Marseille

[Theoperator]

You can't get tickets for home games against the likes of Southampton and Hull without a bit of a struggle but look at the gaps there tonight

The match was sold out Steve, there certainly were a lot of gaps at the Upper tier North bank though would they be season ticket holders that didnt sell on

Marselille didnt pick up all their allocation yet that area was also full by the look of it

Dire match and a dire atmosphere to match, full of f**kin tourists again taking pictures and stuffing their faces.....awful

thought the atmosphere was pretty good, certainly compared to 3 or 4 years ago when the place was a funeral parlour. Maybe the mikes by the crowd were turned down

was in the clock end, the queue for food & drinks meant litttle chance of a face stuffing anyway , there was about 5 mins of continued North Bank/ Clock End chanting (with a cheeky "In with the East stand to start with )-

The Marseille fans amazingly never stopped chanting their leader was a Barcode impersonator but had no belly.

One positive was again Kos and BFG were spot on, watched them closly, theres a great understanding between them - them and Ches in goal look a great combination, great save to keep out Andy Townsend . This is the first season for years that I dont get serious anx whenever anyone comes near our penalty area or takes a corner

Major negative was AGAIN the terrible Piccadilly line- S'hampton Match was delayed by 15 mins and if it wasnt for TV would have possibly been the same again FFS. The place emptied really fast before the end- maybe the tubes the reason for that, cant understand any other reason why as Lattes arent served after 10Pm are they?

[Bradywasking]

Awful frustrating game , no matter how dominant you are at 1-0 there is always a massive danger that one mistake changes everything. Played in second gear (handbrake) from about 10th minute on. Second goal was a relief , probably to Marseille as well... Watched game on Setanta Ireland , had ITV on but was pissed off by Roy Keane's comments about Arsenal pre game...Townshend is a tool, on ITV International duty he is English, then he comes over to Dublin and is immediately Irish.
anyone remember when we went out of Champions League in 2005 against Bayern Munich, we lost 3-1 away in the first leg, we were 2-0 down and Bayern made it 3-0 with the Sky commentator shouting "pick that one out Arsenal " .

[RoscommonGooner]

am i the only one that see's the keeper a yard off the line when ozil hits the ball???! i dont disagree, he hit the ball very casually, no arguments here. He should have burried it. But the F-WORD ref is standing on the line! how is this allowed??

"
Law 14 The Penalty Kick

...

The defending goalkeeper:
• must remain on his goal line, facing the kicker, between the goalposts until
the ball has been kicked
"
....

couldnt be clearer!


/rant

Yeah he was a bit off his line but not like 5 or 10 years ago when keepers were 3 yards off their line for every pen. The first step just before the player strikes it to allow the keeper to push off is always going to be sideways and if Ozil takes the piss with his run-up like yesterday I don't have a problem with keeper doing what Mandanda did yesterday.

He was a bit off alright

http://arsenalist.com/f/arsenal-vs-mars ... -line.html

[RoscommonGooner]

Anyone in Block 19 last night? I read a bit about the stewards being a bit OTT. Aparently removed an elderly man for standing while a corner was being taken chanting "Arsenal, Arsenal" (the old man that was, not the steward), also threatened to chuck out a bloke who lifted his daughter in the air after one of the goals

[Bendtners Drinking Buddy]

There were huge, huge travel problems in London last night - hundreds if not Thousands would not have made the game - i saw many on my Train home who had tried for hours from central London and had given up.

Kick Off should 100% have been delayed, but to be honest im not sure if thats possible under UEFA rules blah blah.

[Theoperator]

Anyone in Block 19 last night? I read a bit about the stewards being a bit OTT. Aparently removed an elderly man for standing while a corner was being taken chanting "Arsenal, Arsenal" (the old man that was, not the steward), also threatened to chuck out a bloke who lifted his daughter in the air after one of the goals

http://arsenalist.com/f/arsenal-vs-mars ... -line.html

I think thats block 19 pictured, 3 stewards pictured on that exit. We were in block 26, no stewards around the gangways that we could see at all. In fairness block 19 is next to the away supporters, but Jeez some stewards need to get back to their day jobs of NCP car park attenders and wheel clampers

Talk about heavy handedness. Hope the elderly man those around and the father complain, seems never to get anywhere though

[Ryanswannell]

Although I personally have never had any issues with the stewards when I've attended matches, there does seem to be an awful lot of stories about them being a bunch of pricks about fans actually supporting their team .

Anyway, I was watching last nights game on the telly and I thought the atmosphere sounded quite good at times, and that's something I've noticed through the majority of games this season. Long may it continue because for the past few seasons it has been absolutely dire.

Boring game I thought but nonetheless very happy we got the result and kept another clean sheet, hopefully we can keep them coming against Cardiff and Hull.


Just a quick question, for anybody who has sat in the upper tier of the Clock End, what is it like up their? I've been allocated that seat for the Hull game but I hear it isn't the best place for an atmosphere. Is it full of old people like the upper corners of the ground or do some people actually bother to make some noise?

[RoscommonGooner]

Just a quick question, for anybody who has sat in the upper tier of the Clock End, what is it like up their? I've been allocated that seat for the Hull game but I hear it isn't the best place for an atmosphere. Is it full of old people like the upper corners of the ground or do some people actually bother to make some noise?

Was up there for the second 5-2 NLD, on my right was a proper supporter, on my left were idiots who were there for the "show". I guess you can be lucky or unlucky.

[Ryanswannell]

Just a quick question, for anybody who has sat in the upper tier of the Clock End, what is it like up their? I've been allocated that seat for the Hull game but I hear it isn't the best place for an atmosphere. Is it full of old people like the upper corners of the ground or do some people actually bother to make some noise?

Was up there for the second 5-2 NLD, on my right was a proper supporter, on my left were idiots who were there for the "show". I guess you can be lucky or unlucky.

Fair enough.
I'm going with my 15 year old brother (who's always up for joining in with the atmosphere) and my Dad who hasn't been before so I don't what what he'll be like. I don't think he'll ever see me so animated

[Dan_85]

Dull game, total non event from 29 seconds onwards. Not hard to see why Marseille have 0 points, they were abysmal.

Poor atmosphere to match a poor game although I had two kids next to me, 17/18 or so, who were clearly excited to be at their first game. You know the kind, phones out filming everything, flapping their hands around and squealing excitedly in a high pitched voice at everything "Ohhh Ozil is so sick bruv!"

[northbank123]

am i the only one that see's the keeper a yard off the line when ozil hits the ball???! i dont disagree, he hit the ball very casually, no arguments here. He should have burried it. But the F-WORD ref is standing on the line! how is this allowed??

"
Law 14 The Penalty Kick

...

The defending goalkeeper:
• must remain on his goal line, facing the kicker, between the goalposts until
the ball has been kicked
"
....

couldnt be clearer!


/rant

Yeah he was a bit off his line but not like 5 or 10 years ago when keepers were 3 yards off their line for every pen. The first step just before the player strikes it to allow the keeper to push off is always going to be sideways and if Ozil takes the piss with his run-up like yesterday I don't have a problem with keeper doing what Mandanda did yesterday.

He was a bit off alright

http://arsenalist.com/f/arsenal-vs-mars ... -line.html

Tbh that makes it look better than I thought last night. He's at most half a yard off his line and then dives forward more or less as Ozil is striking the ball. He lands 2 or 3 yards out but he dived from pretty much on the line.

Don't see a problem with keepers diving forward to block the angle, it's common sense and everyone does it. Imo it should only be an infringement if his feet have been on the ground at least a yard out at the time of the ball being struck.

[gavbacon]

Other than the atmosphere dieing in the last 20 minutes, it was pretty good, a few clock end v north bank chants which is always good fun. The frogs didn't stop singing however, except when we scored for a few minutes. And I don't think they had a microphone either. Not many of them but they did make a good noise, as we did at times as well!

The queue for food, drink and the toilets were terrible... even old trafford is quicker and that place is a shithole!

When all is said and done, we got the result we wanted, were never under any real pressure, no injuries and a clean sheet, happy days.

I would have liked to see Gnabry get a run out however.

[dPmunky]

Tbh that makes it look better than I thought last night. He's at most half a yard off his line and then dives forward more or less as Ozil is striking the ball. He lands 2 or 3 yards out but he dived from pretty much on the line.

agreed, that angle shows about 1/2 a yard, the angle i saw last night was from behind and looked worse.

[Theoperator]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffApVmayUTU

[SteveO 35]

You can't get tickets for home games against the likes of Southampton and Hull without a bit of a struggle but look at the gaps there tonight

The match was sold out Steve, there certainly were a lot of gaps at the Upper tier North bank though would they be season ticket holders that didnt sell on

Sold out....eventually. Next season (providing we're in the Be All and End All trophy) take a look at the ticket position 2 weeks before the kick off and compare it to ticket sales for a category C PL game like Hull or Southampton.

I went to the Saints game on Saturday and there was barely a gap......so what makes the season ticket holders appear for that but not for Marseille? Plain and simple - the format is tired and boring, nothing is decided on the night and sometimes coming into Matchdays 5 and 6 everything has been decided anyway. All tournaments need revamping from time to time and for me this boring Group stage just drags and drags. Fuck me we played Marseille away on 18 Sept, and we're still fucking about with the bloody group on 11 December ? Is that supposed to be entertaining? We could have played 3 knockout rounds of 2 legs by now where every game had something riding on it