , I'd forgotten about that twat ,I fucking hate the prick ,yes I'd rather blame him for half n Halves except his are both Arsenals.
He really is a bellend who appeared over 20 years ago as if from nowhere ,even the hardcore go everywhere types like John Williamson have nothing to do with this dweeb !
Got to know him for a short while mid nineties when I frequented the supporters club in Gillispie Road. I would travel with the Dublin Arsenal Supporters Club and it was the law that you went to the club. Spoke to him on a few occasions but never really understood what he was saying.
There was a bloke in the Dublin Supporters Club who cut the sleeves off the last Addidas home kit (93/94) and sowed them onto the first Nike home kit (94/96) ..We felt he wanted to be the Irish Baso.
The supporters club has been a home for the care in the community supporters going back 3o years ,there was a time it was used directly after games when pubs wernt open but since then its just full of oddballs and fat birds with funny hats ,ive been a life member since the 70's but ive not been in there for eons . Arsenal seems to attract a lot of wierdo's ! BTW did u know Jack Wilshire named his daughter siena ?????
Half and half in a different alphabet, mmmm how good is that for a selfie ,jesus I despair but I blame it on mickey t shirts as it was he that came up with the half and half badges years ago and its spawned a huge industry .
Nice performance and a positive one ,nice to see Jenks get a game ,and only marred by yet another female who I've never heard of droning on !
Wasn’t Baso ( or whatever he called himself) wearing half and half Arsenal kits about 20 years ago ?
The sight of him in shorts and socks still burns my retina to this day.
wow, i haven't seen him for years. he used to have a long blonde Mullet lol.
he used to stand near me on the North Bank in the early 80's . he was one of the first ones to wear the halves. there was another lad before him who wore the half Celtic half Arsenal top.
I didn't know him, but i always liked seeing him around. he was one of characters that made the club feel like home for me, along with Rip Roar, Bully, plastic bag guy, John Drummond, and that old bird who would screech "COME ON YOU GUNNERS" right on kick off.
I only seen the first half so will only comment on that, but my thoughts are -
(a) It concerns me a lot that maitland-niles is not getting a chance AT ALL in centre midfield - I was really hoping that this season we would be going with a midfield 3 of torreira, the dozi and maitland-niles, but if the only game time amn is gonna see is at left full, it suggests that dick doesnt rate/trust him in midfield.
(b) I look at willock and he reminds me of jet - a big physically strong player, whose size might actually turn out to be hinderance in the long term. We see players/athlete's in different sports these days who "bulk up" and it physically slows them down speed wise and reaction wise, and this could be another example in the making. I am forever speaking to my kids about the importance of "quick feet" when playing footy, and if a player is slow on his feet he will never be able for top level football. I hope willock is not one of those
(c) I now officially cannot stand seeing ramsey playing for our club - earlier yesterday I was delighted to see that he had been made to travel with the kids to the ukrainian backwaters, but within minutes of the game kicking off my feelings had changed to not wanting to see him play at all. His sprint to grab the ball to take the penalty was childlike and the kind of thing that you would see in a schoolyard match - it smells like a guy who wanted to boost his stats (how many goals he scored in various competitions etc), which suggests a "me" attitude
Think the only reason Niles hasn't seen a game in midfield yet is because we have been relatively injury free in midfield while we've been down to the bare bones at left back.
Agree 100% on Ramsey. Chases the limelight even in a game like this. Bloke's embarrassing.
Half and half in a different alphabet, mmmm how good is that for a selfie ,jesus I despair but I blame it on mickey t shirts as it was he that came up with the half and half badges years ago and its spawned a huge industry .
Nice performance and a positive one ,nice to see Jenks get a game ,and only marred by yet another female who I've never heard of droning on !
Wasn’t Baso ( or whatever he called himself) wearing half and half Arsenal kits about 20 years ago ?
The sight of him in shorts and socks still burns my retina to this day.
Jesus Stuart , I'd forgotten about that twat ,I fucking hate the prick ,yes I'd rather blame him for half n Halves except his are both Arsenals.
He really is a bellend who appeared over 20 years ago as if from nowhere ,even the hardcore go everywhere types like John Williamson have nothing to do with this dweeb !
I can also recall a guy who wore a half Arsenal home kit and half Celtic - although it may have been Baso before he mixed the home and away ?
Edit - clockender 1 beat me to it about the Arsenal / Celtic top.
The Arsenal / Rangers and Arsenal / Celtic bobble hats , with the bobble ripped off, were all the rage for a few years in the late 80’s too ( still have mine lol )
We met some Celtic Bhoys years ago at Sammy Nelsons testimonial and kept in touch ,whenever Arsenal played up there we would go to their pub on the Polockshaw road ,however they failed to see the funny side when I had my girlfriend fuse a celtic and rangers ski hat together and I walked into Heghartys wearing it !
PS don't remember Baso early eighties ,I thought he crept in late 80's ???? Could be wrong but he wasn't going away in those days or else Id have seen him as Prior to 82/3 season when I moved to NYC ,I went nearly every match !
Given the nature of the game, I'd say that's the best first half performance by an Arsenal team under Emery. The players executed the manager's instructions perfectly. The youngsters were brilliant, kept the ball well and limited the opposition opportunities. They showed character in not only playing in sub zero temperatures, the doubts about the game going ahead, change of venue, and a sparse crowd.
I think a few showed they've got the passion and desire that seems to be missing from the star players. smith-rowe, willock, maitland-niles, guendouzi have what it takes to make the first eleven. Nketiah was dynamic up front, really wanted to score and didn't let his head drop after missing a couple of chances and constantly getting fouled, similar to a young Ian Wright.
Jenkinson did well too. I've said it before we could ship out the experienced players that are under performing, in January transfer window, bring in the kids that will follow the managers instructions and still make the top 4 this season. Experience players don't always help a young team develop, they just get in the way. Holding looks like a leader on the pitch as does Guendouzi.
This again?
No. Absolutely not. You put all those kids in and dump the experienced senior pros and we are mid table at best. There is a reason no team in the top flight ever does that ffs.
Holding looks like a leader now? Yeah with a bunch of 17 year old kids. Great. Unfortunately when he plays in the first team with men he looks like a nervous kid himself most of the time. Holding is a goodish on occasion CH that might get better under Dick but let's not get carried away after one game against dross ffs.
We have a couple of posters losing their shit over a win against an utterly shit pub team. The kids did well but they will probably never play against worse opponents in their entire careers ffs. Context is everything.
Context is that the kids played against a team of inferior tecnical ability but in difficult conditions. Blimey, we've sent better teams out to play in conditions as bad as they faced and they capitulated. They followed the manager's instructions and we had leaders on the pitch, something that has been missing for a few years.
I'm not getting over excited it was great to see the team exhibit a bit of bottle and professionalism, even better from a young team.
