Amen to that. They're playing now reminds me of the level they used to play when i started supporting them in the first place about 15 yrs ago. Great to see.sachmoney said:It's nice to ease the seat back and actually enjoy football.
Pretty sure it's less than seven score.mikeford said:Theo out another fortnight. Don't know what a fortnight is.
ifmanis5 said:Pretty sure it's less than seven score.
Dummy Hoy said:I dislike Arsenal as much as anyone, but that was a gorgeous display they put on yesterday. Cheers to that.
mikeford said:Don't know what a fortnight is.
No relation.mikeford said:No Flamoney for Dortmund. Doctor won't clear him by then.
Hard to take positives out of that match, but even with the 4 goals which Ruddy was really helpless to do anything about, I thought he had a good game. Arsenal had 11 shots on target. He did a good job either grabbing the shots or perrying it well off to the side (do we call it rebound control in soccer too?). Arsenal was following up on shots (I think blood was smelled) and I thought Ruddy did a good job of keeping that game from getting uglier.Smiling Joe Hesketh said:
Not from my POV.
Oof.
ConigliarosPotential said:As someone who just sat his exam to become a qualified SFA referee, I should point out that one of the Interpretations of Law 12 (toward the back of the rulebook) includes a list of "circumstances referees should consider when deciding whether to send off a player for denying a goal or an obvious goalscoring opportunity" - the first of those bullets being "the distance between the offence and the goal". Mark Halsey, commentating on the game for BT Sport, said that he thought it should have been a yellow card primarily because of the distance from the goal; that's how I saw it too, also in part because there was another defender tracking back who *might* have caught Chamakh by the time he reached the penalty area. But I think the sending off was defensible.
sachmoney said:I didn't see this game, so I really have no comment on it. I just want to know if we're brushing this one under the rug too.
mikeford said:What's the Welsh word for god?
Aaron Ramsey.
soxfan121 said:
Way too many vowels for a Welsh word. It's probably something like Ghzjtlwmrvqdfpnbt.
I can understand the logic behind playing Arteta and Flamini against big teams away from home, which means Ramsey on the wing, but the squad selection just played into United's hands given their midfield pairing of Jones with Carrick. That's a recipe for a midfield stalemate and, in that kind of game with few chances, you have to like the team with the better finishers up front, which is obviously United. The other problem that we've seen previously but reared its head again is that, with Cazorla back, you already have one "wide" player who wants to operate inside and when you have Ramsey doing the same on the other "wing" then the only way that the team gets width is by Ozil adjusting and moving outside, which is great in some ways but really decreases his capacity to influence the game. I'm looking forward to seeing how Arsenal look when they can put either Walcott or Podolski wide right, which should open up more space for Ozil, and keep Ramsey playing central in the double pivot.mikeford said:They gotta stop wasting Ramsey on the wing. He's never effective out wide.
SidelineCameras said:On a different note, I didn't like leaving in Szczesny after he was knocked out. I called out Spurs for leaving in Lloris last week, it would be hypocritical of me not to do the same for Arsenal.
I understand that with substitution rules, soccer can never have the same policy towards potential concussions like the NHL's quiet room. I understand that taking a keeper out is a major, game changing action. But that looked like a solid hit, and when the stretcher comes out and a player is knocked out for any length of time, it may be time for mandatory substitutions (Probably will never happen barring a major tragedy). At the very least maybe keepers should all wear the same type of headgear that Cech does.
OilCanShotTupac said:
I can't imagine that Cech's headgear helps that much.
At least they didnt send off De Gea for breaking Vidic in half? :lol:Zomp said:I still don't understand how it was a card for Jones.