Hey folks, I’ve got a cold and don’t feel like doing anything but I don’t want to deprive you of a place to shout in joy at Arsenal moving on in the Europa League. Here are a few observations:
An away win, Arsenal’s 2nd in a row, but only the 4th away win since November. Four out of 14 in all competitions is a pretty poor record but I think that we have some green shoots, it is spring after all!
Three clean sheets in a row! And actually, we have only conceded one goal in 7 matches since the disaster at Rennes. That’s one conceded goal in 91 shots. Personally, I’d rather we didn’t concede so many shots. 13 shots allowed per game (which is what we are conceding) is not good defending – it’s mid-table Premier League defending. We’ve only really had one game where we limited the opponents to a few chances and that was Newcastle.
This is partly down to our inability to control games and also down to the fact that we are ahead (a goal up) in most of these contests. We’ve also enjoyed a bit of luck – our opponents have only gotten 20 shots on target (19 saves) and many, like Insigne’s yesterday, have been easily saved.
I have our expected goals against in those contests at over 11. Because people are so weird about this and think that any mention of a flaw is “being negative” I have to say “I’m not being negative.” It’s an astonishingly good record to concede so few goals. Leno and Cech have done very well to keep Arsenal’s goals.
And finally, I’m starting to absolutely hate VAR. Honestly, why even have officials on the field? I believe that we are headed toward a day when the on-field officials will intentionally not make calls and let the VAR officials make them for them. And as we move toward full VAR, the officials will only be on the pitch to take abuse from the players. Or maybe we can dispense of the on-field officials and just have VAR decisions announced on the overhead speaker like some god-voice from on high.
I feel like with VAR what we are exchanging is the spontaneity of the game for “perfect” officiating. The thing I fell in love with in football wasn’t officiating, it was the rise and swell of the game, the release of the goal, the tension of the game as a team pursues a goal, and even the agony of defeat. I honestly don’t want every call to be right if it means I have to give up the fun of the game.
Anyway, I’m sure you all disagree. I got to get back to bed.
Thanks for cooking us up some chicken soup for the Gooner soul. Hope you recoup and sip on some soup too.
Speaking of recuperation, Ramsey apparently hopes he can play before the end of the season. It’s so disappointing that he may not get to play at home again before he leaves, but I suppose we no longer get any sort of fairytale endings. Or maybe he’ll come on in the Unai Emery League final and score the winner to add to his 2 winners in the Forever Arsene Cup.
Best move on before Tom’s tea leaves tarot reading melts my brain. But, unfortunately I have to come back to Wenger. His suggestion on VAR was that it should be used only for line decisions. I disagreed with him then, and I think I disagree with you now about VAR.
I get all the problems with it and that it won’t get the calls ‘perfect’. But something still needed to be done because the refs, at least in England, are totally out of control. I have no faith in them to do well, but I hope VAR eventually forces some accountability. Cricket had the same problem of umpires leaving calls to TV, until a few good ones decided that they were still going to make the calls and just get them more right than wrong. I think it raised the standard of officiating, and in time VAR can do the same for football.
I disagree that the refs in England are “out of control”. I watch a lot of matches from many different leagues and the reality is that refs call games in England the way that suits their culture. That means that it’s a rough league. It has gotten softer over the years as people complain about the violence. Refs in Italy are out of control. They stop the game so often that they could have commercials.
I don’t care if VAR makes officiating “more correct” and I also don’t care at all if it’s less than perfect or if it gets every call right. The world isn’t perfect. I don’t mind mistakes. There’s a weird thing out there where people don’t want a to ever make a mistake.
VAR isn’t going to help Arsenal. It’s probably not going to hurt us either. It’s just going to stop the game a lot, call back some goals that will drive you mad, and next year when handball is changed, it’s going to award a shitload of penalties. I don’t know if I’ll be able to watch the game if it turns into a refereeing contest. It’s like that in Italy, it was like that in the World Cup. It’s downright annoying.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy watching Harry Kane score a record number of goals from the penalty spot next year. That’s what’s going to happen. The refs are going to be the same. Heck, I bet Mike Dean will be chosen as VAR official for nearly every game. It’s going to be awesome watching people hate VAR next season.
You sound angry at your cold. Is sore throat or stuffy nose? I get mad at both myself.
I won’t mind when goals scored on clear offsides are called back. That’ll be nice.
Since experience says both “This will be the best/worst thing ever!!” are wrong answers, I’ll go with VAR will probably be fine. It will certainly correct some mistakes and hopefully lead to some more just results. That could end up being a pretty big deal for mid and lower table teams. But, who knows? Maybe at some point it will be in our interests and won’t that be good.
It will as surely occasionally infuriate, particularly during early days. It will almost certainly need to be refined, as these things always do. It might make matches a little longer. But at least some of that will overlap with the time guys spend rolling around on the pitch, so it’ll probably be a wash.
I disagree it will be ‘awesome to watch people hate it’ next season, because we’re already watching you do it now and it’s just okay.
Feel better soon!
I take it back. I hope you don’t have soup 😛
Yes, all of this is true. That is what will happen. A wonder goal will be disallowed because the guy was like a quarter of an inch offside. It will be terrible.
It’s just that I’m more willing to accept that than you are, simply in the hope that it will get better, because I’ve gradually fallen out of love with the game in England. VAR in the Bundesliga and Serie A hasn’t affected their entertainment value for me, though I’m not really emotionally invested there.
Mostly, it’s not so much the wrong decisions that bother me as it’s the attitude; the pretense of infallibility adopted by the Pgmol. It got to a point where it was predictable which direction their decisions will go in. So I’m not hoping for VAR to cut down on ‘mistakes’ as much as tilting.
I’m aware this is potentially terrible, futile and even counter productive, but I feel I have nothing really to lose (except the Kane penalty thing. Ugh)
I disagree with Tim too.
Who are these people who “don’t want a to ever make a mistake?” Nobody I know. Heck, nobody who watches sport will ever think that it can be mistake-free enterprise. We’re talking about the howlers… the obvious, clear ones.
The is a perfect example of letting the perfect be the enemy of the good.
Every argument of Tim’s rant (why not simply replace umpires with machines) was made by conservatives (in the non-political sense) before the introduction of technology in cricket. Now it’s working even better than we dared hope.
Why? Largely due to limiting appeals. Captains have 3 per innings, and now that they know that their number is restricted and if they get one wrong they the available number drops, they are much more selective in going to video. The same in tennis. If football doesn’t limit VAR interventions, teams will want to look at everything everytime.
And Shard is right. The on-field officials adjusted to the technology.
You dont have to like VAR overturning Sterling’s goal, but the tech got it right.
Hear, hear!
Eager to embrace anything that makes it harder for the Deans and Rileys to implement their anti-Arsenal agenda, one bent decision at a time.
VAR will cause angst and then it will get better. Here’s to that better future.
A cold is a great reason to indulge in some lovely, spiced hot toddy with whiskey or rum, hot water, nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon. Get well soon Tim!
“Best move on before Tom’s tea leaves tarot reading melts my brain”
I wouldn’t worry too much about that.
Anyone who still believed last year Wenger had another Premier League title in him must’ve had their brains melted already, at least the football brains.
Channeling Chris ‘Pelanty’ Waddle? Awesome. Do you also read palms, oh great sorcerer? Here, talk to the hand.
You’re not gonna deny saying that on here a year ago are you?
Everyone knows you have an Arsene Wenger blind spot the size of Mt Everest.
Whatever dude.
Happy Easter.
Honey, lime (a lot) and ginger, hot. That’s the bomb. Hear it goes well with cross buns too….
Get well sir, and appreciate the post. Yes, good win. My nightmare scenario is Olly Giroud rising above Mustafi to plant the winning header. past Cech. Then thinking, ‘sod it, I’ll celebrate’.
Better than “I’ve taken a life” Alonso or Sideshow Bob with the winning header. It’s funny how Chelsea have fallen from their position as “one of AFC’s bogeyteams” to being a team I’m not nervous about facing. I wonder when that happened.
How’s this for a collective nightmare: 87th minute, CL Final Liverpool 0-Spuds 0..Lovren bodies Son in the box and as he goes down, the ball ricochets off Lovren’s boot directly to a waiting Delli Alli at the far post. VAR calls for the goal to be reviewed and it’s determined that Alli was offside.so the goal doesn’t count. But wait! The ref, upon seeing the replay, determines that the body from Lovren was actually a foul…penalty! Harry Kane is wheeled out on one those golf cart things and propped up by a beaming Adam Crafton on one side and Disco Dean on the other. When they get to the spot, Kane nods. They both let go, a nervous look written across their grotesque features. Kane begins to tip, he can’t support himself. As he falls backwards, he just manages to catch the ball. The absurdity of the proceedings have distracted Alisson. He’s peering up into stadium, looking for signs with his name on them. How disappointing! He catches a glimpse of the ball as it rolls ponderously towards the corner of his net. He loves, but it’s too late. The ball trickles him. The referee whistles for time immediately.
*He dives, but it’s too late. The ball trickles in. The referee whistles for time immediately.
That is brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Move over, Nick Hornby.
I felt var is technologically inept when the llorente fgoal stood because all angles were not shown…
As one of the readers said appeals should be limited to three like cricket.. it has done wonders imho.
Also better technology like goal line technology which effectively tells the referee what to do and not asks him/her to decide… Similar to Hawkeye/snickometer in cricket.
It must, and will, get better. I think rugby is the game to aspire to – there, incredibly, almost every angle is shown and the right decisions called. But football’s rules remain more subjective, so there’ll also be an interpretative element,requiring referee and, possibly, more input from the monitoring team.
Brilliant result, brilliant goal, lamentable finishing by Napoli, in both legs, (tho’ Auba’s miss wasn’t bad either). But Valencia and Frankfurt will be serious challenges, so still a long way to go.
VAR appeals? Where did that come from? No way, do not complicate the game any further and introduce another tactical tool to manipulate games. If the studio team & on field officials cannot make these decisions without biased interference it will be a massive failure.
Cricket was slow to implement video and tracking technology, but it has drastically improved quality of decisions. It goes via an appeal process where the captain has to request a review. More correct decisions are being given and less chance of a poor decision affecting the outcome of the game. There will be a few years getting used to the technology, but overall has seen a big improvement in poor refereeing decisions not affecting the outcome of a game.
Good result at The Etihad this afternoon, which will encourage the team to win & take third spot again tomorrow. Getting quite exciting now.
Arsenal doesn’t suck. Much. I think, I dunno because we really are rather good when the stars align and Ozil doesn’t play and other stuff. What that stuff is no one can really figure out. No one on this blog and certainly not Unai Emery. COYG.
I wish VAR had been available for the last twenty years, United would have won a fraction of the titles, our 49 unbeaten streak would have continued. If they get more right then it’s a win for me.
Speaking of United, apparently Ed Woodward has admitted signing Sanchez to a 4.5 year , £400 a week plus add ons contract was a mistake.
You don’t say.
Now DDG and Pogba are up for renewal and want Sanchez money while destined for Europa league.
Who could’ve predicted that. Oh wait , everyone. Lol.
A year from now Woodward will admit giving OGS the reigns was a mistake too.
Like he couldn’t wait till the end of the season to make this decision.
United board are a gift that keeps on giving.
Karma I say.
Today’s mascot is young lady as tall as our captain
I think we need to accept now that Tim is dead. He has left this mortal coil. He is bereft of life. He is an ex-Tim.
Halftime v Palace.
We’ve been trash offensively, but the crowd is absolutely awful. Nervous, negatively reactive, not giving an ounce of support to the team. Getting on Elneny’s back, and he’s not handling it well. Elneny is bad, but I wouldn’t want to play in front of that lot.
Handball all day long by Wan-Bissaka. Penalty. Must say when I saw who was reffing today, my expectation was that we’d get some bad calls. Ward REALLY late on Aubameyang, RIGHT in front of him. Nothing.
On their goal, what was worse? The boneheaded shirt tug in a dangerous area by Mavro, or Mustafi’s decision to give the best header of the football on the field a free run on goal? Jeez. Who’d be a coach?
Every time they attack, they look like they can carve us open. From their point of view, Hodgson might as well attack us. Leno kept us in it, with 2 outstanding saves.
Yep
All true.
I am gonna cry.
And why do the commentators keep giving shit to Özil? What more could he have done today? Coach Mustafi?
That Zaha goal, it didn’t surprise me at all.
Unai: Skodran, that was a really bad goal to concede in the first half
Mustafi: Hold my bratwurst
Palace played well and it’s hard to begrudge them that win, even though they got lucky with a clear handball from Wan Bissaka, and an offside third goal. They looked like they could score every time they went forward. Not the best afternoon for Moss Bros, but Mustafi will make sure that they are not the story.
Mustafi is never going to live this down. There’s no coming back from this with the Arsenal fans. This was more asinine than the Aguero nudge giveaway.
Ozil’s goal was a great finish. One of the ones that should live long in the memory. Sadly, I think it’ll be forgotten due to the result and the manner of that Mustafi goal.
I have to give credit to Mustafi. He manages to find creative new ways to make horrific blunders. The ‘I will shield the ball even though I don’t know if my keeper is close enough to play it, rather than simply clearing it’ is an astounding feat of defending stupidity.
You could see just how badly we missed Papa today. Zaha is the kind of player he can help neutralize. We looked so much like last year’s team today.
If Emery can right the ship and still get us top four it will be an amazing achievement. We are trying to back our way in, hoping United and Chelsea will implode as well.