The Good: We are on a fine run of results having lost just one of our last 5 games. Watford have yet to win a game at home this season.
The Not So Good: Watford are on a fine run of results having lost just one of their last 5 games. We have yet to win a PL game away from home this season.
A draw seems the obvious result.
The Interlull was costly in terms of injuries with Mustafi out for a number of games and Sanchez, Kolasinac, Xhaka and Ramsey unlikely to start this afternoon’s late kick-off thanks to exhaustion . Mustafi’s injury is unfortunate because Mr Wenger has yet to discover a consistently effective back 3, though our recent defensive record is good (none conceded in last 4 PL games). The injuries to Chambers, Kos and Mustafi must drive AW nuts.
Chambers is interesting. Rumours were that he would be sold in summer, instead it was Gabriel. Then fans said he was persona non grata with Mr Wenger and had no future at AFC, yet this week he signed a new contract until 2021!! I predict a big Arsenal future for the young man.
Thanks to the Internationals our starting 11 is difficult to predict. Welbeck is back in the squad, so is Magic Mesut. Will Iwobi be rested after his Nigerian exploits? Will Theo get a start or Giroud? I have huge respect for Mr Giroud as he continues to score on a regular basis – is there a better attacking sub in the PL?
Watford: Sorry – you will have to look elsewhere to discover their strengths and weaknesses. For some reason I cannot raise the enthusiasm to do any research. I enjoyed the trips to Vicarage Road and always associated Watford with an excellent multi-racial policy (think Blisset and the wonderful John Barnes), bit today …
My Team:
Cech
Holding Koscielny Monreal
Bellerin Elneny Wilshere Kolasinac
Ozil
Lacazette Welbeck
I like this team, it has creativity and defensive security. Mr Wenger has been “bigging up” Wilshire as he returns to fitness and form, surely he will start this evening. With Theo and OG on the bench we have potent attackers on the bench should they be needed.
Today’s referee is Neil Swarbrick, surely not the violin wizard from Fairport Convention?
Can we open our Away wins account? Why not?
Let it be so ….
COYRRG
Arsenal News 24/7
arsenalarsenal.net 
Nice post BR. Always sets the mood.
3:30am kick-off over here so will be hard to get up and watch as I also have a 7am marathon start.
I hope Welbeck comes back strong and scores goals
VP. Thanks.
Marathon? Very impressed. Especially in that heat
Good read BR
Very difficult to try and guess AW team today due to the amount of last minute fitness tests.
But here goes.
—————-Cech
Holding, Mertesacker, Koscielny
Bellerin, Xhaka, Ramsey, Monreal
——Ozil, Lacazette, Sanchez
That front three is going to happen one day.
That would be my ideal team but for Elneny in place of Xhaka.
BR, only 21 degrees tomorrow
Marathon running needs to be put in perspective, its for recreational runners as much as anyone else. I am inspired by our own local Cliff Young who passed away about a decade ago but who I ran against in fun runs about 30 years ago (he being much older than me).
from wiki –
lbert Ernest Clifford “Cliff” Young, OAM (8 February 1922 – 2 November 2003) was an Australian potato farmer and athlete from Beech Forest, Victoria, best known for his unexpected win of the inaugural Sydney to Melbourne Ultramarathon in 1983 at 61 years of age.
In 1983, the 61-year-old potato farmer won the inaugural Westfield Sydney to Melbourne Ultramarathon, a distance of 875 kilometres (544 mi). He ran at a slow loping pace and trailed the leaders for most of the first day, but by running while the others slept, he took the lead the first night and maintained it for the remainder of the race, eventually winning by ten hours.
Before running the race, he told the press that he had previously run for two to three days straight rounding up sheep in gumboots. He claimed afterwards that during the race, he imagined that he was running after sheep and trying to outrun a storm. The run took him five days, 15 hours and four minutes, almost two days faster than the previous record for any run between Sydney and Melbourne.
Cheers, BR.
It will be interesting to see how we fare after the international break.
Plenty of tired players may necessitate a shuffling of the pack.
I’m hoping Mesut and Jack light up the place. Wenger has suggested Jack isn’t ready for a Prem game but that may be a smokescreen; it is the middle of October after all.
Apparently, Le Coq is back in full training.
Cmon you Gunners.
Hi Raddy, it’s good to see you back among the fewer.
Good result for us with Pool & Man U both dropping two points, lets hope we can capitalize and take the sting out of the hornets.
Mourinho’s United have just bored the shite out of the footballing world and scraped a point at Anfield.
VP
Loving the Cliff Young story. 🙂
I feel for the Ox it looks like he has become a professional bench sitter.
I agree Chas but the skeptic in me wonders if any human being could run non-stop for 135 hours and 4 minutes.
Forrest Gump could.
“Today, the “Young-shuffle” has been adopted by ultra-marathon runners because it is considered more energy-efficient. At least three champions of the Sydney to Melbourne race have used the shuffle to win the race. Furthermore, during the Sydney to Melbourne race, modern competitors do not sleep. Winning the race requires runners to go all night as well as all day, just like Cliff Young.”
They must have a special Aussie juice. But seriously that is an incredible feat of endurance.
Thanks Raddy, I can’t wait to get back to some real football. The stats suggest it will be s tough game, but I expect a professional performance as long as the complacency stays away.
thanks Raddy, I feel nervous now, had no idea we had so many crocked players. Bloody typical, by November the squad will be decimated
We haven’t lost to Watford since 198x something. Does it mean we won’t lose tonight?
Cech
Koscielny
Mertesacker (c)
Monreal
Bellerin
Elneny
Xhaka
Kolasinac
Welbeck
Iwobi
Lacazette
Substitutes
Ospina
Holding
Coquelin
Wilshere
Ozil
Walcott
Giroud
Read more at https://www.arsenal.com/live#!timeline#7fIaVgwo0e0ipyVD.99
33
Cech
6
Koscielny
4
Mertesacker (c)
18
Monreal
24
Bellerin
35
Elneny
29
Xhaka
31
Kolasinac
23
Welbeck
17
Iwobi
9
Lacazette
Substitutes
13
Ospina
16
Holding
34
Coquelin
10
Wilshere
11
Ozil
14
Walcott
12
Giroud
Read more at https://www.arsenal.com/live#!timeline#7fIaVgwo0e0ipyVD.99
Oops
So Man City luck a squeaky victory, Spurs saved by Lloris, Chelsea embarrass themselves. MU stink out Anfield.
Now for the main event.
GN5 Thanks
LB & I both got 8/11. Not very good really
T hank you Erik. Read and enjoyed earlier, but couldn’t log in from mobile
More goals on the bench than in the XI. Top four if we win
Ooo, I saay, the thicker cut Walkers cheese and onion are tip top. Ding dong
Top 4 position up for grabs today.
Man C have and incredible 3.63 goals for per game after 8 games – wow!
Would like to have seen a Coq Jack pairing.
Jose does it again. As if his tactical plan includes being ultra spawny.
I would have preferred a Jack Coq pairing. 🙂
I reckon one of those Lacazette pile drivers is going in today. Can’t wait for that
I was being very serious Chas
Yes I like Coq and Holding because I can always make that hysterically funny
Ok, come on you Gunners
You were being very serious, I wasn’t.
COYRRG
I agree about the bench.
And would love to have a packet of those crisps, sadly Walkers not sold here.
Absolutely no reason for us not to be playing in red and white.
So far so good, but lacking creativity in midfield and Lacaz not getting the service …. hopefully we’ll see Jack at some point. The away fans have been singing for him.
Chas
You’re dead right about the shirts. This must be a bloody nightmare if you’re watching in black and white
Again, serious 🙂
Where is troy deeney?
Prison
I’d make some changes around about now. Mesut and Jack on.
Our first shot comes on 30 mins and Gomez has yet to make a save, neither has Cech.
Not the most exciting game so far
I knew it, I just knew some smart Alec would say that
No Raddy, it isn’t
I,d sub Czech with ollie
You Big Fucking German. Yaaaaaaaaaaa
Get in……
You have to love the BFG. Excellent corner from Xhaka
BFFFFFFFGGGGGGG
Not the most entertaining of games …. but the goal makes all the difference …. more in the second half please
Troy Deany is eating pies
The third choice number 10 is doing ok but he still does not offer the same as the first or second choice
https://twitter.com/FutballTweets/status/868544319396950016
Fook what happened to Savage 😬😬😬
Superb pics chas.
I like Iwobi’s work and have great hopes for him but sometimes he does too much.
There is not much fluency and the pace of the passing could be better. Lacazette keeps making runs but no-one is finding him, same for Welbeck.
Nothing coming from the left.
Another goal or two for the boys in blue please.
Compare how much Hector has brought to the game with Kolasinac?
What am I missing?
We’ve started the second 45 half asleep again …. lack of cones???
Bastard dived
Clearly doing well on the pies.
Never a pen
Bum, bum and double bum.
We have thrown this game away. After the awful one on one miss we have gone to pieces.
Utter shambles
Grade school stuff. Just boot the ball up for the entire last 20 minutes..
What the hell am I watching?
Deserve to lose this all the way.
FGG. Completely agree. We should have been out of sight by the time the deviant dived
Giroud was a joke when he came on. Didn’t win a ball whereas Deeney just dominated our defence on his own.
The last 20 minutes was a disgrace.
I truly am fuckin sick of this.
Can’t score a simple chance square on with the keeper.
Ridiculous dive.
The fiddler from Fairport Convention gives it, as we all knew he would.
Then we spend 20 minutes being second to every 50:50 ball.
Troy fuckin Deeney man of the match – says it all.
Bunch of bottlers.
City managed to put 7 past Stoke, how??
A season scrambling around for top 4. What deep joy. We are nowhere near the likes of City, United or dare I say Spurs. We don’t have the aptitude or consistency to win a league.
When the going gets tough, we turn to shit.
It’s going to get much worse
When Sanchez and Mesut leave
The subs were a big factor in that loss. Giroud was an absolute joke when he came on and Özil should’ve won us the game but ballsed it up and then weakened us defensively at a time when they were getting on top.
3 losses and a draw from 4 away games. Will we ever learn to defend?
Think I’m bored of this season already.
I get more joy keeping an eye on my fantasy team than I do watching that shower of shit.
The standard of our football has taken a massive nosedive in recent seasons. I’m sure I saw a stat that said we’ve scored more headers than any other PL team over the last few years. We used to walk the ball in the net, now we score from corners, crosses and set pieces. Wenger is turning into Pulis before our eyes! 😂
Sadly agree FGG. Very poor quality football.
When Troy Deeney becomes too good for you, then it’s time to pack it in.
Troy Deeney post-match interview – still digesting a pie.
https://twitter.com/CaughtCctv/status/919323650758795264
Current mood
https://twitter.com/CuteEmergency/status/917924002047422464
Had a read thru yesterday’s comments, and they were interesting. I think that FGG said it right for me, as did Chas (if he was serious – I’ll have to ask Micky).
Gloomy!
And morning to all.
Simples Zees
We’re buggered
I am still pee’d off. What the hell happened to our midfield? They were completely anonymous in the second half.
Why take off Lacazette and not Iwobi? We needed goals.
And at a stage in the game when pace was needed why OG and not Theo?
Another poor day at the office
Oooops, forgot my manners …. Morning All
yep, it was a truly shit performance, yet again.What I dn’t understand is why some of you seem to be surprised. We had it coming for years now, the team has been regressing for the past 3-4 seasons. The poor performances becoming more and more regular and scraping points the norm.
I am glad that some of the deluded AAers are waking up. Now you will feel my pain.
The Rules for Training is quite advanced in terms of diet for 1897 regarding the limited butter, milk, sugar, spuds ‘n baccy.
I feel dirty and cheated, Eddie, although I don’t detect anyone being in the least bit surprised
Erik
Agree with your “why’s” but I could add to it
If you play a Xhaka/Elneny, then you must play a No10 to connect creatively with the striker/s. We played a front three. Plain wrong
Why bring Mesut on at all if you take Laca off? And certainly, you don’t play Mesut and Iwobi.
Surely you can only play a front three if one of the midfield two is a connector, hence my pre game Jack Coq (see chas 🙂 )
Total bloody shitfest
My simple view is, if you cannot make a Mesut work in your team, give up
maybe not surprised, but disappointed. just 8 games into the season and we know we have no a chance of winning the league. And that stinks.
Honestly Eddie, I’m not bothered about winning the league at the moment, just playing good football (and yes, winning a few more in the process)
Biggest problem for me is we’re terrible to watch, and we are certainly not getting the most out of the players we have
ok micky, we all have favourite pet hates. I personally like my team winning trophies, I like my team fighting for their place in the world. you have different priorities, fine by me. The bottom line is that they are failing us all on all fronts.
I am going to take out my frustrations on guys who added me to their favourites. I will start the attack on those who think their arse is their best feature. Laters
No Eddie, I never said that. Do concentrate.
I said not winning the league at the moment. We’re bloody miles away from that. First things first, start playing good football.
You can win stuff playing Maureen style. We should aim higher than that. Play good football first, because if we don’t enjoy watching our team play, then I for one, will stop looking forward to the next game.
Attractive football. Then trophies.
Can one be a third party observer on your dating site 🙂
no micky. For me it’s winning first, then we can improve and perfect the style.
pervert 🙂 🙂
Style is everything, Eddie
And, yes 🙂
ps Do keep us third party voyeurs in the loop, ‘cos we sure as hell are going to have little else to talk about
there won’t be any loops micky. After weeks of virtual dating I have agreed to meet just one guy and that’s only because his dog was sick so I delivered some honey for the wounds.
All these guys are looking for friendship and companionship but they must have your full length photo. Does it fooking matter if your friend is short and fat?? No, I just eat them alive. I expect I will be banned from the site soon.
Doesn’t matter how we play if we don’t defend correctly as a team or as individuals.
We’ve played beautiful football in the past and been undone by shoddy defensive efforts. This team seem to focus on the wrong things and are more interested in attacking than anything else. There is not enough discipline within this group and that isn’t helped by a manager who seems to give too much slack to his players and also by having members of the group who don’t want to be there.
Looking at it with a bit less emotion and annoyance, I would say that we are struggling due to the fact our back 3 is constantly changing. It’s difficult to find cohesion and defend correctly as a unit when it is different faces in the team every week. It’s no surprise we had a little bit of good form with a back 3 of Monreal/Mustafi/Koscielny(Holding played the odd game) and Ramsey/Xhaka in front. That looked reasonably good with everyone knowing their roles and getting comfortable with each other. Suddenly we stick Elneny in, Mustafi gets injured, and Kos goes off (becoming a bit of a liability injury wise) and we look an absolute mess. Not to mention the way our front players failed to hold the ball 2nd half and invited them to pile on the pressure.
You could argue that yesterday was just one of those games, espescially when you consider that Gomes made a fantastic save from Iwobi and Özil missed a sitter, and it might be that the EL game gives us chance to restore confidence, but the rate at which these poor performances are happening, the fact we look a mess without our normal back 3, and our inability to produce anything close to attractive football, is all starting to add up to a team that is on the slide and is now a team destined for top 6.
When does the slide end?
Oh, and if we hadn’t realised already, our inability to sign a proper CB is going to be our undoing this season.
Mustafi and Kos now out, with Chambers nowhere to be seen (except when signing a new deal) leaves us paper thin on both talent and numbers. I’d actually love to see Chambers come back in asap as I think he could be very good as the central of the 3 if given a run of games. It won’t matter though if we end up with Holding and Merts in there aswell as it will be a mess similar to what we saw yesterday. We need 3 very good CB to make it work and I’m not convinced we even have 3 at the club.
Nacho Monreal is by far the clubs best CB this season.
Just let that sink in….. 😂
Doom, doomer, doomest! Sorry guys & gals, knot ear, but thanks all for continuing to carry on with the good work. GN5 deserves a special mention for the history posts.
Very windy outside, and plenty of doomsday ushers, so I have come in for some comfort. Just for a while. Not too worried, not yet anyways. Which postcode in next on bloody Spursday?
Went from 4th in the League to 6th in two disaster minutes? hmmm. anyways, up the arse! 🙂
fattie – you might be right, but I fail to understand how our defensive shortcomings are responsible for inability to bang in goals.
I mentioned that earlier – City scored 7 against Stoke!! Stoke, you know, the park the bus, defend, defend, defend and hope to score on a counter. I was gob smacked when we scored 4 against them last season, but 7?? No, we and City are in a different league. I would like to know why
OK, so Raddy, hornet’s nest reminds me. You are half-Scandy, right? We have just binge-watched Season 1 of the original “Bron/ Broen”, and are now on to Season 2 Fecking marvelous. 🙂
money, money, money, Eddie, sweeter than honey. They have put in much more money to get just that little bit better than us. Is it worth the effort? Is it cost-effective? hmmm, I think not, I think it is wastage of money. Bbut I may be in the minority.
Morning all. Yes it was bad enough selling Gabriel, but our failure to replace him was the bigger sin. Kos has been a fantastic servant, but he clearly has a long term chronic weakness now.
Our midfield continues to misfire. I feel very sorry for Lacaz. He works his socks off and makes great runs, yet we seldom find him with the ball unless we’ve slowed the game down and are making short passes with all the forwards playing with their back to goal.
If ever a game was crying out for some creativity in midfield it was yesterday. A brave manager would have given Jack a chance after they got the pen and left Lacaz on the pitch
Deeney summed it all up didn’t he. An arrow to the heart. A teams character is built around its manager, its leadership. That’s all you need to know about the Arsenal of recent years.
This teams chances of anything didn’t go down the toilet yesterday. That happened six months ago.
arnie – only because I like you I will not tell you to feck off. We have 2 billionaire owners and as much money as City. That excuse is out of date now, bin it darling.
just having money does not mean one would need to waste it. does Shitty get enough (financial) returns out of the money it puts into its team, as compared with us?
How much extra money out, how much additional returns (in sponsorship, ticket sales, shirt sales, TV revenue. etc)? Pure matter of fact totting up.
My dear Eddie, I am certainly not asking you to feck off. You hold a mainstream view, proudly, and who am I to blow against the wind?
now, one may say, they play better football, and the price of that feeling for their fans is priceless. I have to agree there may be some point there.
arnie. I.don’t.give.a.shit.about.returns.and.revenues. Not my problem. There are guys there who are getting paid 7 figure salaries to sort that out. Me is a fan who is only interested in the end product – ball in the net of the opposition.
There is money to be invested wisely and I cannot see that happening at the AFC.
hmmm, Eddie. “There is money to be invested wisely” Agreed. But I think there is a lack of positive-NPV investment opportunities. So, I respectfully beg to differ. 🙂
and what the feck has NPV got anything to do with footy?? No arnie, I don’t buy that horsepoo. A whole team of top paid professionals is involved in the running of the club. This should not be your or mine concern.
When you go shopping to Tesco or Waitrose do you ask to see their accounts? No, it has nothing to do with you. What you want is fresh bread, decent veg and cheap booze. Football should not be different, ordinary fans should not be discussing the cash flow of the club
🙂
Eddie. 🙂
I would not go into Tesco though looking for exclusive but over-priced goods suitable for Waitrose. If I go into Waitrose, I expect the best quality but also expect to find less value for money. just saying. 🙂
arnie – so you are saying you would not expect brilliant but expensive footballers to play for us, rather than for say City.
And if you watch City you expect top quality football but at a ridiculous price. Right?
But our tickets and memberships are more expensive than those at the Etihads. So??
Money isn’t an excuse for the brand of football we are putting out at the moment. We’ve played far more attractive football with kids in the team. That line up yesterday lacked invention and creativity.
ok fattie and arnie, and micky and raddy, and chas and ant. WHEN will you be prepared to admit that Wenger is out of touch, out of his depth, not delivering football and results that are expected from a top club. When, how many more seasons will we argue about our accounts?
I’m with you on that one Eddie. We were discussing 5 years ago whether or not Wenger was getting the most out of the players at his disposal. The fact we are still having the same discussion says it all for me. The same problems keep coming up.
I don’t feel like we are on the verge of something great or are at risk of disaster if we change things. I’m not sure it’s been the right time in the past, but I don’t see any reason now why it would be a bad idea to change the manager and maybe some of the staff aswell.
We’ve failed again in the summer (not all Wengers fault) and that’s what are seeing on the field. Time for some new ideas at the club at management level and above.
amen!
I don’t want anyone to think that I take some perverse pleasure in criticizing my team, far from it. I am as happy as the next fan when we are doing well. But there are too many bad times, average times and too few really feel good moments. There has to be a change or things will get even worse.
It seems like the team needs a real shock for a reality check to stop the complacency. The Pool game did that and soon we were on an unbeaten run. It appears that in 2 weeks off for internationals we forgot the hard lessons that were learned and lapsed back into the same dull and ineffective style of play … and as soon as something goes against us, instead of fighting back, we fall apart.
I have to agree with FGG, this has been a failing for many years. I said during the game yesterday that we’d emerged from half time half asleep. Why is it we can’t collectively pull ourselves out of these situations during games? Our team is less than the sum of its parts too often.
It’s a tired old cliche that we don’t have any leaders Rasp, but there is something in that statement.
I’m not even sure it takes much of a leader, just a couple of players to notice when we aren’t quite ‘at it’ and to have a word with those around them. We just seem to have an off switch. How many times does that happen these days? Liverpool away, Palace away last season, Watford home last season, Bournemouth away first half last season. Halfs or full games where we just seem to switch off. How does that happen?
We even had our captain on the field yesterday (what a rare treat that has been in the last 5 or 6 seasons!) and we still switched off.
we need a poll, what is the problem with the AFC. I can see some asking for an option ‘There is no problem’, but that should be ignored 🙂
problem lies in:
management
leadership
defence
strikers
midfielders
team spirit or lack of it
fans
money
other.
Evening all, and thanks for the post Raddy.
Firstly, how many successful businesses do you know with the two major owners at loggerheads? Usmanov & Kronke is like Dallas without the shoulder pads and attractive women.
Secondly, the manager? I always judge a manager on whether I can do better than him. In George Grahams latter days I wrote letters respectfully accepting that he knew better but that it would be preferable if I picked the team.
With Stuart Houston, I parked outside his house armed with a megaphone demanding my football hating cousin Costas, who’s only hobby is Falconry, take over. At least that way, when Kevin Campbell missed another chance, Apache, a North American Eagle could land on his head for a week as punishment.
With Arsene, the Vultures are not quite there for the great man. However, perhaps I could give him a few tips?
Firstly, demand that Kronke & Usmanov strike some kind of deal. This can be achieved, though I fear neither man has a fully functioning oil rig, if they both have afffairs with the others wife, and the use of a very catchy theme tune guaranteed to bring in 12 million viewers.
Secondly, demand more effort and commitment from the players. Explain to the overpaid twats that Costas Peregrine Falcon “Barry”, attacks his prey in the nether regions. Giroud would score a hat trick every week.
As a side show, Barry has the visual acuity 2.6 that of a human, so Jose Mourinios size affords him no protection.
Also, I don’t believe our title chances are over. Yes, it may require a bit of a Lazarus like resurrection and starving Barry a bit, but we can come back.
Last year City got off to a flier but then stutterd badly, bit like a sobbing Morinio would look like after a visit from Barry, so it could happen again.
Also, the other big teams ain’t all that. Liverpool play like Juergen Klopp is hiding serial killer tendencies and Chelsea are suffering from Contes emotional outbursts that resemble a plate of spaghetti which has just been involved in a rather nasty fight..
Pochitino is hiding a pie fixation, so steak and kidney will eventually catch up with him, and as for Morinio, Barry, despite size, had never missed a target.
We can still do it.
At least you scored this weekend Transplant 🙂
Xhaka is not an effing defensive midfielder so can we please have a player who is?
ha ha ha the list of fixes is getting longer 🙂
micky – please do not encourage Terry, he’s off the rails as it is
LB
Agreed. Coquelin.
Eddie, Is he? 🙂
ha ha ha, Terry. 🙂
Eddie. I am game for a change, but not with any of the other numpties, please. We need an “unknown”, and without the threat of instant dismissal. Like we did with Wenger.
I was hopeful that Bonkers would be the one, but that hope has vanished into oblivion. Freddie, anyone?
is who what?
Two options today
1. Go round and round in circles discussing Arsenal, or
2. Watch leftovers of hurricane Ophelia making landfall on Cornwall’s most westerly beach at Sennen Cove
Here’s the link if you prefer Op2
https://magicseaweed.com/Sennen-Surf-Report/4/
Apols, didn’t quite work. Just click on one of the little cameras
moning all.
precisely, Eddie. 🙂
Micky, I was expecting big wave surges. A bit underwhelmed. 🙂
Totally underwhelmed. I’m hoping for every loose leaf on every one of our tress to be deposited a mile away 🙂
Wave surge expected later pm.
Now that it is clear for everyone to see (hopefully the board and AW as well): can we play players in their best positions please?
Who are our best players per position:
– Cech
– Bellerin
– RCB: BFG
– LCB: Kos
– LB: Koli
– DM: (Coqueiln when fit) – otherwise and here is my surprise: Monreal
– RCM: (Cazorla when fit), otherwise Xhaka
– LCM: (Wilshere when fit), otherwise El Neny
– AM: Ramsey
– 10: Ozil
– FW: Sanchez
– CF: Giroud
– ST: Lacazette
We do not have any good wingers – this is the sad truth so I didn’t put it down.
Given the above, we have to play our best possible team:
Away:
Cech – Bellerin, BFG, Kos, Koli – Xhaka, Monreal, Wilshere – Ramsey, Sanchez – Giroud
Home against Top 6:
Cech – Bellerin, BFG, Kos, Koli – Xhaka, Monreal, Wilshere – Ramsey, Sanchez – Lacazette
Hope against outside Top 6:
Cech – Bellerin, BFG, Kos, Koli – Walcott, Xhaka, Coquelin, Sanchez – Ozil – Giroud
Ancelotti looking at Arsenal…
Poll:
1. Are we a better team with Giroud as a starter?
https://twitter.com/invisibleman_17/status/919919806408806400
RC
Can we have at least one option on your Giroud poll
Here’s one suggestion:
a. would you like Giroud in the First XI, or
b. would you rather staple your nut sack to the deck and do five hundred squat thrusts
Bloody love the Irish Pubs all open tweet
3. Fuck the football, get some video from Devon of option 2 with a tiny portion pixellated.
Morning All,
Sun looks very strange this morning. Why?
Cech
Ospina
Bellerin
Kolasinac
Monreal
Mustafi
Chambers
Holding
Xhaka
Coquelin
Maitland-Niles
Elneny
Ramsey
Iwobi
Walcott
Welbeck
Giroud
Lacazette
Question Marks
Debuchy – going
Mertersacker – retiring
Koscielny – injuries
Wilshere – contract/injuries
Cazorla – injuries
Özil – contract
Sanchez – contract
Our GK is 35 and not getting any younger. Martinez looks decent but it’s a tough transition into the starting position.
Our defence looks very average and very bare. The younger players haven’t stepped up as of yet and the more experienced players aren’t exactly top class players. At wing back we have good starters but not much back up. Koscielny is starting to look like he’s really struggling with the Achilles and other injuries. Also, is Mustafi in the future plans? A rebuild is needed at the back.
Midfield looks workmalike with a lack of both power and finesse. Coquelin is injured more often than not and Elneny and Xhaka aren’t proving to be the required standard at the moment. If Özil goes then we lose a huge amount of creativity. Massive question marks over Wilshere and Cazorla’s fitness. Another area where we may require a rebuild if players leave or fail to find fitness.
Sanchez is leaving which means we need to find 30 goals/assists from somewhere. Lacazette looks a great signing but will take time to settle. Walcott just doesn’t fit in anymore and will probably leave. Welbeck can’t seem to stay fit.
We have a few youngsters coming through in Martinez, Willock, JRA, Nelson but I’m struggling to see how we improve moving forward without at least 3 new faces. CB, CM, LF, RF are all areas where we may need starters for next season. We also need cover at LWB and RWB. The core of our squad looks very average for the most part and a lot of question marks hang over some important players. In the past we’ve had young players step up at times when we’ve looked a bit thin on the ground. Martinez, Holding, Chambers, Bellerin, Nelson, Willock, AMN, JRA and Iwobi could solve a lot of problems if they can step up.
there is no problem
raddy –
1. you have a hangover
2. specsavers need visiting
3. aftermatch of Ophelia
real madrid vs Spuds tonight. now we will know what they are made of.
micky – agreed for the poll
—Concerning Spurs – Harry Kane is on the radar of:
– Real Madrid to eventually replace Benzema
– Bayern Munich to replace Lewandowski
– PSG to replace Cavani
– Juventus to replace Higuain/Mandzukic
Why AW did not try to sign Ramos or Casemiro from Real when there was a chance to do so, still baffles me?
— Back to our squad:
– Any news on Kos and Wellbeck?
– Who would you please in the EL?
—> Ospina – Bellerin, Holding, BFG, Koli – Walcott, Monreal, Wilshere, Iwobi – Ozil, Giroud
By the way – Koulibaly (Napoli) now wanted by Barcelona 😦
This guy is a real rock at CB. He would be fantastic in our squad.
I forgot to mention yesterday – Rahim Sterling told the radio yesterday that the rumour about him going to Arsenal didn’t worry him, because Pep told him otherwise. Hold on a second here Rahim, going to the Arsenal has become a scary thought now?? Lovely
AW ready to listen to offers for Ozil and Sanchez in January 😦
I thought we were ready to make a loss on both. If we weren’t, then we should have cashed in for both during the summer
This is what he actually said last Thursday……..
It is the job of the press to exaggerate. “It’s possible” is hardly “yes, we have received bids and they are leaving in January”
RC. Thank you for scouting Europe for us!
From Saturday and Palace’s win against the chavs. 🙂
Come on Real …. crush the tiny totts
come on you Spurs 🙂 I support the Brits
Here we go, some lovely footy
It disturbs me to write this but Spurs look a proper team.
Enjoyable game
Real will take them apart in the 2nd half, no contest
How depressing …. the scummers are doing everything right that we’re getting wrong 😡
Morning All,
I think we need a new post – too depressing comments in this one.
I will get onto it right now.
rasp – why wouldn’t they? Big club with history and ambition. I hope they do well in CL. The team and the manager deserve recognition. our club has been basking in the glory of the good old days for far too long. A wake up call hasn’t happened last season and Wenger’s contract was extended. Shocking!!!!! And the payback is the form of other EPL clubs who fired one poor manager after another, until they found a good guy, like Pochettino or Klopp.
Idea for a post:
– Which football club model would you like AFC to follow?
1) The Chelseas, Man Cities and other PSGs – spend big on stars to win big
2) The Bayern and Juventus – spend big on players from the league or from the country to win big
3) The Barcelona and Atleticos – spend big but make sure you bring local youth into the mix
4) The Tottenhams and Dortmunds – build a model from the ground reliying on young and maturing players
5) The Monacos and Portos – find top talent very young and sell them as soon as their value is at the highest
So what is your say?
Thanks RC. I wish I had read your comment before writing !
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