Love a good stat, saw this one today.
Jorginho has scored 100% of penalties he’s taken when his team are already winning
When his team are losing or drawing his penalty success drops to below 70%.

Aubameyang scored from the penalty spot for Gabon. That's great for us too. Should get his confidence back when he takes penalties for us.

I enjoyed the line from Roy Keane last night when he was asked about Kane saying it’s taken him a while to get over the disappointment of England’s Euro final loss Keane said “he plays for Spurs he should be used to disappointment”

Yes, in the 50s and 60s it used to be that the clubs fulfilled fixtures on the same day as the Home Internationals as they were called - Saturday. As we had a good number of Welsh, Irish and Scots we often played with an under strength team - but so did most First Division clubs.

Classic! I recall Keown playing and only discovering afterwards that he had fractured his leg during the game - Martin would have been well at home in the company of Storey, Harris and Hunter.

Hi DHD. It may have something to do with the terminology? In the period we are talking about the left and right halves (either side of the centre half and inside the full backs) were mainly defensive and the inside halves (left and right, either side of the centre forward and inside the wingers) were mainly attackers. Today those halves would be described as midfielders - hence Flowers in that category? I am sure he was more of a defensive player during his England career, playing regularly alongside out and out centre-halves such as Billy Wright, Peter Swan and Maurice Norman. After Bobby Moore and Jack Charlton emerged on the scene, it is noticeable that any caps Flowers got came when one of those defenders were missing. To me that suggests he was essentially a defender. Whatever, he was very good.

A 5.4 earthquake hits Australia. Wonder if Kiwi in NZ felt it.

Currently watching the women's NLD. Just saw it on my cable TV football channel by chance. Never dawned on me about a womens NLD. I have to assume they have a similar intense rivalry. I watched the US women's team more than the men's team initially (much better football played by our women) and I'd like to see a women's game when I visit England. Wonder if I can get tickets for the women's when I see about the men's? Has to be a fairly easy ticket to get.

Seems like they are playing at Barnet. The pitch seems much better than when I saw it about 17 years ago or so. Wonder if its still lopsided? haha Game may not be live more and more I'm looking at it, if its not I'll try to control myself from looking at the final score.

Not the first time, he's taken a shot at sperz. He certainly has some animus against them. I recall once when he said something to the effect you can always count on sperz to lose important games or something like that. I'm guessing Man Utd wanted them to take points off us or win since its an NLD and they disappointed them.

Some animosity I never really got, such as Michae Owens animus towards us. I'm curious to know why. It wasn't Everton or Man Utd (since he played for the latter).

Now it’s bizarre. Half of the League One fixtures today are postponed due to international call ups, and even Swindon vs Crawley in League Two.

Didn’t Cesc play on with a broken bone once?

I'm not sure about Fabregas, but I think Van Persie did. He injured himself scoring a late equaliser against United (83rd minute) in 2007, but kept playing with a broken bone in his foot. This was in January and I think he might have been out for the rest of the season - or most of it.

https://c.newsnow.co.uk/A/1103914978?-1 ... entral_top

Get well soon Kola

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football ... s-25452910

Controversy always follows a controversial mouth. Not sure whether to admire him for always speaking the truth. Or wish he would think before he speaks.

I remember van Persie now you mention it.

This was Cesc - http://en.espn.co.uk/football/sport/story/15572.html

Conducting my duties as an unofficial, unauthorized (and most would say unwanted) scout for The Arsenal. I think I nicked one right under Edu's nose.

I give you Everton Ribeiro

Ah, I'd forgotten that one, John. We certainly had excellent luck with injuries during that era.

The video seems far more violent in the tackling than I remembered it. What I do recall was the gaping hole that Giggs missed. Also, didn't realize just how much of a cheating SOB RVN is. One of the best finishers I've ever seen, he's one of 3 players I'll rate as the best in and around the 6 yard box and even the 18 yard box (Fowler and possibly Sherringscum). Dirty as the mind of a 13 year old with a Penthouse magazine.

But you know what? And although it wouldn't ever happen both by Arsenal, Arsenal fans, Arsenal players at the time, RVN himself, when he was no longer wanted by Man Utd, we could have used him. I feel dirty saying that but we could have.

I recall we were very weak upfront using Jeffers. And I vividly recall Edu. Man Utd were at full strength and no one would have predicted that scoreline. I just knew before the game we'd lose after seeing the team sheets.

The football gods smiled kindly that day.

I read somewhere Martinelli isn't happy and wants to leave. I really, really hope this isn't so. I hope we don't release yet another player with great upside and they go somehwere else and shines (Gnabry, even though its said it wasn't totally our fault).

Sorry, AG, that's nonsense about the football gods smiling kindly that day. We won that match easily - 'at a canter', according to The Guardian. During that era, we didn't need anyone smiling kindly upon us.

Yes we did win that game easily. One of the few occasions when playing at old Trafford when we looked comfortable.

When looking at that nostalgic clip 2 things stood out.

Horseface leaves it on Lauren and a blatant red the ref ignored and played on. *%^@ me the refs let united take the mickey in those days.

Vieira then retaliates and is booked. Utterly ridiculous but what a warrior vieira was he literally wouldn’t let us be outmuscled in these games. We really miss a character like him in midfield

With that injury and his contract expiring at the end of the season, one has to assume Kolasinac has played his last game for Arsenal. Interesting that the contracts of Lacazette, Nketiah and Elneny also expire next summer.

My guess is they’ll all be made available for a transfer in January to try and get at least something for them. Albeit I’ve read Lacazette would prefer to leave on a free transfer next summer, even if that means signing a pre-contract agreement with someone in January. Rumours are also circulating that the club will look to sell Pépé. Wouldn’t surprise me.

Disappointing that the Arsenal Women dropped their first league points this season, and only got a draw from getting a late equaliser away to Tottenham.

I don’t see what he’s done wrong really. An equivalent would be if an England game was being played at the Emirates instead of Wembley and Harry Kane said he’d rather the England match was played at Wembley. I’d fully expect Kane to, and understand why he would rather the game be played at Wembley if he said it. That’s all this case was.

Seems a bit of a fuss over nothing really, and the article appears little more than yet another example of clickbait.

Arsenal captain Aubameyang reveals failed Tottenham move

https://www.goal.com/en-au/news/arsenal ... 8e24a980dc

*A bit click baity I know ...

Gidday Zed .... Nah we are such hard arses , we only acknowledge quakes of above 7 ..... our town is built in a volcanic basin called a caldera so minor shakes like that one are a fairly common occurrence .

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Bored with nothing to focus on last night I watched compilations of our new players ..... Mama Mia .... Nuno Tavares has got some serious tow he'd beat a Porsche over twenty yards .

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Bad weekend for the poxy little country sports wise ; cricketers got rolled by those %$##@**@ Aussies ....... they do have us by the gonads in that sport

...... then to make matters worse those bloody annoying "advance of the termites " Irish dealt to the All Blacks .

Well done Ireland from the fragments I saw they gave NZ a real tune up .

Only Monday and I'm already nervous about the Liverpool match. I don't think a loss would be the end of the world. 'How' we lose, if we do lose, is what I'd be looking at. We are capable of a draw. A win would be totally out of the blue, but one never knows. If we score, I'll consider that an accomplishment, if we score twice it would be great.

Arsenal is always a big game for them, no matter what form we are in. So, we're not going to have them looking past us to a bigger game as sometimes happen in sports.

Lacazette will be interesting if a decent offer comes in January. It's obviously our last chance to get some money for him so the club will have to weigh up whether the money is worth more than 6 more months of Lacazette.
For example, I'd turn down something like £5-7m because having him in the squad to help us push for Europe is worth more than that. £20m would be a lot harder to turn down though!

Quite a bit of striker stuff to sort out in Jan. Aubameyang is at the African Nations Cup, Lacazette and Nketiah are in their final 6 months and Martinelli and Balogun might be looking for loans - and if we do do some business with the final 4 we might even look to bring a player in.

I find it hard to imagine anyone offering more than a few million for Lacazette, but 20 million would be quite tempting! I wonder what the record fee is for a player in the last six months of his contract.

I agree mcquilkie. To say £20m would be quite tempting must be the understatement of the year. Like you I don’t think we’d get an offer of more than a few million, without defining a few million. But if it is £5-£7m the decision will have to be made whether Lacazette might make a critical difference to us finishing fourth. If he does, it would make losing that worthwhile.

For me signing a new forward of sufficient quality from somewhere should be Edu and Arteta’s biggest priority in team building. Lacazette and Nketiah will presumably be off for smallish fees in January or nothing next summer. Aubameyang will be 32 next season and we’ve arguably already seen may be past his peak. Balogun, as Rich said, would possibly like to go on loan and Martinelli may not be a natural central striker. I can’t see a bigger priority than a new forward. Indeed I can’t see another priority that even comes remotely close.

A few rumours that Ramsdale, Saka and Emile Smith Rowe all might start for England tonight. I wonder when the last time two Arsenal players made their debut for England in the same game was?

I think the area that comes close might be central midfield. Partey, Xhaka, Lokonga, AMN, Elneny. We know Elneny is on a free at the end of the season and I don't think AMN and Xhaka's futures are 100% certain that they will be with us next season. But yes, a glut of centre forward options could shrink quite rapidly soon.

Lower down the 'needs' list will be a new GK soon as I dont think Leno will want to hang around if he knows he's 2nd choice to Ramsdale. I also think a back up RB for Tomiyasu but that depends on moving some players on for sure. I also think a natural wide left player could be on the shopping list. Saka and Pépé prefer the right, Emile Smith Rowe drifts centrally and Martinelli doesn't seem quite ready to start left-wing regularly.

Don’t forget Ødegaard can play central midfield. I’ll be astonished if Xhaka isn’t around next season. He’s only signed a new contract recently, after all. It expires in 2024, two and a half seasons away, with the option of another year to 2025. That’s three and a half seasons away and knowing how Arteta loves him I can see that extra year being taken. I believe AMN’s contract expiry is even further away, in 2026. Hence when and if AMN goes should primarily be down to Arsenal.

If I’m right that makes the longer term central midfield options Partey, Lokonga, Ødegaard, Xhaka and AMN. Now we can all have our own views on the quality of that group. But regardless of that I still don’t see central midfield as having anything like the priority that the striking options have, especially considering our best forward Aubameyang is probably fast approaching the end of his peak, and may arguably already be a little past it.

Good enough Kiwi.

I watched the Josh Kroenke interview on SKY. He came across as erudite intelligent and engaging. He answered some pretty tough questions with what seemed to me to be honesty and integrity.

Not sure why I was surprised, but I was. Didn't expect to like him, but I did.

Even as a weird Swede supporting a team 1000 miles away that is so much fun to see. Two of them products of our academy as well.

I was going to post exactly that yesterday then opted to mow the lawns and do it later .

Clean cut , no spiked / dyed hair , classy suit , clipped to the point answers without a lot of flannel , no over the top "Well now how y'all doin " syrupy American drawl , had a good knowledge of Arsenal ............ I like you was very impressed .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVza4WQ ... tsFootball