Having played all our home games for 2018 we finish the year with away ties at Brighton and Liverpool.
Brighton is the home to many an ex-lover (as was discovered on the blog on Xmas Eve). Strange that. Must be the air.
My First Love, now residing in Brighton
Also in the strange department is the fact we are playing in a black kit – apparently our second away kit – against a team who plays in blue and white. Being an old fart I cannot understand this, are ther new rules that teams cannot use their home kit when playing away? And even if that is the case, which numpty designed a grey/black kit or for that matter, an awful peppermint outfit? Thankfully we change our kit sponsor next season.
Last season Brighton beat us at the Amex, they play good football under their very popular manager, David Wagner,and the atmosphere created by the Seagulls fans is fervent. This will not be an easy victory. But, we have finally overcome the monkey of leading at half-time. An ealry goal for the men in black would be very welcome
Our squad is suffering from a plethora of injuries, A greek chap, Holding, Catwalk, Naco, Mustafi, Mhki, Smith Rowe (Lab) and Big Danny all out; some for lengthy spells. Given the very recent and less than impressive return of Koscielny, there is clearly a need for purchases in January.
So, who remains standing? We can still put out a strong team. Terrier and Ramsey were rested at the weekend and will surely play today (unless our Welsh Wizard has already signed his transfer papers.
My Team:
Bent
AMN (Cons) Sokratis Koscielny Wardrobe
Ramsey Xhaka Terrier
Ozil Iwobi
Lacazette
With the Liverpool game in a couple of days, I think PEA will be benched.
Ramsey to play in his preferred role in front of the midfield. Looking at this team it is crying out for a proper winger.
Any money spent in January will surely be on defenders, our defensive record is as bad as I can remember. We have only had 3 clean sheets this season and I do not expect another today. Brighton are a tough team at the Amex.
Don’t forget the later kick off
We need 3 points this afternoon if top 4 is remain on the horizon. Let it be So.
COYRRG
Arsenal News 24/7
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I’ll wait a bit before commenting as I dont want to be first.
Apart from three points, please pleas don’t let Terrier get a yellow today ruling him out for the Scousers.
Thanks Raddy
Glad you were talking about my “song” and not MY “thong”, because I find they cut in awfully!!!
Rachel Welch was certainly enough to get the blood pumping a little. Nowadays more like to induce an anaeurism!!!
Happy Birthday, Aaron. Today is the sort of game for you to have a significant influence on a match. Play for your move to AC, Napolii, Bayern, Chelski, Manure, Liverpool.
Thanks, Mr Radford.
The Amex stadium is a dreadful place to get to. Out of town, both sets of fans queue in the same places for both journeys – a sure fire recipe for niggly little exchanges for those who’ve had too much Xmas spirit.
Richard Wagner is a tough manager who’s travelled a lot. Expect a feisty affair riddled with defensive blunders.
My prediction is 0-0.
Hello Fellows. 😁
Hope Santa brought you all the prezzies you were hoping for, and that you had an excellent Xmas day.
Morning all … thanks Raddy et al …….
My completely illogical instinct tells me we’re going to win … so there it is … you can all relax 🙂
Thanks for the pre-match, Raddy, it’s a good ‘un. ✌️
I was quietly confident that the lads would pull out their respective digits and try not only to get the three points but to play some entertaining football as well.
But you reminded me that we lost a poor game to the seagulls last season — and we have looked a bit lacklustre in recent games, so I am not too confident now at all.
Morning all,
Well I overate and indulged in far to many “sips” of The Macallan, but it was well worth it regardless of a restless nights sleep.
I like your team line up Raddy and feel they could be a winning combination.
The last league game we won at Falmer stadium was April 4th, 1981 – 37 years back, but in contrast we won FA Cup games in 1988, 2013 & 2015.
Thank you Raddy for the post.
I firmly believe we will win but it will be difficult. Not difficult because of the opposition but because I see Unai using today to prepare for the Liverpool game. This game will be a chance to continue the winning momentum whilst also trying out potential strategies to be put into effect against the scousers.
Emery will have one eye on Brighton and one eye on the scousers game. Lets hope that it all goes to plan, no injuries and no cards.
Its difficult when you are not 100% focussed on the day but it has to be another win…
COYG!
I was also going to comment on a couple of things –
Miserable opening day at the boxing day test. We need Ellyse Perry to play.
Great start to the Sydney Hobart yacht race.
Also boxing day is a day of eating leftovers. I actually had a 3 course dinner again in which I simply reheated everything. I actually enjoyed it more 2nd time around as this time it felt like I had cooked everything (albeit using a microwave).
Raddy, did you have roast duck last year as well? I like the combination of red cabbage and pickled cucumber, one of my fav’s. Whisky gravy would have been fantastic. Love the whole almond tradition.
Arnie, the celebrations of the solistice sound amazing.
Off to sleep now as kick-off is at 4:15am?? what the?
Holy Moley 04.15! That’s dedication!
Love that team
Still no Ramsey.
Emery has got his mind right and surly the Arsenal players need to!
3 points to keep up.
Surly is a slip, but maybe the team will need to be.
Possibly Ramsey is not being played to protect him from an injury that could jeopardize him being sold in January?
Would gladly exchange him for a defender that is not similar to Sok, Kos or Mus, and I like what Ramsey brings in certain games.
Aherm …. I’m saying nothing 🙄
Uh ha, Ramsey rested again 🙂
Thanks Erik, superb pm. Hopefully you’re right and their manager, Wagner, plays good football as that’ll suit us.
Seeing other results, it could soon be City in our sights as well ROLF
Can’t comment during game as plugging laptop in
Oh, and, Happy St Stephen’s Day
Rasp. They will eff up, they always do.
lovely curtain raiser, Raddy. 🙂
I kike the fact that Kos is clocking some more minutes. And Laca-Auba upfront.
The northern oilers are in free fall, and the sounthern oilers iffy. That is an opportunity for us. We need to collect the 3 points, plus improve on goal difference if possible.
Onwards … COYG.
Love is in the air. All is fair in love and war. 🙂
And yes, plenty of booze last night. Thankfully notmuch slipping and sliding on the way home. 🙂
VP. Despite your reluctance, you were …. first! 🙂
“Miserable opening day at the boxing day test. We need Ellyse Perry to play.” eh? This is not a bash, you know! 🙂
Great start. Superb play from Laca and a composed finish
ha ha ha ha ha. Auba 🙂
steady on now.
Brighton are parking the bus at home and at 1-0 down. David Wagner won’t be happy
Seems it rugby they playing
well done, Leno. well done, ref!
When we under pressure why doesn’t kolasinac stay back
Oh dear. Wagner has got his message through and Brighton are well on top.
Come on Arsenal, get a grip. Our midfield is being completely over-run
We need some Mesut magic
feck. that is the second mis-pass by Licht in crucial positions. poor!
Once again stupid defending from our attacking coner.
A gift of a goal when we should be out if sight.
We miss Bellerin as we have no attack on the right and no pace in defence
I make this the third league game in a row where we’ve scored goals but then really failed to press on. Against Southampton, Burnley, and now Brighton, we’ve scored a goal and looked to be dominating but just eased off and let the opposition get a foothold. I guess conceding sloppy goals will doesn’t help but I don’t understand why at 1-0 we haven’t looked to kill the game. Too happy to sit back and pass it about without any real urgency.
Lichtensteiner up there with Sylvestre
Desperate half from Lichsteiner. I really like the bloke but that was awful.
We need much, much more from Ozil. I would like to see one of Douzi, Terrier or Xhaka get 10 yards closer to him because as it stands Ozil is contributing nothing.
Have to hope for our second half “bounce”
A case of superiority of possession not converted into enough chances, and they few we had not enough converted. LICHSTEINER cannot go round a defender or cross so should defend and wing pressure should come from Wardrobe.
Unusual for me, but Wobbly might open them up.
Good call LBG.. We have nothing coming from either wing.
Can we recall ospina in January
Don’t approve of Xhaka’s position now with Terrier even further forward. Xhaka is too slow of thought and execution, and worse will make a careless/ dangerous pass. Creativity is the key and Brighton have sussed how to destroy ours.
No second half bounce yet. Quite the opposite, we look bereft of ideas.
The subs have killed us. So disjointed in attack, midfielders getting caught because they’ve nobody to pass to. Need to sort ourselves out.
3 at the back. Let’s hope that improves us.
Too much Xmas pudding? We look off the pace and unable to play as a team. Passing poor,. Little space found. No chances created.
Can we leave the Amex with a point 😦
How can we not press in a team shape, as a team and win the ball back high up from this Muppet team?
You’ve got to give credit to Brighton’s midfield for cutting off supply to feet, but Iwobi and Ramsey have spent most of the 2nd half just stood directly behind their midfield men pretending to ask for the ball. The movement has been very poor. At least with Özil he will come deep or move wide to find the ball and try to drag the opposition around. Iwobi and Ramsey haven’t don’t that enough.
Clear evidence in this game that we need a player with the skills, dribbling, passing and trickery of Mesut, Wobbly and Mucky when they are all doing it! Not much to ask!!
disappointed
Garbage display. Starts with our lack of defenders, who can’t pass, have no pace, and just concede, concede and concede.
And how come only Ouzi seems upset. Too much money going into bank accounts. Dick will need his 2/3 windows to add players in his mould to threaten those “too easily satisfied”.
Mucky was probably a Freudian slip. But it sums up the game for me!!
Good for 20, awful for the rest. I’d like to see a few more players brought in who show some urgency. Too many that look like they are knocking about with their mates in the park. Hopefully that’s something that changes when Emery gets a chance to adjust the squad.
I’ll repeat what I said a few games ago, our attacking midfield players are not good enough and we need to bring some match winners into those positions. The likes of Iwobi, Mhki, Ramsey (at the moment), Özil (at the moment) are just not going to grab a match like that and win it for you. It’s obviously not easy to find, but we need someone who does what Hazard does so often for Chelsea, win those tight games.
It’s all so predictable, we will get stuffed at Liverpool.
We are a lethargic side that excels in possession by passing sideways and backwards = boring crap!!! I cannot remember a shot on goal in the second half.
I find very disturbing.
What is more telling is the Arsenal have two defenders on free, not signings, who either don’t defend, or add nothing going forward. How many other teams have a back 3 or 4 like that in the top 4? NONE….
The way it is going, spuds are long gone and manure will pass us in the next 2 weeks.
Emery needs 2 windows to do anything.
That Dick interview sums it up ” we wanted to make a tactical change……But couldnt”.
(“I don’t have the players here, yet, to make the changes necessary to open up a team that parks the bus efficiently. I have too many slow donkeys”) My quotes.
Disappointing performance and result..
Should have won the game in the first 20 mins.
At least Terrier escaped a booking but perhaps he should have been rested today as he was well below his best
At the beginning of the season I said this year is about improving and regaining some sort of football identity within the team and I didn’t really care where we finished in the PL just as long as we could see the club has a vision and is moving forward. At no point did I think ‘it’ll be sorted by xmas’ and at no point during the long elunbeaten run did I think ‘we’ve done it. This is the new Arsenal’.
We are a work in progress and probably will be for another 12 months. There have been some really good signs of improvement in the side, espescially when we don’t have the ball, but there are still lots of things for Emery to sort out which will take time. Of course Lichtsteiner is average, but we can’t forget that Wenger left us without a sub RB. The lad has been brought in on the cheap as a stop gap and I’ve no doubt a more long term replacement will be found very soon.
One thing I am struggling with a little is Emery changing things constantly throughout the game. We’ve gone one extreme to the other! Seeing a half time sub now and again is good to see, but sometimes you have to give the players a chance to grow into the game and trust that they can find weaknesses in the opposition themselves. Bringing Lacazette and Özil off every game just seems to be angering the players and I don’t think it helped the side at all today. As soon as we lost them we seemed incapable of getting the ball to feet in between the lines, something that both of those players are very good at.
Top comment Slim
Always wish you wrote a bit more.
yes I agree LB
last 2 comments by FGG are spot-on
Such a frustrating game to watch
However I still believe Emery is nursing the gunners to peak against the scousers
It will be a fraught game and I think it will become a battle of the defences. We will be exposed
Speaking to BBC Sport, Emery said: “I’m a little disappointed. I think the first half was key in the match.
“We started winning and had another two chances, and they saved from [Pierre-Emerick] Aubameyang.
“We didn’t concede [many] chances for them but they drew level. Second half we could not impose our game plan. We did not make more clear chances to win the match.
“It’s our process, we are leaving one process with the team. We can continue in our way with this point. It would be better if we won but I think the team worked well.
“If we scored our chances in the first half we could have won. In the second half we couldn’t impose our game.”
The Frenchman’s decision to axe Mesut Ozil at half-time also raised some eyebrows, but this was apparently a tactical decision only.
“It was tactical. It’s the same every match. Sometimes I change it tactically when I need something to change,” Emery explained.
In other news, its 39 degrees (102F) and my wife wants me to put the washing out…seriously!
the extreme heat is also probably the reason why the Cricket is so flat so far…
Arnie, with temperatures so high and play so dull, watching Ellyse Perry would be a pleasant experience
the Sydney to Hobart yacht race is shaping up as one of the most competitive in years
I’m on holidays and dont head to the beach until NYday so am bored brainless.
NEW POST (of sorts)