Arsenal v Aston Villa All-in-one Thread (Match #272) (Post-match #993)

[olaftab]

Boys and girls just sat down near Finsbury park for an orange juice. All I have to say for now is  FANTASTIC! Have a good evening.

[Tuscans]

Wenger unhappy with the spirit the way the referee let the game go in!!!?? What, because we got in your face and tackled your poofy players!

first class TWAT

[Ads]

What a game! Worst possible start but we came back at them with Luma looking lethal going forwards.

I thought the keeper should have walked. Arsenal players were so petulant and lightweight.

I shouted myself horse in the second half. We put so much time into them, pressing and knocking them off the ball. Gabby sliced through Arsenal like they were Walsall.

Delph looked absolute class in the midfield, funny to see the DRS get used which showed the ball roll almost straight across the line.

The Goose made two cracking saves, but what a start!

[SashasGrandad]

I thought it was only the Baggies who know what they are?

Bottom 3 at the moment - hopefully they will stay there!

[ktvillan]

Chuffed to bits.

Delph is at last showing the promise I always thought he had and for once he didn't get a yellow.  MOM for me but special mentions for Gabby who caused them problems all day and won both pens, KEA who looked the business today, Guzan for some top saves, and Clark for a much steadier performance than usual.

Disappointed in Vlaar who was a liability and thought Weimann looked a little out of sorts until he played Luna in very nicely for his goal.  Luna dropped a couple of defensive bollocks first half but was generally pretty good against Walcott.

The ref was an odd one - could and probably should have given reds for both pens, then gave Koscielny a second yellow for what looked a fairly innocuous challenge.  And what the hell did he book Luna for when A O-C slid into him?
Brian Little seemed to think he gave every 50-50 to Villa - not sure about that and maybe BL was trying too hard to not show any bias towards Villa.

[peter w]

Guzan - 8 - Picked up where he left off last season.

Lowton - 6 - Quiet

Luna - 6 - For the goal. Poor defensively.

Clark - 7 - Thought he looked solid when he came on. Positionally very good also.

Vlaar - 7 - Got better as the game wore on.

KEA - 7 - Got around and did well

Delph - 7 - Another who got better as the game wore on. I think he'll be a very important player for us this year.

Westwood - 6 - Thought he found it tough today

Weimann - 7 - Poor first 50 nibutes but found his touch. Good through ball for Luna.

Gabby - 9 - His pace was a constant threat and got two pens. Worked hard in defence too.

Benteke - 8.99999 - didn't actually play that well!

85 mins gone and Arsenal got a corner. I was debating whether to turn off, over, or go upstairs so much were my nerves. Next thing its in the back of the Arsenal net!!! Compare this start to West ham lastseason. We look fitter and as if we're all playing to the same tactics. Result aside we looked good. Defensively there are still issues but it is the first game andArsenal are still a good team. We'll get quicker, fitter, and better this season.

I'd say Lowton was more at fault than Luna for the goal.

the 6 was for his goal.

[PeterWithesShin]

Twat!

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, whose side were booed at the final whistle, when the Emirates Stadium was near-empty: "We started well but, after that, everything went wrong - injuries, decisions, going down to 10 men and the chances missed. It was a bad day, not on the quality of our display but everything went against us.
"I'm not happy with the (second penalty) decision but I'm more unhappy with the spirit the referee let the game go in, I was quite amazed.
"But it's not my job to talk too much about that, I have to take care of the team. What hurts me is to disappoint people who love the club. All the rest I have to live with, but I'm here to make people happy and when I do not I can only say sorry and come back and make them happy in the next game. We could have won the game today with the players we had on the pitch, I'm convinced of that."

[Lizz]

Pretty sure Lambert praised the ref in his interview on BBC. Whatever, fantastic result.

[citizenDJ]

A very good win from whagt I thought was a really good performance. I felt before the match that it was a pretty strong Arsenal team we were up against, one who'll be capable of causing lots of teams problems. I worried they would batter our defenders, and after Vlaar's bollocks-up for their first goal I feared the worst.

But after that, I thought we were good value for the win, and the defence should be pretty pleased with themselves. Funnily enough it seemed the arrival of Clark settled them down, which I wouldn't have predicted. It's possibly going to be a season-defining decision, who our first choice centre-backs are, and at this point I wouldn't like to have to make it, although Vlaar is pushing his luck somewhat, in my opinion.

Benteke was relatively subdued, not quite his marauding self I thought, but still ended up with two goals, so you can't argue with that, really.

The midfield worked, and that was El Ahmadi's best performance for us by a mile. He was my Man of the Match, just beating out Delph and Agbolahor, and I sincerely hope he can maintain that level of performance. I'm quite a fan of Sylla, but El Ahmadi does seem capable of the odd touch of class which at this point Sylla lacks.

Agbonlahor was completely brilliant today, too, and deserved a goal for his efforts, not least his tracking back - he has a remarkable work ethic.

A very, very good result, and against a team that I thought were well capable of beating us. Impressive.

[Havencheese]

Watched with an Arsenal fan, he firmly believed the game turned on the Giroud miss that has been mentioned before.  He was very unhappy with the 2nd penalty  and red card.

Personally I thought we did exactly what you should do to beat Arsenal away.  we tried to get them passing it higher up the pitch and then steal in and break, in the 2nd half we nailed it and could easily have had 4 or 5 on the counter.

Delph, Gabby and Clark were excellent, everyone else played well other than Vlaar who looked a bit sluggish against Rosicky, but I really rate Rosicky so I'll let him off for today.

I hope you casually reminded him of the yellow their keeper received which should've been a dead set red.

I'm of the opinion that it was a borderline one, clear pen all day long but the touh just before it would've taken Gabby very wide, which is probably just enough for him to stay on the pitch.  To clarify, if it had been against us I'd have been upset over a red card so I'd have been a hypocrite to demand one at the other end.  He was lucky though.

Sounds fair enough, I was listening to the game and saw it on a GIF one of the posters here was good enough to post.

[Ian]

just got back from the game
What a result
What an atmosphere

This bodes very well        delighted

[PeterWithesShin]

Now everyone knows the magic words

Jack Wilshire: "We've got to pick ourselves up and go again."

[Tuscans]

just got back from the game
What a result
What an atmosphere

This bodes very well        delighted

Did you go by jet?

[Monty]

The second penalty reminded me a lot of the Roger Johnson penalty on Gabby a few years ago - the one about which Graham Poll said that it doesn't matter if you get the ball, because you have to be in control of the ball. Koscielny got a touch on the ball but if he hadn't brought down Gabby then he would have been through. Everybody's watching these super slowed-down replays of whether or not Koscielny got a touch on the ball, as if looking to whether or not a batsman nicked it, but it doesn't matter. Penalty - no question in my view.

[TopDeck113]

Can't ask for a better way to start the new season. So pleased.