The Arsenal Thread

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The fact is, the ball was going miles high & wide only for his raised arms, which did make his body bigger, to stop it and guide it goalwards, irregardless whether or not if it appeared intentional. If he just came out and admitted that it struck his arm but he didn't mean to, fair enough, but the fact he says he didn't feel the ball touch his hand at all (I mean, give me a break Laurent) and had no idea what happened after he swung a leg was complete nonsensical. If he can act that good in the post match interview, knowing full well that happened, then I wouldn't be so quick to rule out him having a fair idea what he was at in that moment of time... I mean, why exactly were his hands raised like that? What was he afraid of? It's not a bomb coming at him, it's a football, it's the 93rd minute of what should've been 2 minutes added on, you're 2-3 yards from goal, so why wouldn't he want it to hit his face/head? why was he protecting himself? I don't know, but I think it could've been possibly a very crafty little move from the French man, which will forever go down as a clumsy lucky goal.

That said, from a referee's perspective, one of the most difficult rules in the game to make a split second decision, but I just feel for Burnley, who recognised what they needed to do & deserved their point.
 
RhQQ said:
The fact is, the ball was going miles high & wide only for his raised arms, which did make his body bigger, to stop it and guide it goalwards, irregardless whether or not if it appeared intentional. If he just came out and admitted that it struck his arm but he didn't mean to, fair enough, but the fact he says he didn't feel the ball touch his hand at all (I mean, give me a break Laurent) and had no idea what happened after he swung a leg was complete nonsensical. If he can act that good in the post match interview, knowing full well that happened, then I wouldn't be so quick to rule out him having a fair idea what he was at in that moment of time... I mean, why exactly were his hands raised like that? What was he afraid of? It's not a bomb coming at him, it's a football, it's the 93rd minute of what should've been 2 minutes added on, you're 2-3 yards from goal, so why wouldn't he want it to hit his face/head? why was he protecting himself? I don't know, but I think it could've been possibly a very crafty little move from the French man, which will forever go down as a clumsy lucky goal.

That said, from a referee's perspective, one of the most difficult rules in the game to make a split second decision, but I just feel for Burnley, who recognised what they needed to do & deserved their point.
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This is literally absurd. Watch the goal again. He swung a random leg and had no clue where the ball was. You're telling me he deliberately handballed it in after hitting it from point blank range? Watch the goal again. Correct me if I'm remembering correctly but the fastest recorded reaction time was a tenth of a second and that would be literally impossible to handball. He was totally unaware of where the ball was when it crossed the line. Apart from that, when have you ever seen Laurent Koscielny engage in dirty play? I've never seen him lose his head, kick out or engage in dirty play once in his Arsenal career. Besides, why would you take the risk to handball an open goal from a yard out? You can't tell me the dirtiest player would try and handball it from there?

Anyway let's look at whether the goal should have stood and whether we're lucky. The rules state that a handball is given if the contact is deliberate. Was it deliberate? Unless Koscielny deliberately decided to smash the ball to his hand from his yard out and correctly calculate the correct angle with some of the fastest reflex times ever recorded then it was deliberate. It clearly isn't deliberate so the goal should have stood. Replays show that Koscielny kicked the ball therefore, it wasn't offside.

Were we lucky? Of course we were. When we talk about luck, we say a favourable outcome from a scenario with unfavourable odds and little to no influence on the outcome is lucky. Let me say:
1) Intelligent and composed play to take advantage of the short corner to create a favourable angle for Cazorla's cross and drag Burnley defenders out of the box especially due to the frantic time of the game.
2) Smart header by Walcott to create the chance.
3) The majority of outcomes in this scenario would have led to most referees disallowing the goal. This is how we were lucky.

The rules have been applied correctly and there's no need to complain. Nobody is going to care about this game come may. Burnley defended well but these are games you need to win.
 
Scouseinthehouse said:
Arsenal take a European place or better by a point or Burnley go down by a point you can bet your *** they will!
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That's surely has to be a stupid comment to make. Almost every relegation battle in premier league history has been decided on the final day. Also title races are very close unless a team runs away with it. How does a team run away with it? Being more consistent than other teams. You can remember this first-hand in the past few years. City won the title on the last day of the season due to goal difference. Don't you think Sir Alex would have been thinking 'hmm I wish I had those two points dropped earlier in the season'. Same with the Gerrard slip. Liverpool needed a point but that goal changed the dynamic of that game and the season. Had you gotten a different result, you would have won the league. Here's were I give a shout out for the unsung hero Brendan because Liverpool were an aspiring Europa league team before he came in.

I read a stat the other day of how the top 7 (City, Tottenham, Arsenal, Pool, Everton, United and Chelsea) had dropped the least points against teams outside the each other at this stage in premier league history. These teams had a 21-1-2 record against the rest of the league going into the weekend. The title race will be close and to say that the points don't matter is absurd. If we had failed to win, we would have been 4 points behind City and a large psychological blow would have been dealt which would inevitably change the outcome of our season.
 
damola3 said:
That's surely has to be a stupid comment to make......
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Aside from the above having little to do with the quote of yours I responded to, many would say not half as stupid as trying to rationally defend a goal that should never of stood.

Instead of just holding your hands up, and saying 'Fair does. We dodged one and benefited from a goal that should never of been. That's football. **** happens. It'll invariably even itself out over the season' and move on.

You'd find you'd have a far better response and get more people to listen to you if you were just honest. Although I genuinely believe you do believe you're being honest. However dogmatic (and wrong to anyone not Arsenal centric) your view is.

But I'm through debating a game that's already in the books so have at it with someone else.
 
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Scouseinthehouse said:
Aside from the above having little to do with the quote of yours I responded to, many would say not half as stupid as trying to rationally defend a goal that should never of stood.

Instead of just holding your hands up, and saying 'Fair does. We dodged one and benefited from a goal that should never of been. That's football. **** happens. It'll invariably even itself out over the season' and move on.

You'd find you'd have a far better response and get more people to listen to you if you were just honest. Although I genuinely believe you do believe you're being honest. However dogmatic (and wrong to anyone not Arsenal centric) your view is.

But I'm through debating a game that's already in the books so have at it with someone else.
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My point is that points make the difference. The goal should have stood as the handball wasn't deliberate. We dodged a bullet and got very lucky but according to the rules, it should have stood. By that logic, if a defender has the ball smashed against their hand in the penalty area, it's a penalty. Don't think I agree with this because I support Arsenal. Those are literally the rules of the game.
 
For the second successive round of International matches, I'm currently watching the German U-21's for my new German obsession Dahoud. (Who's completely bossing the game again. He'll fit nicely into the squad if Jurgen choses to pursue him.). And I'm left scratching my head again as to just why you never gave Serge Gnabry a chance? I appreciate injury's never helped him, but he looks a heck of promising talent out the left wing.

Given Wenger's want for developing and playing youth, it just seems real strange that you've let this boy get away through lack of chances. (Admittedly without knowing what, if any, the back story was with him at Arsenal.).
 
Scouseinthehouse said:
For the second successive round of International matches, I'm currently watching the German U-21's for my new German obsession Dahoud. (Who's completely bossing the game again. He'll fit nicely into the squad if Jurgen choses to pursue him.). And I'm left scratching my head again as to just why you never gave Serge Gnabry a chance? I appreciate injury's never helped him, but he looks a heck of promising talent out the left wing.

Given Wenger's want for developing and playing youth, it just seems real strange that you've let this boy get away through lack of chances. (Admittedly without knowing what, if any, the back story was with him at Arsenal.).
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He was in the last year of his contract and Wenger did want to keep him. He did have a chance. He was starting games 2 years ago until a knee injury ended his season. Remember him scoring vs Swansea 2 years ago? We are also kinda stacked in his position so it kind of made sense to let him go.
 
damola3 said:
He was in the last year of his contract and Wenger did want to keep him. He did have a chance. He was starting games 2 years ago until a knee injury ended his season. Remember him scoring vs Swansea 2 years ago? We are also kinda stacked in his position so it kind of made sense to let him go.
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Wenger wanted to keep him but he left by his own admission as he didn't feel he would get the opportunity's at Arsenal.

You've let a real good youngster walk there.
 
damola3 said:
He is good but not as good as Alex Iwobi.
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Wouldn't know but from what Ive seen on International duty this year Gnabry is legit.

I'd be personally disappointed to see him leaving the club with his whole career ahead of him put it that way.

But each to their own.
 
Scouseinthehouse said:
Wouldn't know but from what Ive seen on International duty this year Gnabry is legit.

I'd be personally disappointed to see him leaving the club with his whole career ahead of him put it that way.

But each to their own.
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Yeah it's always disappointing to see a good prospect leave, but to be honest if you are a big club you can't give enough time for everyone and some will slip through. Iwobi is by far better prospect and is already consistently good player for us at 20-years while Gnabry had bad luck with injuries and bad loan at WBA last season.

I think he has started well at Hertha and will get better, but I'm happy with Iwobi and only hope Gnabry has a good career.
 
Anyone frustrated about how we ease off teams and fail to kill the opponent off? Sunderland were so poor today that the 3 goals were easy after going 1-1. Imagine what a relentless team like Liverpool would do to them!
 
damola3 said:
Anyone frustrated about how we ease off teams and fail to kill the opponent off? Sunderland were so poor today that the 3 goals were easy after going 1-1.! Imagine what a relentless team like Liverpool would do to them!
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Sounds churlish being we're joint top scorers the league but we've left a lot of goals on the field this season to be fair. Hull springs to mind as one where you thought we could do some SERIOUS damage the goal difference. But the second half we got complacent and settled for 5. Much to Klopp's angst. Not up to firing on all cylinders yet.

I hear yer on the frustration against such a poor Sunderland side you were in such control of. But 4 away from home isn't to be sniffed at.
 
Scouseinthehouse said:
Sounds churlish being we're joint top scorers the league but we've left a lot of goals on the field this season to be fair. Hull springs to mind as one where you thought we could do some SERIOUS damage the goal difference. But the second half we got complacent and settled for 5. Much to Klopp's angst. Not up to firing on all cylinders yet.

I hear yer on the frustration against such a poor Sunderland side you were in such control of. But 4 away from home isn't to be sniffed at.
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When we go 2-3 goals up, we usually shut down and go easy. I'd say Liverpool under Klopp are much more ruthless and relentless.
 
damola3 said:
When we go 2-3 goals up, we usually shut down and go easy. I'd say Liverpool under Klopp are much more ruthless and relentless.
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Oh, no question. Klopp the majority of the time is wanting more and more goals right up until the final whistle.

Just saying we've actually left a lot of goals on the pitch to date this season.
 
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