We really could do with a clinical finisher in this team. Get someone like Huntelaar, and just let him do the only thing he can do: Score goals. If we can keep all our creative players fit, he will score a bundle.
Arteta was cocky to put both penalties down the middle - made me laugh when he did it for the second time! Gervinho's shooting boots where left at home but otherwise he wasn't bad. Everyone put in a good shift.
We can go on a bit of a run now with Reading and Wigan to come in the league. Hopefully we can climb back up the table.
Arteta was cocky to put both penalties down the middle - made me laugh when he did it for the second time! Gervinho's shooting boots where left at home but otherwise he wasn't bad. Everyone put in a good shift.
Ya good performance. Still a few players that can bring it up a notch or two. Awesome to have rosicky back ...bit of a competition in the middle. 3 subs were done and none involved Ramsey - good. But for sure we need a clinical striker! I reckon podolski can be if he gets the chance.
Now we can give these guys a rest, it's Bradford on Tuesday, so we shouldn't bother playing too many senior players.
I'd give oxocube another start against Bradford i think - he could do with the game time as when Walcott is back he will be straight into the team.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger: "Overall, we played well, created chances and kept a clean sheet. There was no room for dropping any points and I feel it is a positive day. It would have relaxed me (if we had taken our chances). We were a bit nervous when we had chances because our backs were to the wall." Asked if his side were fortunate being awarded the first penalty, Wenger adds: "A little bit yes. I spoke to (Santi) Cazorla and he said he (Steven Reid) tapped him."
West Brom manager Steve Clarke: "I think we were hard done by. There was clear daylight between Steven Reid and Santi Cazorla for the first penalty. There was a penalty for us for a Per Mertesacker handball but he gave a free-kick the other way. It was the easy way out when you come to a big stadium and the crowd are on your back. I've got no complaints with the second penalty but there was a foul in the build-up. Up until the (first) penalty I thought we had good control defensively but we didn't do enough offensively."
I wouldn't take too much away from our performance. We were closing them down, forcing them into misplaced passes. I haven't seen that kind of effort from Arsenal in more than a month. Perhaps all that video watching helped the players. After watching our recent matches, everyone on this board was calling for a midfield enforcer. It's no coincidence that our midfield three were chasing everything down today. This is the first top rate performance from our midfield trio of Arteta/Wilshere/Cazorla. They're finally playing like they should. Seeing Cazorla close down Mulumbu more than the converse was a pleasure to watch. Arteta was the first to everything. Wilshere was 10/10 outstanding.
Dodgy is an understatement. It was disgraceful, unashamed cheating and people need to start receiving retrospective bans.
I dont think any of us would argue with that. Its annoyiong though when MOTD and the like say nothing about Bale and Young's repeated diving, but we all know what they'll be talking about tonight...
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has been talking about the contentious penalty awarded to Santi Cazorla today. He said: "No I haven't reviewed it. I am sorry if it was not a penalty but I have spoken to Santi and he said he has been touched and lost his balance. Maybe he made more of it, I don't know. It's a difficult decision, it can go against you, it went for us today. That's what it is. "What I mean is, when he [a player] is touched, he goes down, the referee can give or not give the penalty. Of course I will speak to Santi if he has not been touched. I will look at it, don't worry."
I don't really care who it is. Should be one match for a first offence, two for a second etc. and it will soon stop. I hate this notion that contact gives people a right to go down but this couldn't even be put in that category and to then fake injury put the icing on the hideous cake.
Missed the game, just back from some surf boarding brrr it's cold out there. Great result, good to get some confidence back and hopefully we can build on this and go on a good run now . . .
