We’ve made it …………….. almost two months with no football to watch and lots of discussions about who we needed to buy and who we needed to sell. Ultimately it was a pretty exciting Transfer Window in which many football supporters – Arsenal and others – think we’ve done rather well.

We still have players out with injuries – Bellerin, Holding and Lacazette – who won’t be travelling to Newcastle tomorrow, plus new recruits who may not be ready to start. With that in mind we will probably see Joe Willock and Reiss Nelson in the line up and well done to them for working so hard to get to this point.

Reading the farewells from Alex Iwobi and Carl Jenkinson brought a tear to the eye as their love for the club shone through.

The club photographer, Stuart MacFarlane sent a message to Danny Welbeck reminding him that he was only next door and not to be a stranger. For those that don’t know, the Watford Training Ground is next door to Arsenal Training Ground.

The statement from the club about Ozil and Kolasinac not travelling because of fears about their safety following the attempted car jacking last week is worrying for everyone. Any further attempts of violence towards them puts the whole team at risk ……………….. a very sad state of affairs.

So, today we get to see Jenks lining up with Nottinham Forest v Nketiah lining up with Leeds. Best of luck to both of them ………….. obviously we want Eddie to get lots of game time and show what he can do.

Have a great Saturday ……………

peachesgooner

We are now approaching the climax of the silly season, or transfer window as it is wont to be known. Soon all the supporters of all the clubs in all the land will have presented to them their shiny new toys (SNTs). A Rodri here or a Ndombele there. Or not.

Many will be cursing their clubs for not buying the right toys, or sufficient new recruits.

Meanwhile, management everywhere will be vexing over the problem of fitting the SNTs into a squad that is already full of Johnny Foreigners, or non-Home Grown as we must refer to them. It is not my place, nor I’m sure is it necessary, to lecture fellow AA-ers on the Home Grown rule, on the squad size of 25, of which up to 17 can be non-Home Grown talents.

However, there are some on here, and indeed prevalent throughout the blogosphere, who recklessly demand the acquisition of countless new players who do not conform to the HG Rule, without considering the consequences. I just feel the need to focus for a moment.

Who do we already have? How many? Here’s a list, as far as I understand it:

Leno

Monreal; Kolasinac;   Koscielny;   Mustafi;   Sokratis;   Mavropanos

Xhaka;   Torreira;   Guendouzi;   Elneny;   Ceballos

Mkhitaryan;   Ozil

Aubameyang;   Lacazette;   Asano (!)

That’s seventeen. The full quota. No room for further additions.

But wait.

Pepe is here now. Tierney may be on his way (as a Scot he counts as a Johnny F). But still the mob demands more – Dani Alves, Rugani, Everton.

I read the transfer gossip and guffaw/chuckle/snort and chortle. For every one that comes in, one must leave. There are those we’d like to see go, and there are those it might be possible to transfer out.

Our Home Grown numbers are fine. We have seven (Martinez, Bellerin, Jenkinson, Holding, Chambers, AMN, Iwobi) supplemented with under-21s like Martinelli, Nketiah, Willock, Nelson, Medley, Olayinka, Thompson, most of whom seem near readiness for at least riding the pine.

But still the likelihood is the club already needs to shed players in order to conform.

I therefore suggest that for every Shiny New Toy you beg the club to acquire for you, you suggest who should be dumped to make room for them.

By the time the Newcastle game kicks off, we should know the 25. For you, who should be missing from that list?

Maxwell

This was the seventh game of our preseason and we fielded a mixed side of …….

Martinez, Chambers, Mustafi, Medley, Monreal, Burton, Guendouzi, John-Jules, Martinelli, Nketiah, and Nelson.

My initial thought was I was excited about the lineup but would have preferred Thompson over Monreal. Also there has been a lot of debate about Mustafi recently and I would have preferred to see him at RB and Chambers at CB.

First Half

Unlike majority of our preseason games we started rather slowly not doing much pressing from the get go. Martinelli was released by Chambers down the flank as he cut inside instead of looking for a team mate opted to shoot but his shot was blocked.

Nothing much happened until in the 13th minute a ball is misjudged by Medley and Martinez who sense the danger rushes off his line but is rounded by the attacker making it 1 nil to Anger.

For the rest of the first half both sides were feeling each other out with some balls over the top to NKetiah but  they were easily dealt with. Jules also tried to slip in Nketiah in but again nothing come of it. We went into the half 1 nil down and a lot to be desired.

Second Half

Second half we made some substitution bringing on AMN, Sokratis, Willock, Thompson, Xhaka. The quality didn’t take to show with Guendouzi doing some great work on the right hand side then sends in a cross which was slightly deflected causing some confusing in the box and Nelson tucking home the equalizer 1-1.

Nice to see Nelson score his first goal of the preseason. Willock was lively, as always, and won a free kick which was taken by Nelson with Xhaka attacking the ball which flew over.

Eddie and Guendouzi came off, Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan came on. Thompson had a good break down the wing and put in a good cross into the area but there were no takers as usual.

Xhaka took a free kick but Aubameyang hit it wide. Then an Arsenal player put in a great sliding tackle and the ball fell to Mustafi, why is he even that high up the pitch is beyond me, who then slips the ball to Martinelli who has acres of space. This has to be 2-1 surely, but Martinelli decides not be selfish and tries to pick out Aubameyang but the pass is block which lucky falls to Nelson and I don’t know if he was trying to shoot or pass but it fell to Aubameyang who was in an offside positon. There were a few more chances to win the game but they weren’t taken. Penalties were pointless but like Xhaka in the Real game Mkhitaryan wanted to see which one of them can take a worse penalty.

Conclusion

The youngsters didn’t do much in the first half, Jules wasn’t able to create for the front 3.  Played much better second half when the experience players came on.

Ratings

Martinez – Save a penalty controlled his area well … 6

Chambers – was solid at RB … 6

Mustafi – Caught out of position for the goal … 5

Medley – Didn’t look good for the goal … 5

Monreal – didn’t offer anything today … 5

Guendouzi – lively today and his crossed help with our only goal … 7

Burton – looked out of his dept today … 4.5

John-Jules – worked hard but couldn’t create much for himself or his team mates … 5

Martinelli – lively as usual … 6.5

Nketiah –  looked out of it today … 5

Nelson – scored a goal, missed a sitter hence why I say waiting for him to impress me, one of our few youngsters you played at a high level last season so expected a bit more … 6

Subs

They collectively made a difference to the game, stand our performers were Willock and Thompson … 6.5

Fred1266