Oh, Such a Perfect Day! Arsenal v Spuds – A Supporter’s Experience

51 thoughts on “Oh, Such a Perfect Day! Arsenal v Spuds – A Supporter’s Experience”

• Thanks Kev for an excellent personal report on the starters, main course and pudding of this fabulous win over the arch enemy. I travelled with you all the way.

  These sort of days are just fabulous and I am glad that you witnessed such an emphatic win.

  So good to hear the atmosphere has changed dramatically and that Xhaka did not get the blame for the pen give away. So many of our players did not shine in glory, from Saka, Partey to Big Gab. But setbacks just happen and then it is all about re-finding our belief and form, and oh did the boys and manager do that.

• Great stuff, Kev. A day with your son, three points, domination of a NLD, top of the league, grandkids, a ruby to top it all off. A bit of Heaven on Earth.
  I love a redemption story and Granit seems to be writing one. His unfortunate clanger in our box adds to the growing appreciation for the wisdom of unleashing him further forward where he is absolutely thriving. His goal was superbly taken, and another of his efforts along with Thomas’s goal and a shot by Kieran showed how dangerous our lads are from outside of the box.
  I agree with you Kev, that Tottenham have a superb front three but I wouldn’t swop Bukayu and the two Gab’s for them. I loved the way Richarlison was schooled by our Brazilian boys, I’m sure Tito was watching and will be doing some hard thinking.
  You have a ticket for the City game? I watched them this morning as they destroyed their neighbours. They do look good enough for their second place on the table. Long may they keep it.

• COYG!!!
  Pool next.»

• I am working away in Saudi Arabia and it was so nice to read that report as it reminded me of the good times and being back in london. It sounds like the atmosphere and excitement of when Henry, Freddie and Pires were around and that makes me very, very happy. We are starting to get our old arsenal back and the fear factor for the other teams is now in full effect. I did not watch the game as was working but the highlights showed me just how important saliba has become in such a short amount of time, we need to sign this boy to a very long deal.

• Wonderful Kev. You are a lucky person. Iam currently driving to London but to attend a whole day meeting and not to watch my beloved Arsenal
  Such is life, Kev gets everything and I have to attend a meeting in London 😂.
  What a win though still basking. Wish I could wear my Arsenal jacket to the meeting.

• I’m considering filing a perjury complaint for the “tea” moment in the NLUB, but otherwise a true “fly on the emirates walls” experience; thanks a lot, mate.
  What a reward for Granit’s bravery, loyalty, and … talent such a season is; the urchins around him (I like these moments when he orders them to huddle up after a goal, so they might keep a – relatively – cool head) have rejuvenated him as they have all of us.
  I agree with you about the extra goals we could/should have scored. It might be the consequence of the “other mob”‘s rope-a-dope fanaticism, which is aimed at nothing but turning their box into a wasteland of opportunities, but I found GJ9 was made to feed on very slim pickings indeed.
  Wedge, we’ll soon run out of words to sing Saliba’s praises, but I’m also in awe of White’s outputs. I didn’t take any look at the stats, but I have the feeling he won all of his duels, and that he did so without having to tackle once. He makes things look so easy, that it’s easy too not to take heed of how good he is. Actually, it took me some time to become aware of the kind of top-class defender he is. His assist for Thomas required a level of controlled technique worthy of Milan’s Baresi; if Southgate picks Coady-Maguire-Dier etc. ahead of him, he should be locked in a loony bin straight away.
  Had never heard of Ruby Murray, just listened to her “Danny Boy”, thanks for the spine-tingling moment too …

• Enjoyed reading that, Kev. Happy for you that you got the chance to relieve some memories at the home of football, and what a day to do so.

  Taylor did hesitate (or appeared to do so) a bit before issuing the red card to Emerson Royal (some name, right out of a James Bond movie). My guess is the assistant ref or VAR had a word in his ears. That’s when he made his mind up. Granit Xhaka is having a good time of it and remains the leader of the team while Odegaard is our captain. It would have been nice to score 5 goals, for sure, but such is the pragmatism of managers of the game, these days, that keeping players fresh for midweek games in Europe and the need to manage the rest of the game becomes more important.

  Yesterday, Pep’s City took their foot off the pedal and allowed United in twice. The 3 points is what matters. The days when we would completely smash teams would come.

  PS: cannot understand the distorted writing box I encounter in my device, so typing “blind”, unable to review what I am posting.

• My predictions for the weekend’s picks are as follows:

  Bournemouth v Leicester City H
  Chelsea v Wolves H
  Brighton & Hove Albion v Tottenham Hotspur * H 2-1
  Crystal Palace v Leeds United * D 2-2
  Arsenal v Liverpool * H 2-1
  Real Sociedad v Villarreal H

• LG, Ruby Murray can certainly sing, but Kev was alluding to a curry, a bit of cockney rhyming slang. But I’m guessing you knew that…

  Thanks GN5
  Bournemouth v Leicester City D
  Chelsea v Wolves H
  Brighton & Hove Albion v Tottenham Hotspur * H 2-1
  Crystal Palace v Leeds United * H 1-0
  Arsenal v Liverpool * H 2-1
  Real Sociedad v Villarreal D

• Yes Eris, my box on both BK and Highbury House has shrunk, not sure why?
  Typing blind is no fun is it mate.

  Madhu, enjoy your visit to London, I’m off today but Monday usually isn’t that busy as a lot of people still work from home and then come into the office Tues/Weds/Thurs.

  Yes, Stu is on the money Ruby or Ruby Murray = curry.

• My uncle used to cook some, he had been taught the recipe by my grandpa back from london, who pronounced it “carry” – or so I’ve been told by my uncle, I don’t know if it’s the way cockneys actually do … but no, I didn’t know the nickname, when I googled it I found this:
  https://theconversation.com/whos-for-a-ruby-murray-the-real-people-behind-popular-english-sayings-105815
  and couldn’t resist listening to the “inspirator” (a real soul sister’s voice she had)
  excellent article, btw

• Sorry to hear some of you are having problems with writing comments at the moment. Not sure what that could be and I am no IT expert either.

• Bournemouth vs Leicester… Home
  Chelsea vs Wolverhampton… Home
  Brighton vs Tottenham….. Draw (2-2)
  C.Palace vs Leeds Utd….. Home (3-1))
  Arsenal vs Liverpool……. Home (2-1)

• Real Sociedad vs Villarreal…. Away (1-2)

• LeG, I’d imagine that the North African influence would bring many spices into the French cuisine, curry in the UK is mainly from Bengal or Bangladesh and in particular the north-west of what was one East Pakistan, so going for an ‘Indian’ in the UK should really be going for a Bangladeshi. There is also a West Midlands and Yorkshire influence due to the domestic palate, it’s a fascinating subject and an much British these days as it is South Asian, I’m now feeling hungry…

• I thought that generally Taylor had a good game, he tried to keep the tempo going and maybe missed a few fouls in the process but it preventing the stop/start that Conte would have preferred. He got the important decisions right I think…

• That last comment was to Eris, box issues

• Yes Total I was looking forward to experiencing the new atmosphere at the Emirates and it did not disappoint. There is a definite change in the attendees a much more youthful feel and of course with youth comes energy, it certainly seems as if lockdown convinced a lot of fans of an older vintage to retire to the TV and armchair and pass their tickets on to the next generation and it’s certainly rejuvenated the stadium, that and the influence of Arteta on the collective.

• Kev, London’s finest cabbie.. wasn’t that title meant for you?

  Anyway, we did well after that deserved red card and Saliba did much better the entire game than Tomiyasu did against Son last season. And both gave a hell of a fight.

  We dropped in pace after Partey left but we managed to stay focused and did well.

  Talking about the north west derby yesterday, it seemed that Manu were sleeping in the first half and Citeh were just Citeh.. and God knows how long we can keep them behind us.

  A good weekend and hope everyone are well.

  Cheers

• Good to hear from you, 84. Its been a while. Did you enjoy the grand prix yesterday?

• Good to hear it Kev. I love our new stadium and it must have been a great sound in there yesterday

• Bournemouth v Leicester City A
  Chelsea v Wolves H
  Brighton & Hove Albion v Tottenham Hotspur * D 1-1
  Crystal Palace v Leeds United * H 2-1
  Arsenal v Liverpool * D 2-2
  Real Sociedad v Villarreal H

• I don’t like to blow my own trumpet 84, but thanks… 😀

• I watched it on TV, TA..

  It doesn’t seem surreal that F1 is back on our shores, because the delayed start meant that the flag off came just after the North Eastern derby had kicked off.. and maybe I had an idea how tricky the conditions were on track that there is 0 chance of overtaking..

  The Red Bull is just so planted that it can overtake off the racing line, which is disappointing as I am rooting for Mercedes.

• Great report Kev, It made me feel as though I was in the stadium.

  Here is an article on and usage of a Ruby Murray and many other and many other slang expression’s that I grew up listening so here you go Bobs your Uncle and Fanny’s your Aunt………….

  https://theconversation.com/whos-for-a-ruby-murray-the-real-people-behind-popular-english-sayings-105815

• Typing far too quickly and not checking but you’ll get the drift………….

• Dan Critchlow
  @afcDW
  Hard not to feel like Balogun could be scoring even more goals if his team actually played with 11 players most games

  https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FeFsOEIWIAIN13G?format=jpg&name=large

  Critchlow has an excellent point here – 7 red cards in 8 games, French refereeing has gone completely insane.
  Well for teams like Reims actually, not PSG-Marseilles, for as we know ” For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.”
  On the other hand, out of these 720 minutes played by Reims, I must have watched at least 360, and I’m also concerned by the level of the team. Yesterday they played against Troyes and both teams were appalling. Actually, I quit watching after a while ; I felt like “laughing, for fear of having to cry”.
  Fo deserves much, much better than this, he’s been an alchemist in Reims so far, turning lead into gold, but that’s the PL he deserves, in an Arsenal shirt – period.

• It was an, excellent Race, 84. Maybe next season for Mercedes my friend

• All good experience, Le Gall. Learning to score in a crap team is much more valuable at this stage.

• As Arsenal beat Tottenham Hotspur, Mikel Arteta came out with something that might have been as important as the three points. It wasn’t any talk of a title race, or anything as superficial as a message to the rest of the Premier League.

  It was instead an instruction to his players.

  Because, as commanding as Arsenal’s 3-1 win ended up looking, it didn’t quite feel like that at half-time. The game still felt fraught with risk then, primarily because of Arteta’s intentionally high line and the counters that invited.

  Given how the defeat by Manchester United went, with the same pattern, it would have been natural if the Arsenal players experienced some doubt.

  Centre backs William Saliba and Gabriel had to cut out breaks at the last moment on more than one occasion. Son Heung-Min, meanwhile, looked like he was constructed specifically to counter against this Arsenal.

  Arteta’s message in the face of this?

  Well, not to worry about it all. To do the opposite, to double down.

  He admitted he doesn’t talk about it. “When you don’t have the ball, if they win it, they can counter,” he said. “And the furthest the ball is, the more dangerous they are. So the closest to the six-yard box the ball is, the more dangerous Spurs are. And we know that, but Harry Kane is looking at our bench and puts the ball through two defenders, to Son. And you cannot defend that. There are certain things you cannot defend, and you have to accept them because it’s their quality and we have to play to our strengths, and what we cannot do is lose our strengths because we want to do something we are not.”

  There is a clear logic to that, but it invites another question. Is Arteta now the most idealistic manager in the Premier League? Is he the most extreme purist?

  Many will, of course, point to Pep Guardiola, but he was Arteta’s mentor, and the Basque is at a more formative stage of his career than the Manchester City coach.

  That is the point when a manager’s ideas tend to be their most uncomplicated. You only have to consider Guardiola’s own evolution. His approach has come full circle, involving all manner of improvisations and evolutions to perfect it, like a grand composer.

  Guardiola has incorporated more direct German pressing before going back to five-foot-eight false nines and then to Erling Haaland.

  Some of that must, of course, be put in the context of Man City’s immense resources, but it certainly feels like Guardiola has now sufficiently adapted his approach so that his possession can be as protective as it is proactive.

  His team is arguably closer to Spain 2010 in that regard – which is only a compliment. It is extreme control, although Haaland has stretched that a little.

  Arsenal, by contrast, seem a touch closer to Guardiola’s initial approach with Barcelona. That is in terms of tactics rather than outright quality. They can control a game, but there is always the inherent and profound risk they can be immediately undone by a swift counter. It is that classic “glass jaw” that Guardiola has generally worked out how to get around.

  Again, some of it comes back to resources and quality. Arteta is still building his team. It isn’t yet complete, but it is getting there. It means that he is even more committed to the approach because that is what gets them through.

  It was why this win was more important than even beating Spurs. It was about the vindication of an idea after the United loss.

  That was only sharpened by the extreme contrast between the teams. It was difficult to square this deeply defensive Spurs team with Antonio Conte’s Juventus 2011-14, who offered the kind of pressing Guardiola himself would have purred over.

  This was far closer to Jose Mourinho’s Spurs. The side was backloaded, and only ever attacked in response to what Arsenal did.

  If Arteta is now the most idealistic manager in the Premier League – although Roberto De Zerbi might now run him close at Brighton – it’s fair to ask whether Conte has become increasingly pragmatic, increasingly willing to compromise.

  Saturday showed a real contrast and perhaps where the game has been heading.

  By Miguel Delaney

• Cheers GN5, I’ve neverheard of Fanny’s your Aunt?

• Loaning our players to Ligue Un certainly seems the way to go, high class competition without the life & death you find in Angleland

• I don’t think City have moved on. They are vulnerable as ever before but they do take their chances quicker. That’s the difference.

• Awkward as it may sound, I do feel a sense of relief to know it is not just me having a problem with my device. Well, hopefully, it is sorted out soon enough, Kev.

  I agree with you about Taylor; thought he handled the game well enough and there were hardly any controversial moment one could really point to, which affected the game significantly..
  Kev, that write up is factual, largely. However, I also feel City do show vulnerabilities, at the most inauspicious times and against the most unexpected opponents. Unlike Arteta’s Arsenal, Pep’s City do not shy away from pressing home any advantage once they have opponents against the ropes, so they ramp up cricket scores at times. On the other hand, we dominate but score a few (when we even take the chances) and toy with the opponents till the final whistle, leaving every fan on edge. We are developing and on track to be the fearsome, respected team we should be again. Happy days are here…..

• Some great reading above. Thanks fella’s.
  Mahdu, if you are still in London, The Star of Bombay in Notting Hill is a fabulous place for a curry, or (my personal fave) a Biryani.

• Hi Stuart, nope I just went there yesterday for a meeting at Microsoft. Iam back in Solihull near Birmingham. For my food I usually avoid Indian 😊 as I get it ah home. I try different cuisine due to the excellent influence of Food Network. My knowledge about my food has increased manifold due to hours I spent watching food network. Iam in search of good Mexicana and Italian restaurant near here. One of the joys of travel is the variety of food you can try.

• Eris, chatting to a mate on Highbury House and they had the same issue with their iPad, they think it’s connected to updates and how it affects the older tablets, she got a new one and hey presto the problem went away.

• https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/63120553

  The wonderful Alex Scott talks about her pain..

• Nice one, Kev!

  I know that Daily Mail is a bullshit mill, but this story is quite heartwarming:
  https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2022/10/04/granit-xhaka-arsenal-tottenham-apology/

  TL;DR:
  “”[…] Richarlison was cutting in from the right hand side of the box and Gabriel’s dangling leg was enough for the Tottenham striker to go over. Yet the only reason Richarlison was able to get the ball in the first place was because of a poor touch from Granit Xhaka. The Arsenal midfielder’s loose control handed the ball to Richarlison in a dangerous position and Gabriel just couldn’t resist a challenge.
  The Daily Mail now claim that Xhaka went into the Arsenal dressing room at half-time and offered an apology to his teammates. Xhaka took responsibility for the goal as it came from his mistake, seemingly taking the fall over Gabriel.
  Xhaka may not be Arsenal captain anymore but that kind of leadership is what makes him such a valued member of Mikel Arteta’s squad.”

• Oliver umpiring sunday (not really a surprise)
  Darren England VARing …

• Kev, that was a great post. I laughed out loud at, “referee’s assistant Harry Kane” and “Captain Mumble”!

• Bournemouth v Leicester City D
  Chelsea v Wolves H
  Brighton & Hove Albion v Tottenham Hotspur * H 3-2
  Crystal Palace v Leeds United * D 2-2
  Arsenal v Liverpool * H 3-2
  Real Sociedad v Villarreal D

• Hey OX10, how is your mum doing at the moment?

• Thanks, Kev, for the tip. That was playing at the back of my mind, you know. A typical Apple ploy to keep the sales going. I have had this device for a while now and I guess it will be due a replacement.

  On my way to Boston fo to attend a programme. Will reach a store soon as I get into Toronto.

  Cheers.

• That typo was because I couldn’t review and just was not sure where to edit. 😀

• Ajax are getting fried by Napoli. The Italians played Ajax at their own game and boy did it work.

• Mum is doing OK TA and finally seems to be getting used to living somewhere different. The staff at the home have gone out of their way to meet her needs which is nice but, unfortunately, they have just had another outbreak of covid so are locking done again

• Thanks for the update, OX10. Glad to hear she is in a good place. Hopefully Covid-19 will not cause anymore problems.

• Thanks OX10.

  Eris, my iPad mini is 7 years old and is ok in all it’s other functions even if it’s beginning to slow down, I reckon that it might be time to upgrade very soon even if it goes against the grain.

• Saw brief highlights of Liverpool vs Rangers, Liverpool had some chances in the 1st half but their finishing lacked conviction. Alexander Arnold scored from a direct free kick and Salah from a penalty, two dead ball goals! Rangers actually created a couple of late chances themselves and on another day might have stolen a draw, hardly the dominant Liverpool performance reported by the BBC…

• New Post 🙂

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