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Wojciech Szczesny has been revelling in his first clean sheet since 1994 after the Gunners managed to keep Tony Pulis’ clodhopping squad of bin-juice drinking bandits from scoring at the Emirates on Saturday.
Reflecting on a game which mostly involved him watching from afar as Ryan Shawcross booted the ball onto the head of Peter Crouch or Per Mertesacker, the Pole in goal underlined how much he felt Arsenal deserved their 1-0 win.
“I thought we dominated the game from start to finish and deserved the victory,” he told Arsenal Player.
“Their goalkeeper, who has been outstanding this season, was man of the match and that shows the [scoreline] should have been higher. But we will take the victory and we’re happy with it.
“When Stoke come to the Emirates, you know they will play long ball and will not create a lot of chances. But it is all about winning the first and second balls at the back and we did that.
“We dominated Crouch and Walters so they never got going. They never had a chance to get anywhere near me.
“It was vital for us to keep a clean sheet because we hadn’t kept one for quite a few games. I am quite happy with it, and we didn’t really concede many chances, which is a positive. I hope we can repeat that next week [away at Sunderland].”
Mikel Arteta, who was the apparent target of the lamest attempted punch ever thrown, added that the victory was all the more sweet having been accomplished by a much rotated squad.
Back in the first team after a spell sidelined with an ankle problem the Spaniard highlighted that it was important for the likes of Lukas Podolski and Santi Cazorla to have a breather after starting the match on the bench.
“You have to do that [rotate],” said the lego-haired midfielder. “I think Santi’s played a lot of games, as I did before I got injured. The last thing you want is [him injured] for a few weeks, [especially] now important games are coming up.
“He [Wenger] decided to leave him on the bench. He came on to help us win the game and that shows that the players can be changed, that we can rotate the team, and that we have a powerful squad.”
That squad should be strengthened ahead of next week by the re-introduction of Gervinho (heh!). Despite performing impressively for the Ivory Coast during the group stages of the the AFCON in South Africa, the winger wasn’t able to deliver on his promise of retribution for last year’s heartbreak as he and his countrymen crashed out to Nigeria in the quarter-final stage.
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“He gurns when he wants, he gurns when he waaaants,, Ryan Shawcross, he gurns when he wants.”
Best chant of the weekend by far.
I also loved “One nil to the football team”.
Another thing I love is Szczesny’s confidence. He might be a bit overconfident, and his decision making isn’t always the best, but I’m damn glad he believes in himself and the team. Someone has to, at least.
You know what you are, you know what you are – Ryan Shawcross, you know what you are!
I wish he had some consistency to go with his confidence but yeah ‘confident and inconsistent’ is still better than ‘edgy and inconsistent’
In fairness Szcz is a very young keeper, his decision can only improve with experience. Cant fault his dedication or his love for the club. Could be one of the worlds best yet
I hope Gervinho improved his form so we can rotate more. Never really understood why we didn’t in the first part of the season when Diaby was fit.
I think Diaby lasted only a few games before getting injured, so ther was little point rotating at the beginning of the season.
I thought Diaby was very impressive at the beginning of the season with Cazorla and Arteta.
If only he can have a good run of games, if we can get skunk to play a full season then hopefully Diaby will get a chance soon.
Diaby played well against stoke. Some good skill and movement
@Remember the invincibles…..
See how a simple comment still got you thumb downs? You should consider a name change. Just saying, mate.
“Pictures, tony pulis cock munching rabbit fucker”
All I can say to that is that if I do have to die laughing, that’s the sort of laughing I want to die of.
Stoke fucks, fuck off and stop giving the(1) nil shit bastards cunt fucks wanker cock suckers pulis grape suckers. Cunts!!!!!
Chill kid!!
Btw i am only 14 :p
Our squad is not too bad at all. As blogs has pointed out before though, we don’t really have any effective subs to call upon usually. And that’s an issue. Still certain we’ll finish in the top four though above shitty sp*rs
Fair point, it was really when Walcott wasn’t playing we had a very good option off the bench, hopefully lucks on our side and our squad gets better and builds on the last two performances.
Rosicky, Ox, Gervinho, Ramsey is still not a bad bench and each are very different form the next. Its just form is the issue, but our first team should be giving them a good platform to come to in games, much like the good old days.
Not many subs, from all teams, change games much these days I think.
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nice team
Slightly ridiculous to change half of our starting line up as soon as we get a bit of rhythm going but to be fair I would love to get Jovetic. I think he’s a fairly reasonable target at 20-25m, great option up front and works his socks off.
Monreal makes it into you’re fantasy football team after 1 game?
Next year we have to be at least 20 points better if we are going to challenge. We all know we need top top top players coming in. If we do spend the cash you would expect them to get in the team. Maybe the team will look like this. And for sure the team will be more solid for it
I am actually looking forward to Gervinho’s contribution for the rest of the season.
He was scoring well at the beginning of the season and I think he will do so again.
He is quick and direct and, ‘scores when he wants,’ – no seriously! he just doesn’t like to do it a lot.
It seems there is less pressure on him now that our other forwards are scoring and providing (and because no one expects much from him) therefore he can just focus on his game.
I don’t think he responds well to having all the pressure on him, as well as a few demons but now he is back and he can just play, Theo has been through the same thing and has shown that you can shake off bad form and labels.
At the very worst he can be a good utility player for us and offer other players much needed rest.
Doubt if Gervinho will ever make a consistent contribution. He has bad decision making, panics with an open goal and is too selfish with the ball. he is another one who should sit on the side lines for a while until he is sold again.
I hope he improves, but, sadly, I’m with you on this one, Bruce. He is just so painfully wasteful in possession it’s unreal.
I think he’s a good player, but he’s just not that well suited to the Arsenal style. He doesn’t seem to be able to do one touch stuff (well), which means that when the ball is being switched around, it sticks to him and then he often loses it.
He could probably do better at another prem side, but I can’t be arsed speculating which side that would be…
Unless he’s just not suited to the Premiership?
Having said that, I hope he sorts it out. An onfire Gervinho really would be LANS!!
X
I for one am hoping that Gervinho will come back with a bit of confidence after the African Cup of Nations, and that he gets the benefit of a doubt when played. The way people have been treating Ramsey is appalling, and in no way does that help the team. The case of Santos is a bit different, but I’m guessing we will be trying to get rid of him in the summer (but who will take him?). If not, hopefully he can return to the form that played him into the Brasilian national team.
And I’m not really blaming people for booing or being angry after and during games, but I think football fans should take a deep breath time and again and support the players.
Well said.
Agreed. Gervy hasn’t got the greatest striking technique but he just needs a little confidence… and some starch in those spaghetti legs
“It was vital for us to keep a clean sheet because we hadn’t kept one for quite a few games”
Bit of an understatement, eh?
Lily, don’t be silly!!
I too feel comfortable with our squad and our bench. I’ll never understand, when Sir Red Nose starts bench players or plays someone out of position it’s a brilliant move to rotate his squad and make it more versatile. When Wenger does it it is a sign of desperation.
They didnt get near you becasue they are sh*t
You soft southern shandy drinking gooners make me sick. Arseblogger, I challenge you to meet me in the changing room shower for a good old game of soggy biscuit! We will see who the bin drinker is then won’t we ha ha!! And I predict, I will be arsenal manager within 2 years a ha ha ha!!
Pubis*
cunt*
See Michael Owen got away with his punch… (if you can call it that).
So I assume now, if that’s acceptable, when Man United come to town in a few weeks if (lets say) Vermaelen decides to chin van Persie then that will be ok too?
Nah thought not.
Fucking bent FA cunts.
I am glad Owen got away with it.. Because FA would have to balance it and give wilshere the same punishment for raising his hands.
Wilshere is important to us and we can’t afford to have him off for 3 games whereas Owen is not important to anyone.
Hes also important to England. So its obvious they wouldn’t charge him (owen) because, as said above, Jack would have got banned too.
So the point stands, the F.A is bent. ( Team/manager bias etc)
l think the FA were right not to charge Owen, it would have sent out quite the wrong message to youngsters. They might have thought that’s how you’re supposed to punch.
I’m all for supporting the players no matter what as long as they are Arsenal players and I hope Gervinho finds some form, but he is a curious player. His technique is just so radical in terms of crossing and shooting, he never looks set, off balance a lot.
Invariably he does beat his man but tends to cut back on himself and then loses his advantage, he badly needs to work on shooting and crossing, it is the least he should be expected to do as a wide player. I feel this is make or break for him between now and the end of the season, the Ox and Poldi are certainly ahead of him and Walcott is streets ahead in terms of quality of balls and goal scoring.
I really hope he hits form as we need depth in the squad..
And I’ve seen nothing said of that nuckle dragging left backs double smack in walcotts face and no ones comdemning mummys boy for his studs upper on Kos.
The only way to get rid of the way Stoke play is for teams to win against them. The more they win against them, the more they will see the style of play no longer works, so no-one will employ it anymore.
Pubis was saying that their style is borne out of necessity as they don’t have huge resources. But, neither do Swansea though and they don’t resort to thuggery and can play a bit too.
Poor excuse.
I won’t be suprised if gervinho doesn’t get in team unless any of the front 3 is injured or needs rest..
We’ve gotta rest people occasionally, yeah? Gerv is set for those situations.
Just had a look at what the Stoke blogs were saying. Makes you realise how lucky we are to have Arseblog.
It reads…
PRIDE INTACT
ARSENAL 1 STOKE CITY 0
Arsenal were made to look distinctly ordinary on Saturday,made to work very hard for their win.The stubborness,resilience, and above all organisation had returned to the defensive side of our game.True we we were indebted to Begovic for a further selection of fine reflex saves,and we hardly showed going forward.
The home fans had to wait until the 78th minute for their winner,which had good fortune attaching to it.A rash challenge by Wilkinson on the edge of our penalty box was punished with a free kick. Podolski took it,drove the ball at our defensive wall.It struck Cameron’s leg,deflecting straight into our net.
Reading the Arsenal players faces….relief was all that I saw.And afterwards less than grudging praise from Mr.Wenger…quite a surprise that.
I like the fact there is no mention of their negativity or any aspiration to win the game or even play football, or no mention of the Shawcross challenge or Owen punch. If that performance instills pride then they deserve Pubis.
They don’t mention it because they’re all knuckle-dragging fuckwits like their team and manager.
I’m fairly certain the away fans heckled and/or booed Ramsey when he came on as a substitute on Saturday, a man who had the audacity to have his leg broken by the inexcusable mummy’s boy Shawcross. Q.E.D.
But it was good to see the home fans cheer for Ramsey when he came on!!!
I like the way they sort of contradicted themselves saying they were resilient yet Begovic was forced to make a ton of reflex saves. If they were so resilient the ball wouldn’t have gotten that far and their keeper wouldn’t have been man of the match. Begovic did the unthinkable and polished a turd. It should have been at least 4-0.
I know, they could have lost by 3 or 4 had it not been for the Keeper. I don’t think they can bear to give any credit to The Arsenal whatsoever. I find it quite funny how they are the complete polar opposite to everything we stand for.
Im sure being a spectator all game having nothing to do must’ve been boring for Shezzers, especially since almost the whole match was played in Stoke’s half. I guess the home fan’s chants kept him entertained though. Ryan Shawcross you know what you are!
Just read an article from uefa about this FFP.. Sounds like they serious.. Even investigating clubs with “suspect sponsorship deals” like city’s 1.. But it’s all hearsay at the moment.. Will see next season how serious these guys are..
Could be kind of hard to prove that in a court, the sponsor deals. There is a lot of ways around the FFP, it will not benefit arsenal at all, it’s just something Wenger and the board have as an excuse for not spending enough money to achieve success on the pitch.
Prove or not prove, if the pressure is real companies sponsoring will not like the bad press, Tiger Woods and Armstrong etc. They may get around it in court but damage can be done.
Much like the investigation into FIFA, Blatter got around it but he left his microscopic reputation behind in doing so.
Although there is PR involved when Arsenal do push FFP, the truth is that we will definitely be better off if it was here.
If they implement it it would be great. If they cant because of loopholes (which Wenger fears of) than I hope the very least it will do is create an unofficial standard which clubs adhere to. Highly unlikely but the way media cream themselves over signings and extortionate transfer fees these clubs get away with it. Sky parade the total spent in each window like something to be proud of.
When will just football be the main draw to the game again?
The similarities are uncanny. Now we know, without a doubt, that Pubis stood model for the goblin king in The Hobbit.
http://rlv.zcache.com/goblin_king_concept_card-p137363164177961814en8bb_216.jpg
Does anyone else think that Pulis and Shawcross look like Igor and Frankenstein’s monster?
Did Shezza give this interview during the game???
“Tony Pulis’ clodhopping squad of bin-juice drinking bandits ”
Love it!
Keep up the good work sir!
Gervinho can still make it at arsenal. Won two man of the match awards during their AFCON matches. He just needs 2 find that form in the red andd white jersey. Remember reading a tweet on bbc which said ” arsenal gervinho = peter parker….Ivory coast gervinho = spiderman!”. I think that sums it all up!