Arsenal vs Burnley. 22nd Jan. 14:15

[Marc Overmars]

Should be a bread and butter 3 points.

2-0.

[GP]

4-0

[Niall_Quinn]

Should be a bread and butter 3 points.

2-0.

Think you meant a gruel and gristle 3 points. Or a pillow and slippers 3 points. Or a penknife and wrists 3 points.

But 3 points nonetheless. If Pep can get his shit in order we might overhaul the spuds. Liverpool won't be losing to Swansea though.

[Letters]

I'm going to moan whatever we do!

Meh.

[Niall_Quinn]

Meh.

Oh of course, we're on fantasy island. I forgot.

I think it will be a marvellous exhibition of free-flowing, attacking football. 3 points.

[Herbert_Chapman's_Zombie]

No chance of cutting down Chelsea's lead at the top as they are at home to Hull

It's important to make sure we win our next two home games (don't care about the FA cup, if we have to rest players and risk getting knocked out by Southampton so be it)....and potentially put ourselves in a situation where we are only 5 or 6 points behind Chelsea going to Stamford Bridge

If by some miracle we don't get our arses handed to us in that game, 5-6 points behind Chelsea by mid February makes us competitive.

Now of course there are the way things should be done and the way Wenger does them

[Edinburgh Gooner]

Got to win this now after today's results and put a little pressure on Chelsea.

[Xhaka Can’t]

They're professionals. No chance they are wasting this opportunity.

[Niall_Quinn]

Also, I doubt Burnley will be committed. It will be a surprise if they are.

[Niall_Quinn]

Think you meant a gruel and gristle 3 points. Or a pillow and slippers 3 points. Or a penknife and wrists 3 points.

But 3 points nonetheless. If Pep can get his shit in order we might overhaul the spuds. Liverpool won't be losing to Swansea though.

:bow:

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

No chance of cutting down Chelsea's lead at the top as they are at home to Hull

It's important to make sure we win our next two home games (don't care about the FA cup, if we have to rest players and risk getting knocked out by Southampton so be it)....and potentially put ourselves in a situation where we are only 5 or 6 points behind Chelsea going to Stamford Bridge

If by some miracle we don't get our arses handed to us in that game, 5-6 points behind Chelsea by mid February makes us competitive.

Now of course there are the way things should be done and the way Wenger does them
So you want to throw the FA cup on the possibility that we will get our act together and that Chelsea will have enough John Terry slips (a statistical anomaly from the point of view of teams top at Christmas) to throw it away?

What I don't understand is.....if people are so convinced we will don't have what it takes each season to actually win the league why don't we care about the league cup and ready to forfeit the FA CUP for merely feigning a challenge at the league....

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

:bow:

Nostradamus Quinn

[selassie]

No chance of cutting down Chelsea's lead at the top as they are at home to Hull

It's important to make sure we win our next two home games (don't care about the FA cup, if we have to rest players and risk getting knocked out by Southampton so be it)....and potentially put ourselves in a situation where we are only 5 or 6 points behind Chelsea going to Stamford Bridge

If by some miracle we don't get our arses handed to us in that game, 5-6 points behind Chelsea by mid February makes us competitive.

Now of course there are the way things should be done and the way Wenger does them

I highly doubt we'll cut down Chelsea's lead full stop, we lack the consistency and the mentality.

I think one team out of the chasing pack will mount a serious challenge but I highly doubt it will be us.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C2xw7s8WQAAw0x_.jpg

[A Gunner]

Arsenal: Chech, Gabriel, Mustafi, Koscienlny, Monreal, Ramsey, Khaka, Alexis, Ozil, Iwobi, Giroud
Subs: Ospina, Gibbs, Bellerin, Coquelin, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Welbeck, Lucas

[Power n Glory]

FFS! Giroud again?

[Marc Overmars]

Come on, he's been scoring in every game.

Not his biggest fan but don't we all want the form players rewarded with more opportunities?

[Power n Glory]

Not if it results in a boring and dull game.

[Niall_Quinn]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C2xw7s8WQAAw0x_.jpg

LOOOOOOOL

Guy's a fucking nutter.

[Niall_Quinn]

Come on, he's been scoring in every game.

Not his biggest fan but don't we all want the form players rewarded with more opportunities?

A static, lazy lump that turns up for 10 mins. Yes he scores, but so does Alexis when he plays up there.

[Niall_Quinn]

FFS! Giroud again?

Yeah. Wenger has reinstated him obviously - who could ever have guessed that would happen? Alexis must have been no good up top I guess.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Come on Arsenal. :bow:

[Niall_Quinn]

3 points today and then 3 points against the chavs in a couple of weeks. That's the minimum requirement.

[Marc Overmars]

Come on Arsenal.

Don't even think of cocking this one up.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Mustafi with the Scorpion clearance. :bow:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Poor first touch from Ramsey. :o

[Penguin]

Ramsey :doh:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Alexis blazes it over.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Alexis clears another one, with his head this time.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Goes in to Barnes but Cech was there.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Good strike from Özil, Heaton saves.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Iwobi strike, bobbles behind for another corner.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Koscielny header, straight at Heaton.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Cech saves from Barnes.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Ramsey. :rolleyes:

[Marc Overmars]

Open game. Burnley having a go.

[Globalgunner]

Ramsey. :rolleyes:

Technically, as poor as they come

[McNamara That Ghost...]

I don't like this short corner nonsense.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Great strike Bif. :haha:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Özil hits it again but well wide this time.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Xhaka is a nutter.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Iwobi is Hleb.

[Niall_Quinn]

Wonder why that's not a red for the hands laid on Xhaka? Our guys really need to start throwing themselves to the ground every time they are touched. Like Costa, when he got Gabriel sent off for the same thing.

[AFC Leveller]

Iwobi is Hleb.

Both do that annoying shinpads thing.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Gray shoots, Cech saves.

[AFC Leveller]

Starting Alexis up front would have given us something extra but instead Giroud is just sitting there looking to wrestle defenders.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Shot on target from Mustafi? :lol:

Bif went for the spectacular but didn't work this time. Ramsey with rabona cross for some reason.

[Power n Glory]

These refs are fucking shit.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Lowton doesn't get booked for that somehow.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Clearly came off Kos' head. :lol:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Not that we do anything with it anyway.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Unlucky Mesut.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Alexis hammers it, Heaton saves.

[Globalgunner]

God knows there is something wrong with this team. They are so much less than the sum of their parts.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Alexis clears another.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Cech's head got walloped again. :(

[McNamara That Ghost...]

0-0 HT.

Time wasting special from Burnley there.

[Marc Overmars]

Not great. Plenty of half chances but nothing to write home about.

Need to step it up. Quickly.

[Niall_Quinn]

HT 0-0

Even though that was a gigantic, steaming sack of shit, so awful it's almost impossible to watch - it was still a little better than recent weeks. There was a glimmer of a system there and the passing wasn't completely dire. Definite progress.

[AFC Leveller]

Need to win today, nothing else would do.

[Xhaka Can’t]

Come on Arsenal.

Don't even think of cocking this one up.

They are well capable without thinking.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

WTF was that Sainsbury's advert? :blink:

[Power n Glory]

45 minutes wasted. Chances but not enough quality chances. 2nd half we need a quick start otherwise the players will panic like they normally do.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Come on Arsenal.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Monreal strike, Heaton saves.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Ramsey rubberlegs at it again, twice.

[Marc Overmars]

Ramsey with a pub team scorpion

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Gah Alexis over again.

Iwobi though. :bow:

[Globalgunner]

Look likes Sanchez too is fast becoming bog Arsenal standard.

[Niall_Quinn]

Not enough passes in the box. We needed at least 20 more there.

[Niall_Quinn]

So that was red as well. But nothing given.

[The Dismantler]

If we don't get three points fro this match, Wenger has got tot goooooooooo!!! :censored::fury:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

No pel?

[Marc Overmars]

Looked like a penalty there

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Er, what?

[Niall_Quinn]

Dreadful dive by Mustafi. Good to see. At least we are playing on a level field now. Maybe the refs will catch up and start giving us the same sort of things they give Utd.

[Marc Overmars]

That's a penalty FFS

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Just wish Iwobi would hammer it, great run again.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Lowton booked?

[McNamara That Ghost...]

MUSTAFI!!!!!!

[Marc Overmars]

MUSTAFI!!!!

[The Dismantler]

Mustafiiiiiiiiii

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Marney shoots, Cech saves.

[Niall_Quinn]

Weird. The basic stuff has worked again. Cross the ball, get the header, goal. I'd have preferred to see another short cross there and a scorpion kick. Still, 1-0 will do.

[Globalgunner]

At last!. Now lets go for more

[Marc Overmars]

Go away Ramsey

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Ramsey needs to sort his life out.

[Niall_Quinn]

Look at that lazy bastard Giroud jogging 10 yards behind Ozil into the box.

[Marc Overmars]

Xhaka is a sloth

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Xhaka. :doh:

Sent off again.

[Marc Overmars]

Xhaka sent off :haha:

[Globalgunner]

Xhaka is psychotic

[Niall_Quinn]

Looked a dive to try and get Xhaka booked.

[Niall_Quinn]

Yep - the Xhaka rule is back.

[Marc Overmars]

Xhaka is a fucking idiot.

35m :haha:

[The Dismantler]

Fuck off refff

[Ernesto]

Red card all day long. What an idiot of a player we've signed there.

[Power n Glory]

Xhaka is a fucking idiot.

[Niall_Quinn]

Yep never touched him or if he did it was minimal. The delayed dive and scream was what drew the card. Excellent cheating. They are way better at it than our lot.

[Globalgunner]

Hopefully he takes off that turd Ramsey or the useless Giroud. But no. Its Iwobi. LOL!

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Iwobi off, Coquelin on.

[A Gunner]

Iwobi off
Coq on

[The Dismantler]

Wenger shoukd be on the touch line reorganising the team, than sitting on his boney ass on the bench :fury:

[Niall_Quinn]

And now Joey Barton is being readied :haha:

Great piss take.

[Niall_Quinn]

Iwobi was our best player today. Wenger is so mindless.

[Niall_Quinn]

Wenger shoukd be on the touch line reorganising the team, than sitting on his boney ass on the bench :fury:

He has reorganised it, unfortunately.

[Globalgunner]

And now Joey Barton is being readied :haha:

Great piss take.

sure fire to get Gabriel sent off

[Marc Overmars]

Long 20 mins now

[WMUG]

Hopefully he takes off that turd Ramsey or the useless Giroud. But no. Its Iwobi. LOL!

Why would you take off a midfielder if your midfielder has just been sent off.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Defour freekick, Cech tips it over.

[Niall_Quinn]

Xhaka actually played very well today, right up until he presented the ref with a golden opportunity to grab a headline. He has to learn that players in this league are very different types of cheat than the ones you get in Europe. In Europe the cheating is comical and obvious. Over here it's skilful, practised, very well timed and convincing.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Hendrick off, Barton on.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Marney booked.

[Niall_Quinn]

Barton :haha:

This will be a laugh.

[Niall_Quinn]

Fake injury. Guess they'll do the whole stretcher routine and then he'll bravely limp back on.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Marney off, Tarkowski on.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Defour off, Vokes on.

[Globalgunner]

The chap who created Samurai Jack is coming on to replace Marney

[Niall_Quinn]

Nope, to be fair, looks like a rare genuine injury. Inured himself fouling Ozil. "Good honest player", says the fake Niall Quinn.

[Niall_Quinn]

Gabriel :doh:

Finally a bit of movement, he gets the ball, stops, looks up, passes it backwards. FFS!

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Bit of a scramble. :lol:

[Marc Overmars]

Bloody hell

[The Dismantler]

Shoddy defence from arsenal :fury:

[Niall_Quinn]

Two deliberate elbows by the same player on the same player. Second red for Xhaka.

[Niall_Quinn]

LOL - ref warns US to get on with it. :haha:

[Globalgunner]

Giroud has been nothing but a passenger all game. get him off

[Niall_Quinn]

Bif's a donkey, he really is.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Bif gets the hook, Welbeck on.

[A Gunner]

Giroud off
Welbeck on

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Lowton relieves the pressure. :haha:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Özil off, Bellerin on.

[A Gunner]

Ozil off
Bellerin on

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Heaton saves from Coquelin.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Seven added minutes. :haha:

[Niall_Quinn]

Great ball by Coq - Welbeck should have done a lot better there.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Cech. :bow:

[Niall_Quinn]

Officials throw caution to the wind and add 7 minutes. Rather blatant but I think they'll get away with it.

[The Dismantler]

Where the hell did those seven minutes come from???? :censored:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Pelanty. :doh:

[Marc Overmars]

Penalty to Burnley :haha:

[McNamara That Ghost...]

1-1 Gray. Grim.

[Marc Overmars]

Absolutely pathetic

[Globalgunner]

typical. Arsenal

[Niall_Quinn]

Ref has been excellent. He's dragged Burnley back from a hopeless situation.

[Marc Overmars]

Well done Coq

[Power n Glory]

Well done Arsenal. Well done Wenger. Well done ref. Bravo.

[Marc Overmars]

WUMger sent off :haha:

[Niall_Quinn]

The Mustafi dive wasn't a pen either but it was much more of a pen than Moss's equaliser for Burnley.

[Niall_Quinn]

I think Moss is over-egging it now. He's not a very gracious winner.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

PELANTY!!

[Marc Overmars]

PENALTY!!!!!!

[A Gunner]

Penalty to us

[Marc Overmars]

I can't watch this shit.

:pray:

[Niall_Quinn]

PEN!

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Dyche getting upset at Kos getting kicked in the face.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

ALEXIS!!!!! COME ON!!!!

[A Gunner]

2 - 1 Alexis!!!

[Marc Overmars]

ALEXIS!!!!

COME ON!!!!

[Marc Overmars]

Panenka :haha:

Balls of steel

[A Gunner]

2 - 1 FT

[Niall_Quinn]

ALEXIS!

These 7 mins came right back to bite Moss in the arse.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Arsenal 2-1 Burnley, FT!!

:haha:

Jesus wept.

[Niall_Quinn]

Was never a pen btw. But then again, neither was the other one.

FT 2-1

The lino ended up nicking it from Moss with almost the last kick.

[Ernesto]

Wow!

[Niall_Quinn]

The penalty rule is NOT about making contact with an opponent. It's about fouling (not even obstructing but FOULING) the opponent. So it was not a foul on Mustafi because Mustafi went down all by himself. Same with the Burnley pen. No foul. And Kos ducked his head into the boot of a player who wasn't even aware he was there. No pen and certainly not a booking. Xhaka you could argue deserved a yellow for a ridiculously stupid attempt at a tackle. But so did the guy who wasn't touched and dived over screaming. That's called simulation. Vogts deserved 2 red for 2 deliberate elbows on Xhaka.

[AFC Leveller]

Alexis is so cool doing that at 97 minutes

[Niall_Quinn]

Amazing we are already 22 games through the season and approaching the final stretch. Crazy.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

Thought Coquelin's was a pen (as it was a foul) and the Burnley player should have got a yellow for diving at the same time, though clearly no ref will call it like that.

The argument being that, just because a player doesn't go down, doesn't mean he hasn't been fouled.

[Niall_Quinn]

Thought Coquelin's was a pen (as it was a foul) and the Burnley player should have got a yellow for diving at the same time, though clearly no ref will call it like that.

The argument being that, just because a player doesn't go down, doesn't mean he hasn't been fouled.

That's true. But equally, just because he goes down screaming and holding his face doesn't make it a chance for the ref to grab the headlines either. Possibly yes, the Coquelin pen was soft but maybe, perhaps, possibly a pen. Given what we've had waved away over the weeks and given that farcical decision yesterday that saw the spuds get away with it, given the reffing standard in general, it was incredibly harsh. The utterly incompetent ref and his useless gang of mates made up for it though when they awarded us a pen for nothing in the last min. But what will endure from this game is the idea Xhaka needs to be sent off all the time for doing shit others keep walking away from without a card of any colour.