Wn required!

jpr60 wrote:Oh dear! That was a non-performance of note - defence? non-existant - midfield? far too deep (we need Santi's mazy dribbles in and around the penalty area, not on the half-way line) - attack? Welbeck unable to anticipate, Giroud just unable! Looks like we need Szczesny back too - Ospina looked out of it for at least two of the goals. Mertesacker? Time to be replaced by Gabriel methinks. I predicted  a 3-0 win for us last night - now we'll need it to get through in Monaco. Meanwhile, back to the drawing-board for the Everton match this weekend - a must-win for all sorts of reasons!

Would have been quicker to say embarrassing....

A 2-0 against Everton is good enough, let's have more like that in mid-week against QPR eh? It certainly wasn't a sparkling performance but there were a couple of stand-out players - Giroud worked his butt off, scored one (could/should have got at least another), Belerin and Gabriel in defence looked good, Cazorla put in a shift and Ozil has another couple of assists. Oh yes, Ospina did well to cover an early Gabriel slip and pulled off a couple of decent saves too. So yes, good enough - keep it up (as they say)!

Did enough to win easily at Loftus Road but only managed a 2-1. Still, three points to us again and that sets us up well for a tasty FA Cup win at Old Trafford on Monday.
Good to see Alexis score again - he's been looking a touch under-par in recent games but his strike was a gem and Giroud scored a scrappy goal too - we should've had a pen when Henry tugged Ozil back as he was about to score (How can the ref/assistants not see a sudden pull-back like that? Do they think a bloke free on goal is suddenly going to fall over backwards rather than score? I dunno.......). We'll have to get used to getting no help from the officials, especially in our next match, eh? Come on Arsenal!

You ought to beat Manure ... they seem to be slowly imploding

Got to be ready for this one - Old Trafford, FA Cup quarter-finals plus we owe 'em one (or two)¨This is the first one, come on Arsenal!

Well, that was nice. A relatively good all-round performance, played in an electric atmosphere and, for once, refereed by someone who was not overawed by being at Old Trafford (Fergie would not have liked that at all)! I wondered what eleven would start but never thought that Welbeck would have been chosen over Giroud up top - top decision from Le Boss trusting that the player would be wanting to show his old club what they're missing. He didn't play that well in all honesty but put in a shift, worked his second-half arse off and got the reward. Well done Danny!
So, Bradford City or Reading at Wembley in the semi-final in April, meanwhile, on with the show. West Ham up next - yes we can - come on Arsenal!

jpr60 wrote:Well, that was nice. A relatively good all-round performance, played in an electric atmosphere and, for once, refereed by someone who was not overawed by being at Old Trafford (Fergie would not have liked that at all)! I wondered what eleven would start but never thought that Welbeck would have been chosen over Giroud up top - top decision from Le Boss trusting that the player would be wanting to show his old club what they're missing. He didn't play that well in all honesty but put in a shift, worked his second-half arse off and got the reward. Well done Danny!
So, Bradford City or Reading at Wembley in the semi-final in April, meanwhile, on with the show. West Ham up next - yes we can - come on Arsenal!

think it's yours to lose now

Well that's right - we are the holders of the FA Cup so, for the moment, it's ours.
Before that we've got a match against The Hammers - let's get on and win that one first. Come on Arsenal!

Excellent goals today, three mini-gems from a team-work point of view. Aside from that, another three points and a lift towards second spot since ManCiteh seem to have lost their way.
Now comes the 3-0 win in Monaco, eh? Impossible! No chance! Improbable! All of that and more but here we have a football match to win, so why not 3-0? Come on Arsenal!

jpr60 wrote:Well, that was nice. A relatively good all-round performance, played in an electric atmosphere and, for once, refereed by someone who was not overawed by being at Old Trafford (Fergie would not have liked that at all)! I wondered what eleven would start but never thought that Welbeck would have been chosen over Giroud up top - top decision from Le Boss trusting that the player would be wanting to show his old club what they're missing. He didn't play that well in all honesty but put in a shift, worked his second-half arse off and got the reward. Well done Danny!
So, Bradford City or Reading at Wembley in the semi-final in April, meanwhile, on with the show. West Ham up next - yes we can - come on Arsenal!

Yes, well done Arsenal. Had a very big bet on them to beat Man U so I was cheering them on. I thought Welbeck was crap too. Scored though, so that's the important thing.

Tonight's the one to have a bet on Tilts. Me, I've never bet on a football match but you're obviously a closet Gooner - get in there with a wager my son, should get good odds against and who knows (apart from Arsene), anything can happen! Come on Arsenal!

Yes, I'll be supporting Arsenal tonight because I'll be backing them to win the match at 6/5. I'm having a fairly large bet on them as I reckon that they'll win on the night. I'm not betting on them qualifying though.
I'm also having a separate bet on them in a 4-fold along with Barca, Dortmund and Atletico.

Come on Arsenal!
(and Barca and Dortmund and Atletico, but mainly Arsenal as that's the bigger bet)

Nice - good luck to yer

Cheers, but if Arsenal don't win I'll be holding you personally responsible.

I think we're gonna win AND qualify - come on Arsenal!

Well, we almost qualified......same old, same old I suppose.
Shake off the dull feelings and get back in the saddle, eh? Newcastle up next, up there! Need a performance or, rather a continuation of performance to get those three points in the bag - come on Arsenal!

Well done Arsenal for winning me a few hundred quid. Nice one.

They didn't deserve to qualify though. Simply not good enough over two legs once again. They had the easiest draw of the round aswell but still couldn't do it, and this is why I say that they're a long, long, long way off ever winning the Champions League. Yes, they qualify every year but they're not going to win it. What's the point? Oh yeah, money!

Tilton wrote:Well done Arsenal for winning me a few hundred quid. Nice one.

They didn't deserve to qualify though. Simply not good enough over two legs once again. They had the easiest draw of the round aswell but still couldn't do it, and this is why I say that they're a long, long, long way off ever winning the Champions League. Yes, they qualify every year but they're not going to win it. What's the point? Oh yeah, money!

I'll have to differ with you there Tilts (that'll make a change), I believe Arsenal were the better team against Monaco, but we just didn't score from the chances we created in the first leg. We could've had five goals in the first game and we scored two in the second, where we outplayed Monaco for 70 minutes. Anyway, so what? We're out on away goals - that's it.
Meanwhile "money"? Well you won some by betting on The Arsenal (well done) and the Arsenal gain some by being good enough to qualify for the Champions league each year. That's OK isn't it - we will win the thing one day but to do that you have to qualify for the tournament. We do, regularly, cos we're a good club!

Another three points - keep 'em coming says I! Got an international break next week so a wee pause.

jpr60 wrote:

Tilton wrote:Well done Arsenal for winning me a few hundred quid. Nice one.

They didn't deserve to qualify though. Simply not good enough over two legs once again. They had the easiest draw of the round aswell but still couldn't do it, and this is why I say that they're a long, long, long way off ever winning the Champions League. Yes, they qualify every year but they're not going to win it. What's the point? Oh yeah, money!

I'll have to differ with you there Tilts (that'll make a change), I believe Arsenal were the better team against Monaco, but we just didn't score from the chances we created in the first leg. We could've had five goals in the first game and we scored two in the second, where we outplayed Monaco for 70 minutes. Anyway, so what? We're out on away goals - that's it.
Meanwhile "money"? Well you won some by betting on The Arsenal (well done) and the Arsenal gain some by being good enough to qualify for the Champions league each year. That's OK isn't it - we will win the thing one day but to do that you have to qualify for the tournament. We do, regularly, cos we're a good club!

Yes, you're usually the 4th best team in the league.

Being 4th best is enough to qualify at the moment, but that could change in the next few years if Italian teams keep improving and English teams keep failing in Europe. It's possible that the 4th qualifying place could be taken away in that scenario. Being 4th best in the league might not be good enough anymore.

Actually it isn't "good enough" but better than finishing, say twelfth or being relegated or whatever. The thing is to keep up the pressure and become better - starting from fourth means somewhat less improvement needed than finishing twelfth etc.
We're on our way!

But you've been finishing 4th for years now. Ok, you've scraped into 3rd a couple of times but usually you finish 4th. I don't see much 'improvement' going on there.

Finishing 4th is the only thing that has kept old Arsene in his job for the last few years. It keeps the money men happy when you qualify for the CL.

Liverpool this weekend - we can win this, come on Arsenal!

Nice win - 4-1. Excellent goals, great performances with stand-outs Our Coq and Mesut, but everyone played well. Not sure where it'll leave us but as long as we keep winning we'll be good - come on Arsenal!