Coquelin heads the equalizer!

Beat me to it Brom!

Brilliant first half by the Spaniards Andy - but can they keep it up?

Excellent half...they've made Liverpool look ordinary....maybe the pressure is getting to them.. Mind you they still have the players to turn it around

Well done Bournemouth they are back in EPL....just watched their only goal....very cute free kick...had me and the Forest defence fooled!

C'mon Villareal!

Could do without Liverpool having to go to extra time. They’ve got a job to do in the league on Saturday evening!

Right ho Jurgen....get your subs on and do the business Saturday.

Ah well.

Damn! I can’t stand bloody Liverpool.

Another manager we may need to keep tabs on if Arteta falters too badly. He's done well with the national youth teams, reaching finals or championships internationally.

Nottingham Forest had won 1 out their first 9 games this season, were in the relegation zone & moving onto their 12th manager in 10 years, in September.
Steve Cooper came in & now Forest are two wins away from an incredible return to the Premier League for the first time since relegation in 1999.
He's elevated young stars Brennan Johnson, Djed Spence, Ryan Yates & Joe Worrall. He guided them on a memorable FA Cup run that saw them beat Arsenal & Leicester City.
They are second-highest scorers in the Championship & have the league's best defence. They are guaranteed the play-offs for the first time since 2011 but Cooper is on the verge of making history.
Miracle worker.

If you list out the average starting 11 age of every team for every game this season Arsenal account for the 18 youngest starting 11, and 24 of the top 31 youngest starting 11’s

Someone sent that in to the last Tuesday club podcast!

That was an impressive turnaround from Liverpool, but not as impressive as Villarreal themselves. Talk about punching above your weight!! I’m just blocking out that they’re through in Europe For 90 minutes plus stoppages I’ll be willing them on on Saturday, let’s hope Salah saved all his goals for them!!

The Elneny bits made it obvious the chant was about him. But I couldn’t make out what the first two lines were.

https://tbrfootball.com/report-multiple ... r-just-5m/

I hope Arsenal will do the right thing and let Leno go. I like him, and hope he goes on to excel elsewhere. Ramsdale is too good to be made #2 to him at Arsenal.

https://www.justarsenal.com/arsenal-for ... ove/309300

Not sure I like the loan bit. We need more players next season. Nketiah is growing into the team. Don't stump his momentum with us.

https://tbrfootball.com/going-arsenal-m ... rediction/

He got it right

https://www.thesportreview.com/2022/05/ ... -top-four/

He got it right too

Strange to read so many headlines lauding Liverpool’s ‘comeback’ last night as one of their greatest European nights, Klopp likened it to the comeback v Barcelona, there’s headlines of the spirit and never knowing they are beaten……! Am I missing something? They were 2-0 down to a side who is 7th in La Liga and they should beat comfortably. Villarreal pulled them back to level in the tie and Liverpool simply kicked on and showed their class to win the game and tie as they were expected to do in the first place. They got a scare and they came through. They played an awful 45 minutes of football and then played much better to win a tie they expected to and already had a 2 goal cushion from the first leg. Surely this doesn’t compare to being 3-0 down v Barca and beating them 4-0 at home?

I don’t get involved much with the referee slating you get here. But apparently Paul Tierney has been appointed as the referee for the North London derby. The bad news is Arsenal have only won two of the last eight games he’s refereed us for. The good news is Tottenham have won only one of the last thirteen games he’s refereed them for.

He’s been a good servant to the club. 5 million is way too low though to let him go even if he has only 1 year left on his contract. Gotta to be close to double that surely.

How does Darren Ambrose know what’s going on

People quoting talksport makes me laugh. The station is hysterical nonsense

When driving, talkSPORT is what I listen to. I agree much of it is hysterical nonsense. I listen to it more for entertainment than informed analysis, although I think Ray Parlour and Darren Bent are very impressive when they’re on.

But Darren Ambrose? Good grief. You might as well believe everything Pinocchio says when his nose is growing.

I agree. Leno has been a fine keeper for this club and I will remember him fondly when he goes. I also agree £5m is a giveaway price for him, even with only a year left on his contract.

Klopp is exaggerating wildly but presumably its how it feels. A bit like us celebrating like we've won the league when we've only beaten WH?

Then he stays and sees out his contract.

The Club is consulting ST holders on 'Safe Standing'. These are the basics:
Every fan standing would be allocated a designated space with a normal foldable seat behind and a safety rail installed in front, thus giving fans the option to stand and watch the game, or sit at intervals.
A Safe Standing place would occupy the same footprint as a traditional seat.
Owing to the steep gradient of the upper tier, any Safe Standing locations at Emirates Stadium would be located in the lower tier only.
As capacity will not be positively impacted by introducing Safe Standing, it is unlikely that Safe Standing areas will be priced any cheaper (or more expensively) than they are currently
If Safe Standing is introduced at Emirates Stadium, the Club is likely to be required to enforce sitting in all other areas of the stadium that are not designated as safe standing.
Persistent standing in areas where supporters expect to sit is problematic. It is felt that giving fans the option of designated standing areas will stop this issue from occurring, reducing tensions between supporters. It also means supporters sitting will be expected not to stand.
If Safe Standing is implemented for home supporters at Emirates Stadium, it will also be necessary to offer Safe Standing for away supporters too.
The wheelchair platforms at Emirates Stadium are positioned in such a way that they will be unaffected by any safe standing section in front of them. However, we appreciate that ambulant disability seating in front of the wheelchair platforms will be impacted and those affected would be re-located to suitable seating.
The introduction of Safe Standing would likely mean that we need to introduce segregation within the stadium bowl, separating designated safe standing areas and seated areas. This would result in a net loss of seats and a reduction in overall capacity.

Sounds a rubbish idea to me.

I agree Bern - it's not for me any more though I suppose it could be popular with younger supporters. But without a reduction in prices and wider availability of tickets, it all seems a bit of an irrelevance.

The theory is that it will bring back 'atmosphere' by encouraging singing areas. I'm really not sure that this form of standing will do anything of the sort. Old fashioned terraces allowed supporters to gather in their chosen groups on a completely free-for-all basis. As currently proposed, these standing 'stalls' will all be ticketed and strictly allocated so there will be very limited opportunities to gather in preferred social groupings.

Think you’ve hit the nail on the head. Furthermore it will presumably increase short term expenditure because that’s what making areas ‘safe standing’ will inevitably do as work will be needed to turn them into safe standing. There will be no decrease in the cost of tickets or increase, that could negatively impact the transfer budget. Agree fully why it’s unlikely to increase singing as well.

If younger people do want to stand, what happens when they reach their fifties or sixties? Will they be so keen then? Unless a small area of the ground is reserved for under sixties or whatever age, what will they feel if they have to move when they reach whatever age?

The whole idea seems barmy.

My love affair with Arsenal because my dad and I stood on the North bank. Amazing experience

However I have to agree with you, these days it’s different. what’s the point. If the tickets carry the same price ? Really?

Does it allow us to expand the capacity of the ground ? No it actually reduces the capacity!

What’s the point. Why do it honestly

I’ve gone to a couple of Isthmian League games recently. It’s the first time that I’ve been to non league for years.

It felt like a throwback with supporters swapping ends at half time. This with crowds approaching 2,000. Super atmosphere (with promotion to National League up for grabs).

PS I sat in the stand.

Actually think about that for a moment

The Club would make less money,

the stadium adaption would cost it more money.

Less Arsenal fans would be able to watch Arsenal on match days

Bernard’s right. Stupid idea

Last time I stood at a game was our cup tie down at Sutton in 2017 (I think). That was great fun I have to say - all good knockabout stuff. My abiding memory of that experience is that it was a really sparse crowd when compared to my memories of a packed North or South Bank in my yoof. I suppose Sutton's crowd capacity had been significantly reduced for reasons of safety.

Before Sutton, I recall standing at a cup tie up at Preston in 1998 (I think). My main memories of that game - apart from us winning - was Russell Watson warbling at half-time and a stinking cave-like khazi lit by a single bulb on a flex. Happy days, eh?

Mike Dean on VAR for the NLD. Dean's only retiring from on field duties. Martin Atkinson and Jon Moss are to retire with Dean.

As to Tierney....

He is more prone to flash red cards in the direction of the Gunners. Two have been shown to Arteta's side since the start of 2020 while Spurs have not had any from the 41-year-old.

Tierney was the ref who failed to send off Harry Kane for an awful tackle on Robertson in the game v Liverpool. Also refused a nailed on penalty for a push on Jota in the same game.

If we have to suffer more Mike Dean on VAR and the upside is removing Jon Moss from the game altogether it is a price well worth paying

They are all a walking disaster zone.

I’m unable to gauge any sense of effectiveness and which ref is worse than another anymore

I always used to hate Paul Durkin for example and Mike Riley who was just incompetent (how can he be in charge! ) however I actually found David Elleray quite fair back in the day.

Now nope. They all are horrible and any football match can go anywhere with them in charge

From what I read is that Jon Moss and Martin Atkinson are to join Mike Riley at the end of the season. Not sure if Mike Dean will.

Hi Rich,

Hopefully, Mike Dean won't be near VAR end of season when he retires from on pitch duties.