Match Report and MOM v Arsenal

It feels like we finally got to play our 'joker' card today and get three points of a top six side. I have a feeling it could prove to be vital for the final points count in May.

Daniels was caught day dreaming for the Arsenal goal
Smith was immense, so much energy and applied it in all the right areas
A fully fit Fraser is our (not so) secret weapon - every time he gets the ball all he wants to do is blast towards the opposition goal and do some damage
Ake is pure class and worth every penny of whatever we paid for him
I was impressed with Wilshire today. Quality player always looking to make things happen for Arsenal. Gosling put in a shift but he really struggled to get the ball off Wilshire all game. Hard to believe he ended up being used as a sub for us last season.

Let's hope we follow this up with some more convincing performances and results for the rest of this season as we are more than good enough to stay in this league.
 
Typical that the pundits are all about how bad Arsenal were, rather than giving us the full credit the comeback deserved.

I think Begovic did well to get anything on their goal, when you see how close Bellerin was and how hard he hit it.
 
davygravy - 14/1/2018 19:36

Typical that the pundits are all about how bad Arsenal were, rather than giving us the full credit the comeback deserved.

I think Begovic did well to get anything on their goal, when you see how close Bellerin was and how hard he hit it.
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Still waiting for badkeeper to return on Begovic.

Heard Jamie Redknapp saying how poor Arsenal were. Usual.
 
To be honest, although I thought we played well, we've played much better than that and come away with nothing.

Points are so hard to win in this league yet today seemed much easier than the other times we've beaten bigger teams. I think it was a case of them being poor rather than us being brilliant - compare with when we beat Man United when every player had to be at 100%.

 
SlowDownDerek - 14/1/2018 19:49

I think it was a case of them being poor rather than us being brilliant - compare with when we beat Man United when every player had to be at 100%.
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Its plain to see that they aren't at the same level as Liverpool, ManU, City or spurs..not a good time to be an Arsenal fan. They are however top six and its a hell of a result.
 
Chambers and Holding looked very average...that didn’t help them. Wilshere their best player. Also thought our defence excellently nullified Lacazette to make him look very average...which he isn’t.
 
TrevorMorganFanClub - 14/1/2018 19:26

Smith superb on the right and the left. MOM for me too.

Despite our failed transfer policy, a result I'll never forget :lovers:
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I don’t change my opinion on transfer policy when we win. Just as you don’t change your opinion of it when we lose.

It’s my belief that with a manager as good as Eddie had we added to our squad in central midfield and defence more in the last few years we’d be up with Burnley with 30 plus points not four points above relegation.

That doesn’t mean this result isn’t amazing, and that our achievements in the last few years haven’t been dreamlike. I don’t expect you to agree :lovers: :
 
Neil Dawson - 14/1/2018 20:04

Chambers and Holding looked very average...that didn’t help them. Wilshere their best player. Also thought our defence excellently nullified Lacazette to make him look very average...which he isn’t.
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Lacazette ended up playing very deep and hardly got into our penalty area
 
I was also right in line with Wilson translating Moussets attempts at saying wing-back to Fraser and mouthing it to him.
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You mean they didn't put their hands over their mouths? #notPLquality. What sort of example is that for the Junior Cherries?
 
Arsenal are admittedly not at their best but still had a team of internationals , we made Chelsea and Man U look poor for significant periods of those games away from home .
We were poor against Liverpool and shot ourselves-in the foot away at City but this season we have looked generally better against the top 6 despite not getting the points .
 
It was an excellent day.

Arsenal without Sanchez and Ozil are clearly a far weaker team but they still had a very decent side out (Wilshere looked excellent)

Ibe was dazzling at times today and is getting better with every game. As many of us have said before, playing Ibe in a spot where it matters less when he loses the ball is key (for both his confidence and our survival)

Ake and Begovic continue to be excellent. Adam Smith and Gosling ran their nads off, and Callum was a thorn in the Arsenal defence's **************** all afternoon.

So enjoyed today - well done lads, and thank you


 
I thought Daniels was exposed too much on the left in the first half, a couple of times he had two to contend with witj Ake having to come over to cover. S Cook won everything in the air, which fortunate for us did not change with the lack of giroud s an option. This really was a perfect storm for us to gain our first win against them, but lets not take anything away from our performance or the result, we worked hard for it, and made astute adjustments which they had no answer for. It goes to show that the top teams really need they top three playing or they will struggle.

Shout out to Wilshere though. Great player, pulled the strings. Did he give the home fans a clap at the end? diffcult to say from the TV coverage
 
Wilshere gave the Bournemouth side of the East stand a big clap above his head for quite a while. Eddie went straight to him and said something.....as did Jason.
 
Fair report as always, but I would give Daniels a 6 today, as he looked off the pace. He hasn't had many bad games this season, but he didn't look 100% fit to me. He was caught out of position a couple of times in the 1st half and was all at sea for the goal, you don't often see Eddie sub him either.

That said, he will rightly slot back in next week at West Ham and doesn't detract from one of the great days and results.
 
Neil Dawson - 14/1/2018 21:50

Wilshere gave the Bournemouth side of the East stand a big clap above his head for quite a while. Eddie went straight to him and said something.....as did Jason.
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Nice picture of Eddie with his arm around Wilshere walking off the pitch at the end of the game.
 
Hope we stick with the formation. When it needed to defend it was a quite decent looking back 5.

When we went for it second half, we were swarming all over the park. To the point that yes, an exact formation was tricky to pick out.

It gets the best from several players, our full backs, Ibe, Francis in his most comfy role, it just makes sense.

The middle two did get over run at times, its finding the balance with the wing backs and wide forwards helping out. More games using it would see it improve.
 
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