OTF

For sure, I was trying to say that it was worrying that it was 2 on 1. Did a horrible job.

Cabaye's definitely up for it, covering plenty of ground defensively. The crowd has been good also.

Difficult for Santon there, we didn't pick them up from midfield. In the end he did well.

Mertesacker making Williamson look dexterous and mobile there. We're handling their propensity to go to ground incredibly well at the moment, backing off at the last and not being overly physical.

If so it shows that they know it's an important game. Lots of crosses for the ghost of Shola at the moment...

I wouldn't say scared, but there is some nerves there from some players. I don't necessarily see that as a bad thing as long as we ride that phase out.

Walcott signaling there that he's going to go to ground at every available chance.

Hope it's not going to be one of those Krul matches.

Looking forward to the match, but also to seeing how Cabaye plays.

It's a very light and mobile Arsenal side.

I'd go so far as to say now that it's same rules, actually attempting the literal enforcement of them. It will take a few seasons at least for the current implementation of them to become widely accepted. As you would know current general perception is that if the ball touches arm arm/hand it's automatically a foul. Even wih the literal implementation there's a decent case that says Williamson committed a hand ball.

If I had to hazard a guess, I would say they were still refereeing handballs the old way. This seems to support that as well: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2284201/GRAHAM-POLL--The-Official-Line-The-new-handball-rule-explained-Newcastle-got-lucky-Fox-penalty.html

He moved his hand down into the path of the ball from memory, can't really tell with any certainty whether it was intentional. It's at the discretion of the referee, but they're regularly given, so it's easy to understand why opposing fans were upset about that. I would be too. The wording of the rule leaves it extremely open to interpretation, so in other words it will generally favour the 'big sides' or the home team as it did here.

Biggest travesty, what a load of melodramatic shite. A Football match is 90 minutes. When they rightfully had 2 players sent off before the break and subsequently got twatted there's nothing misleading about the score line. In fact they were lucky not to concede more from additional penalties that should have been given.

What did the leper say to the prostitute? Keep the tip.

Agree to an extent with Jamouse. If we're also playing Shola up front then Haidara's left footedness will allow him to get quicker balls into the box (as opposed to Santon who's right footedness means the the defense can set themselves then attack his delayed crosses). Granted Haidara's crosses weren't up to scratch against Stoke, but he's put some decent ones in in the past.

No shit Sherlock!

Wages. He'd be on astronomical wages at Man City. Paying them is one thing, upsetting other team members is another. I'd imagine it would be a difficult balance to strike. If we could get someone like him in on loan it could be more viable.

I think there's a reasonable case for Shola to come back into the starting lineup here. As silly as that sounds.

We carved it up in our banana lounge strip as well, mind you that was in the Championship.

Our three weakest starting players are Williamson, Santon and Shola when he plays. Let's not forget that Remy is not our player so we certainly need a permanent striker. As I said earlier in the thread, in my opinion the only way we will sign anyone is if they're a 'bargain' as defined by Ashley. The champions league gamble theory is an interesting one, but sadly I think it's nothing more than a theory. To that end scoping some six month loan deals from the likes of Real Madrid for players on big wages that aren't getting much time on the pitch would be worth looking into. A few players in generally perks things up and keeps things fresh.

Cabaye is better playing from deep and it also means that he's in the right position to come in towards the top of the box to score his trademark style goals. A disciplined focused Tiote could have a huge influence on the game. Looking forward to it, hope we have a right go at winning the match.

Just watched the game highly enjoyable. I didn't see Whelan's first yellow but the second he was absolutely not hard done by. Moronic challenge when on a yellow, only a fool would direct their anger at the referee and not the player in that instance. As someone else said on here Whelan knew he was gone immediately after he made the foul, he was nowhere near the ball. We were lucky with the handball, although not intentional that's always given. There was plenty of opportunity for Stoke not to concede from that mind you as we had to go 3/4 of the pitch first, so to say they conceded from a missed handball doesn't tell the full story. It didn't look like the ball was completely across the line from what I saw, though it was mighty close to it. The Pieters penalty was nailed on and should have been a yellow to boot. Shawcross got away with one just as bad shortly after, I guess by that stage the mercy rule had been invoked. Anyway fantastic win, great for the for and against and for putting a smile on my face.

Question for the parents out there - all gifts for the kids from Santa, a mix from Santa and mum and dad or all from mum and dad.... And perhaps more importantly why?

Certainly you'll see the response to your update and not be able to hold your tongue.