Messages

Really not much in it today - two players who lifted their hands were lined (one from each team) and the rest was pushing! Wee bit of words between two opposing fans but again nothing to get excited about. Nothing to see here. Town Gael and line ball as two Castlewellan fans you probably wouldnt want this to be growing legs so maybe think about making such dramatic posts!

Going to the games this weekend. Friday nights should be a cracker! Looking forward to big things on Sunday from Tiarnan Rushe I have heard he is special!

Any streams for this game?

Any streams to it?

Superbly written piece!

St.Bronaghs should hang their heads in shame, is there no one in that club with any wit..Beer drinking is one national past-time the G.A.A. should not be promoting, its a national scourge

I would have to agree

Should the popular fight night fundraisers not be held because they promote fighting?
Should the popular poker/casino night fundraisers not be held because they promote gambling?

Best bit of advice i can give you is never judge a game in a live context on your own two eyes , review the game through gentle eyes, use the stats available and lose the narrative. It will make you a better player coach even internet pundit.

Wonderfully profound advice Dinny. I cannot be anything but grateful that it is me that you have chosen to enlighten with your infinite wisdom...

Or go and spew out your patronising drivel to someone else who is more receptive to it...

Perception...

[looking to make things happen]

Classic I trust my own two eyes above stats, very 80s. What I  saw was one player very comfortable on the ball controlling the tempo of the attack, looking to make things happen, he created opportunities retained possession well. The stats just happen to back this up. Not a master class but a solid performance in a tight game.

But I have simply pointed out that the finer details are missing within those statistics and those missing details are key to unpicking Ozil's performance tonight. Ozil's job is to create chances (he certainly is asked to put in a shift defensively) and that no chances were created directly or indirectly by him, lead me to a very straightforward conclusion...that he therefore didn't do his job very well.

In any case I would be extremely worried about any individual who didn't trust what they saw with their own two eyes.

Christ!

Chris Smalling was 'looking to make things happen'...doesn't mean he was remotely close to being able to do it!

Classic I trust my own two eyes above stats, very 80s. What I  saw was one player very comfortable on the ball controlling the tempo of the attack, looking to make things happen, he created opportunities retained possession well. The stats just happen to back this up. Not a master class but a solid performance in a tight game.

But I have simply pointed out that the finer details are missing within those statistics and those missing details are key to unpicking Ozil's performance tonight. Ozil's job is to create chances (he certainly is asked to put in a shift defensively) and that no chances were created directly or indirectly by him, lead me to a very straightforward conclusion...that he therefore didn't do his job very well.

In any case I would be extremely worried about any individual who didn't trust what they saw with their own two eyes.

Pity about the Van Persie sitter & in the end that Szczesny save in the 2nd half earned Arsenal a point. If Moyes wants to know how much United have underachieved this season then look no further than that average Arsenal side who happen to be 14 points ahead of them.

Even 5th looks out of reach now, woeful PL season from the defending champions thankfully only 12 games are left or maybe 12 too many for some...

When will you realise it was Ferguson who dragged an average team to a title? Not one Man United player midfielder would get into the Arsenal squad never mind the starting XI on current form. Would take RVP and Rooney all day and eh that's it really maybe De Gea and Chesney could fight it out, little between those two.

Get a grip!

A lot of Arsenal fans getting well above their station on the back of a long overdue decent league campaign. They remain well short of the quality that their rivals for the league possess and I fully expect that their challenge dies out in by the end of February. Fourth place will see Wenger happy and they can then turn to consolidating their champions league status for the following year.

A select between the two sides would see more utd representatives!

It was a bit meh! Important not to lose but just want to see Arsenal beat one of these teams.

How shit was Mata?

About as poor as Ozil was!

Really? Watch the game and not the perception. Anything good about Arsenal tonight generally came through Ozil. Lazy man's narrative.

Is the idea to patronise me into saying Ozil was good tonight?...because he certainly wasn't. He has no penetration, his work-rate was dire and his attitude towards his team-mates was terrible. His quality can pick the lock of lower-table teams but he has yet to show that he has the stomach for the bigger teams.

Plenty of sound bites but just perception. I never stated Ozil was good tonight.

Amazing what stats are out there, Ozil created seven chances to Mata's one, and had a 78% passing accuracy in United's half compared to Mata's 66% in Arsenal's half. Yea very similar performances.

Mata was completely ineffective tonight. Ozil equally so.

Do these computer generated stats tell you how clear-cut the chances Ozil created were?...Or can I just trust my own two eyes and subsequently make a judgement based on that? Arsenals two best chances were a corner cleared off the line and Sagna's whipped cross to Giroud. Outside that they created very little and only looked remotely dangerous when Wilshere came galloping into the box.

Can you also ask your friends at Opta Stats to break the 78% passing accuracy down into 'meaningful pass' accuracy and 'achieved absolutely nothing' pass accuracy?!...or again can I trust my own two eyes on that one?

Perception...

It was a bit meh! Important not to lose but just want to see Arsenal beat one of these teams.

How shit was Mata?

About as poor as Ozil was!

Really? Watch the game and not the perception. Anything good about Arsenal tonight generally came through Ozil. Lazy man's narrative.

Is the idea to patronise me into saying Ozil was good tonight?...because he certainly wasn't. He has no penetration, his work-rate was dire and his attitude towards his team-mates was terrible. His quality can pick the lock of lower-table teams but he has yet to show that he has the stomach for the bigger teams.

It was a bit meh! Important not to lose but just want to see Arsenal beat one of these teams.

How shit was Mata?

About as poor as Ozil was!

[A game that we were missing Niall McEvoy, Felim McGreevy, Roger Morgan (London) Martin McClean (Netherlands) Dominic McEvoy, Barry Kane. Yesterday we were missing Felim McGreevy, Anthony Devlin, Jerome Johnston, , Donal Kane and Ciaran McClean. These players named would walk on to most Down division 1 teams. Most Down posters can back me on this!]

Great win for Kilcoo yesterday, i appreciate Cross were not at full strength and can assure you Kilcoo would rather have played the same team that beat us in last years Ulster final.
A game that we were missing Niall McEvoy, Felim McGreevy, Roger Morgan (London) Martin McClean (Netherlands) Dominic McEvoy, Barry Kane. Yesterday we were missing Felim McGreevy,  Anthony Devlin, Jerome Johnston, , Donal Kane and Ciaran McClean. These players named would walk on to most Down division 1 teams. Most Down posters can back me on this!
You can only play whats put in front of you. Over the Two games we had Cross almost away twice but had to admire there determination and never over til its over attitude.
Its going to hard to rise again for Sunday but we'll give it a rattle.

A full strength Cross team would have swatted Kilcoo aside. There is absolutely not a shred of doubt about that.

Good luck on Sunday.

When was the last time Utd put in a rip-roaring performance and got the crowd going for more than sporadic 3-second bursts at a time? There is an eery feel around Old Trafford at the moment. The players don't look remotely motivated. Under fergie when they went 1-0 up against weaker teams they went for the kill and the crowd loved it. The team look really unsure of themselves. Wanyama (12-15million) outshone Fellaini (28 million) in every department today. Abject performance and dreadful result!