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

[villa kicks]

I take Vlaar and Baker with Luna and Lowton.
Westwood El Ahmadi Delph
Weimann Agbonlahor Benteke


And Gabby and Weimann 5/1 anytime and for them to score 2 or more is 60/1 are you kidding !!

I'm that confident Villa will win this tie I wont post for a month if they dont!!  In fact they could well be highest scoring team of weekend and 100/1 I love it !!
  I put my balls on line and say Villa will win 2-4! I be there in the arsenal end !! come on the villa boys!!

I think it was just lovely and a deserved and expected 2 goal margin victory. It was tricky siting with arsenal mates but all the ore enjoyable!! What I enjoyed was the fact going a goal down the lads didnt sink and at 2-1 unlike last season we held on. Taylor the ref was right in most of his decisons and Gabby and Delph best players. El Ahamdi also was high in his work rate and efforts!! UTV!!

[saunders_heroes]

When I watched Villa in Dublin I was really disappointed with Luna but he had a great debut yesterday. I barely noticed Walcott all day, and that says it all really. And then there was that goal...
Great stuff.

[midnite]

Typical Wenger trying to deflect the issues away from the team by blaming the refs decisions.

It may have been a controversial penalty but it was a penalty. I would have felt hard done by if it was against us but it was still a pen. The decisions evened out over the game. Their keeper shouldn't have been on the pitch. Luna shouldn't have been booked with the chambelin challenge either so Wenger doesn't really have much to moan about.

They have some serious problems. Not spending again is proving their downfall. Top 6-8 finish for them at this rate.

Villa weren't without their own problems for sure. But on the whole they looked a much more organised team. KEA and Delph had good games in midfield. Gabby was just brilliant. That ball he played towards the end from one side of the pitch to the other, for bacuna I think it was, was just superb. Pass of the day that was.

I think it was a good call from lambert too not to throw all the new signings in at once. Get them up to speed with the game and bring them in one by one.

Liking lamberts new suited look too. Looking like a manager now

Bloody love him, best thing to happen to our club in many many years.

[frank]

I'm abroad at the moment so gave my ticket to Detlef from the German Villans.  He writes: "I've seen a few things in football in my time [he's 60], but the atmosphere at the Emirates yesterday,  surrounded by the Villa fans, was unbeatable.  When Villa scored the crowd went crazy, and after the game the players threw us their shirts. "

[Deano's Mullet]

Great result. I woke up Saturday morning thinking it might be our day, of all the games vs the "big boys" this always looked the least daunting - and we have a good record of wins at the Emirates anyway. Great start and nice to have some points to cushion us if the next two games are miserable.

[Monty]

Getting back to today, am I the only person that didn't think we looked particularly impressive?

We certainly weren't bad but we didn't seem hugely incisive up front for most of the game (in spite of his two goals I thought Benteke was very quiet and a bit wasteful when he did have the ball) and we still looked pretty ropey at the back quite a few times.

This is all very positive, because it we didn't need to be at our best and still won 3-1 away to Arsenal then it's a very good sign, but I'd be amazed if we don't have a couple of games this season where we play better than today and lose.

I am with you on that Dave. I thought Weimann looked really out of sorts, Benteke was not really a threat and Westwood was quite out of the game strangely. Overall I thought we played much better at times towards the back of last season. But then with Bacuna going through at the end we could have ended up winning 4-1! Strange. But I will take it!

Agreed, I thought the same. Arsenal were poor as well though, which helped. I'm excited to see us at our best if that was us underperforming though - we're in for some season, and it's a testament to the players that they can get a win even when not playing particularly well.

[Clampy]

Super win for us, looks like we caught Arsenal just at the right time. I feared the worst when we went a goal down so early because we barely saw the ball in the first 10 minutes. I thought both pens were spot on although we got lucky with Vlaar not being sent off. Delph and Guzan were very very good and I thought Rosicky was their best player by a mile.

Oh and the support was amazing again.

[olaftab]

A few thoughts before having seen the highlights.

Did Tekkers deliberately miss so that he wouldn't have "(Pen)" after his first goal of the season ?

This is what I said to people around me. All I will say is he does what he wants and he scores when he wants!

[Deano's Mullet]

Our third win there in the last 6 seasons plus a couple of draws - only think we've lost there twice yet they still treat it as how Arsenal lost the game as opposed to how Villa won it.Still, rather have the points than the plaudits. Any one get any parallels/deja vu from 88? Hot striker puts Arsenal to the sword (McInally/Benteke), unfancied early win after relegation battle (1988/2013) and halved/quartered away kit.

[eastie]

Super win for us, looks like we caught Arsenal just at the right time. I feared the worst when we went a goal down so early because we barely saw the ball in the first 10 minutes. I thought both pens were spot on although we got lucky with Vlaar not being sent off. Delph and Guzan were very very good and I thought Rosicky was their best player by a mile.

Oh and the support was amazing again.

Totally agree with that although i though all the team were superb and even Clark looked good when he came on , last season i was critical of kea but yesterday he was very good and hopefully he will continue in that way - with sylla and other midfield options there is competition for places and the lads will have to perform to keep their place .

It really was a dream start to the season and hugely enjoyable.

[Ron Manager]

Shearer got it right. I certainly didnt see what he saw. I was positive that pen shouldnt have been given.Top player and it would appear top analyst.

[supertom]

Arse fans love a good gripe, which is why it surprises me they've been as patient as they have with Wenger over the last 7-8 years. We were more than good value for the win yesterday.
Arsenal only ended up having 4 shots on target. That's not good enough for a club aspiring to be title challengers (which they expect every year) on their own turf. The Arsenal of 10 years ago, going 1 up like they did would have kept going in full gear and tried to kill us off by half time. They slipped off the gas yesterday after their goal, while we were look all over the place at the back, and we got back into the game brilliantly.

Just looking at Arse, they need to mix it up a bit. Chamberlain and Walcott in the same side doesn't work. Both too similar. Likewise Ramsey and Wiltshire were offering exactly the same thing. Both sat deep and kept moving the ball sideways with the odd ball forward. You only need one deep lying mid like that. Giroud is a good striker, but he's the sort of forward who shines at a midtable club. He's not top level. He's not a forward you have in a side pushing for a title. On the bench maybe, but not as your main focal point.
Wenger dropped a bollock by procrastinating so long over the Higuain deal. He looked all set to be an Arsenal player at one point. At 1-1, him going through clear in the box and it's a different story IMO. He can't keep missing out on deals for the sake of a few mill, or taking his sweet time.

They need a top keeper. They need a new Viera and they need a top center forward. As for Suarez, why move to Arsenal? Liverpool look a more well balanced side, and Rodgers is starting to get it right now. Liverpool should be poaching Arsenals better players, and not vice-versa. No chance that Luis will go to the Gunners. It's a sidewards step, and who knows, maybe even a downward one at this point.

We look very much a team on the way up too. Even though some are saying we weren't at our best, to put it in perspective, we're playing away from home against a top 4 side. To not be at our best and still win convincingly is quite a feat. I think we'll surprise a few people this season, not least ourselves.

[Mazrim]

Not sure why I keep hearing that Vlaar should have been sent off. I think there's a danger of people calling for or expecting cards after every foul. He attempted a tackle, missed and made contact with the player. There was no raised foot, no body check, no malice or unreasonable force. Why then should it have been a yellow card?

[Clampy]

Not sure why I keep hearing that Vlaar should have been sent off. I think there's a danger of people calling for or expecting cards after every foul. He attempted a tackle, missed and made contact with the player. There was no raised foot, no body check, no malice or unreasonable force. Why then should it have been a yellow card?

I think he's said himself he was lucky to stay on the pitch. The way the ref was flashing his cards round yesterday, he could well have gone.

[silhillvilla]

Am I the only one to awake this fine morn with the mother of all hangovers .