Ten minutes from time I was ready to accept the draw. This was born out of the simple fact we looked flat and more likely to concede than score. Olivier Giroud’s introduction didn’t quite produce last week’s effect, while Oxlade-Chamberlain was simply horrendous and had me wishing we had Lucas available. But we didn’t. Some […]
When Duncan Watmore went down inside our box I sank in my chair. It looked all set up to become one of those days. Good pressure and slick passing, a goal to show for our trouble, loads of chances created, then one mistake puts paid to everything good. Usually it’s also the first shot on […]
So, our winning streak came to an end yesterday. While it was obvious this would happen at some point, and I fully realize we don’t get to pick and choose, dropping points at home to a team 17th in the table is hardly ideal. In the preview I talked a bit about how important it […]
Well, that was fun, wasn’t it? Kidding, kidding. It was gut-wrenching, nail-baiting and hair-raising, but we held on in the end. Despite atrocious refereeing, Xhaka’s idiocy and Swansea’a resilience. Each of these three factors could have cost us, indeed I can name a handful of occasions when below-par refereeing, one individual’s mistakes or opposition’s stubborn […]
As the 93rd minute was ticking away, I was thinking of how great a last-minute winner could be. This unique feeling of snatching the win when the draw is staring you in the face. Nothing compares to it. The guys behind me in the pub were having a good time, mostly because they were watching […]
Arsenal fans will be boosted by the team’s performance in last night’s home leg win against Basel as further evidence of their growing title credentials. More concrete progress is needed before there can be genuinely founded speculation of a successful challenge in the Champions League but the December home match against PSG will be a […]
As you probably know, yesterday was the first game I attended live. And boy what a good game that was. I wasn’t able to write a preview because of the whole “changing countries” thing, but if did, I would have to mention our atrocious record against Chelsea. We last won a game against the Blues […]
3 wins in a row. Three actual football matches Arsenal have won, putting 9 very real points in the bank. I think I can get used to it. With time. Jokes aside, though, we’ve shown some very good football yesterday. Both 11v11 and then of course 11v10. We’ve screwed up moments either side of […]
So, we are under way in group A and, while it can hardly be called a flying start, at least we have a point to show for it. A lot of things I want to discuss with you, so I’ll get straight to them. The result If you offered me a draw before the game, […]
Recently a habit I had for some time, bubbling under the surface, started to get the better of me: a habit of turning my back on the TV when there’s a dangerous situation near our or our opponents’ goal. Not when such a situation arises from open play, I mostly have free-kicks and penalties in […]
