Two Arsenal problems solved

November 11, 2016

 

“One can’t judge Wagner’s opera Lohengrin after a first hearing, and I certainly don’t intend hearing it a second time” –Rossini.

Just two problems, you may ask. Well yes, at the moment, because I’m not including the possibility that Sanchez plays against Uruguay and will therefore be fit to face Utd.

Right then, my two problems. Hector is out of action, and we have no position for Ramsey.

The solution is to go 3-5-2. Chelsea have a new continental manager with sensitive hair, and lo, he has transformed their season since going all Juve on them. For us, Monreal could snuggle up to Kos and Must at the back. Gibbs can charge up and down the left, which brings us to the right.

Some say Aaron is a Santi stand in. No he isn’t. Just not cultured enough as a footballer. Some say he is a Mesut stand in. No he isn’t. We’d be better off changing the system altogether and doing away with a No 10. You need Godlike skill to make that role work. Some say Aaron played well there for Wales. Wales?? Really?? They are a second division team who play in tournaments where the quality is so appallingly low that only third rate managers submit job applications. Any top flight club would win a Euros without breaking sweat.

Now the good news. I do have an excellent role for Aaron. Right side in the mid 5. Great engine, good crosser.

Soooo, we have our back three, our two flankers, Coq with Mesut and Santi either side and a front two of Sanchez and Theo.

 

…………Sanchez    Theo

Gibbs  Santi  Coq  Mesut    Aaron

……….Mon  Kos  Must

…………..Petr

 

It is possible you are still wondering about the relevance of the opening quotation. The answer is none whatsoever. Read it last night. Liked it.

written by MickyDidit

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Posted by Erik the Red

No Baked Spuds – A Point Gained or Two Lost?

November 7, 2016

15th of June – fixtures for the new season released and I scroll down the list looking for the Arsenal v Tottenham game.

6th November, yuk, 5 more months to go, but never mind, it will be worth it. Or will it?

Yep, sad old me was really looking forward to that game. Both teams were in good form, both have strong attacking abilities, mutual hatred going back 103 years and counting, it was going to be a game to remember. We were off to a good start, several chances to score, good tempo, looked promising. But……all the chances were wasted and with each ball going to row Z, I started to think that this could be costly. Fortunately, Spurs gave us an opening own goal and the team perked up a bit.

nld2

A silly mistake from Koscielny cost us a penalty, well executed by the not-exactly-Pierce-Brosnan look alike, Harry Kane. One all and I’m sitting deeper and deeper on the sofa, showing signs of resignation. The penalty was game changing, as it always is, and Spurs attacked with new belief and energy.

nld1

There were no more goals, hardly the goals galore I expected, but all in all, I think it was a good result for us. We played beautifully, technically beating Spuds hands down, but that is not a recipe for success.

I’ve said it time and time again – any team that allows us to play beautiful football will be punished. Any manager worth his salt knows by now that you can get a result against Arsenal by playing a disruptive game – don’t let the Gunners dominate the game and you can match them on their own turf. And that is exactly what Tottenham did yesterday.

The second glaring reason for yesterday’s poor result was, in my opinion, the absence of Santi. He is the player who can deal with the kind of pressure Spurs inflicted; he will cherish and distribute the ball and make sure it stays with us. He was missed, both yesterday, and in the previous 2 games. When is he back?

I am not angry, I am deflated, which is probably worse. We will not win the league, 13 years on the trot. That is really poor from a club that claims to be one of the best in the country.

Player Ratings

Everyone gets a 6 to match my feelings about an average performance.

Maybe Cech a 7, because of that save from Eriksen

nld3

Written by Eddie

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Posted by Jeremy Bongo

The Righteous. Arsenal vs Them

November 6, 2016

What do you think when reading the following?

Sheringham,  Hoddle, Ginola, Berbatov, Robbie Keane,  Perryman,  Archibald, Graham Roberts, Paul Allen. I could go on.

I cannot say what you think, but I think ,what a bunch of execrable shitehawks. The very worst of footballing abominations.

And what links them all? They are in the Top 30 Spurs players of all time!!

What does this tell us? Plenty. Let’s start with the moral bankruptcy of a club steeped in the dark arts (Alan Sugar??). Then carry on by pointing out the total lack of a Title medal (Berbs had to leave to get one).

They are Pretenders. They exaggerate their abilities, exaggerate the size of their club, all we have to do to counter their pretensions is to point at their trophy cabinet in the last 25 years.

Arsenal remain the Premier Club in North London. Q.E.D.

And yet …

They have improved and in the past couple of season have almost but not quite achieved their main ambition which is to finish above Arsenal (LOL). And I like it. I prefer the frisson of a NLD which we could lose – for way too long it was so one sided it was like playing Islington Schools Second 11.

 

This afternoon (lunchtime) will be tense. Really tense. Because Spurs have finally got a team capable of challenging  – not for the PL, but to finish above us.To suggest they could be PL Champions is farcical and only truly considered after a night on the pop.

If Pochettino sends his team out to attack rather than PTB and play on the counter, we could be in for a terrific game. But he won’t. He will hope for an early goal and then we will see 80% AFC possession as usual.

Why will he do this? Because Spurs have a very good defence and defensive midfield but a weak attack. Eriksen is a terrific player and should be at a big club (not good enough for AFC though) but apart from him ….??

Enough of the Knuckle Draggers.

I wrote this on Nov 8 2015 : “Any NLD is exciting but this one is special. Spurs are unbeaten in 10 and we are joint TotL. A draw seems the obvious result but quite frankly the idea of the blue-bellied Scum leaving the Emirates with anything other than a damned good thrashing is unacceptable. Just think 5-2. This is a reasonable and just scoreline.” Uncanny that the situation is exactly the same.

Let us hope that Theo is recovered because he loves a goal against the Heathens.

Unknown.jpeg

My Team:

Cech

Bellerin    Mustafi    Koscielny    Monreal

Xhaka     Coquelin      Iwobi

Walcott    Sanchez      Ozil

If Ramsey was at 100% I would start him ahead of Iwobi, but what if Santi is fit? Does he start ahead of Xhaka in what is likely to be a physical midfield battle against Wanyama and Dembele?

I would love to see a Spurs red card this afternoon. Clattenburg is our referee – could be worse. Any man who sends off Me-rinho is OK in my book.

Can we win against a very strong Spurs team with a likelihood of Kane returning? Of course we can – Just read the opening paragraphs!

If Arsenal can start fast – which we have struggled with in recent games – and maintain defensive solidity – which we have struggled with in recent game, then we will win. We are at home, we have better players, a better manager, better fans, better playing style, better history.

The path of the Righteous man is beset on all sides by inequities (in this case The Miscreants).  We are The Righteous.

COYRRG

 

 

 

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Posted by Erik the Red

The November Curse – Real or Imaginary?

November 4, 2016

It now seems to be accepted fact that November is always a bogey month for Arsenal.

A calamitous November last season is still fresh in the memory. In the League we started with a drab 1-1 with the N17 miscreants. This was followed by a 2-1 away defeat to the Baggies (they had 1 shot on target); Le Coq was injured early on and Arteta, his replacement, put the ball in his own net before being replaced himself. Santi missed a penalty after some spot-tampering by Olsson. What could go wrong, did go wrong.

The final League game of November 2015 was a 1-1 draw with Norwich in which Santi was injured early in the 2nd half but played the whole game for some strange reason (causing him to miss most of the season) and Alexis was withdrawn with a hamstring after being shoved into a camera dug-out!

In the Champions League, the month had started with a 5-1 battering from Bayern with the only consolation, a 3-0 win over a poor Zagreb side.

alexis-dugout

On the basis of that evidence, it certainly seems as though November is cursed for us, but I wondered just how bad it had been over the past 10 years, so decided to take a gander.

The snapshot below shows both Prem and CL games won, lost and drawn and also details of any fixtures played against our next two League opponents. The bottom row shows our win, draw and loss percentages over the last 10 Novembers.

november

Arsene Wenger’s overall percentages are 57.5% wins, 23.2% draws and 19.3% losses. (Based on 1,136 total games including 653 victories, 264 draws and 219 defeats)

It immediately becomes clear that, in the League particularly, there is an 18% increase in defeats compared to the average. That is huge. In the Champions League the defeat percentage is about average and an increase in draws maybe due to the nature of the CL group stages.

What could be the cause of such a large anomaly in the League?

Injuries? Possibly.

An increase in snood and glove–wearing nambypambyism caused by colder weather? Doubtful.

Excrement happens? Maybe so, but why always in the same period of the season?

Has anyone got any theories?

On a more positive note, November has had some highlights and in some seasons has even been pretty good.

November 2008 saw us beating our November nemesis, the mancs, 2-1. This victory was easier than it sounds. Two goals by the FFBW, one a belter from a snake-like pass from Fabregas, were followed by the mancs getting a late consolation.

November 2012 included the second glorious 5-2 (in one calendar year) against the spuddies. Adebayor, both put them in the lead and then, in true secret agent style, revealed his Arsenal roots and deliberately got sent off a few minutes later.

November 2013 saw us win 3 of our 4 Prem games. A 2-0 win over Liverpool, including a stonker from Rambo, one of the highlights. We also won 2 out of 2 Champions League games that month; one of which, a 1-0 away win in Dortmund, is fondly remembered by two of our AAers and their Ford Focus.

rambodippers

November 2016 started with a fine, hard-fought CL win on Tuesday capped with a goal of rare beauty from our German maestro. Hopefully we can continue to build a head of steam with the NLD on Sunday and our visit to the Old Cowshed the following weekend.

The next two fixtures probably won’t make or break Arsenal’s season, but they could certainly go a long way to breaking the ‘bogey November’ idea and launch us forward into a successful winter.

We’ve recently broken the Swansea hoodoo, let’s continue with this theme and banish another skeleton from our closet.

Written by chas

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Posted by Jeremy Bongo

Ozil is better than Bergkamp. Match Report.

November 2, 2016

Character building, yes, character building is the way I would describe that win and probably the best preparation for Sunday we could have had. What, I hear you say; surely another six-nil win would have been better giving us the chance to rest Ozil and Sanchez after seventy minutes? Not necessarily, there is no way it is going to be a stroll in the park on Sunday and if we go a goal behind we will have had very recent experience in knowing how to put it right. The same goes for if we are two down but I don’t want to dwell on that possibility for too long. What I am saying is that we are in good shape and are now completely prepared to face the knuckle draggers.

Ludogorets looked pretty good in the first twenty minutes at the Emirates and if it wasn’t for a couple of fine saves from Ospina we could have just as easily have been two down inside the first twenty minutes then. Things didn’t fall inch perfect for them in that game but they did last night and they also had luck on their side: the ball was drilled at speed towards Xhaka who no more than turned away but the referee who was poor all night wrongly gave a free kick from which they scored; our defending wasn’t at its best, but it was one hell of a good cross. Shortly after, Gibbs was given a Brazilian by one of their nippy players who played a slide rule pass into our box for another one of their nippy players to slot home. Don’t ask me their names I don’t know and I don’t care.

gibbs

Two down, things weren’t going to plan and we were looking rattled which showed in our hurried passing and unnecessary loss of possession; still, we do not sing that “we are by far the greatest team the world has ever seen” for nothing.

The fight back was on.

Özil of course was involved it was his cross from the byline that was missed by several players in the penalty area before falling invitingly to Xhaka who guided it home and brought us back into the game. The goal steadied the nerves, confidence returned and with it the accuracy of the passing. We were the better team overall but they were still looking dangerous on the break.

giroud-ludo

Enter our two returnees.

Ramsey was everywhere or so it seemed; a tireless engine, superb vision and my man of the match, it was his pinpoint cross that enabled Giroud to bring us back on terms: a well-taken header from the man who seems to push himself just that much more when he perceives his starting place is under threat. Do you remember the last time he was out for a while and Theo seemed to have taken his place? When the FFP did start again he scored something like four goals in four games. Two on Sunday, Ollie, and the world will be a wonderful place.

Chances fell to both teams in the second half and the game could have gone either way, I had resigned myself to a draw and had already persuaded myself that two-two was not a bad result away from home and all that. But Mesut Ozil had different ideas which leaves me in the really bad situation of having to try and put that goal into words; save from a long list of superlatives, I can’t.

mesut2

Goal of the season, yes, one of the best Arsenal goals I have ever seen, yes, I am trying to stop myself from gushing ahhhhh, I can’t, it was fantastic, brilliant, breathtaking, sheer class from the best player I have ever seen play for Arsenal. There I said it; forgive me Dennis, I couldn’t stop myself. lol

Nothing left now but to watch that goal over and over again and purrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Written by LB

 

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Posted by LB

Let’s get this one over with as quick as we can and move onto Saturday

November 1, 2016

November. We usually struggle.

I could stop the post here and just re-blog it as the PM for every game in the month but that wouldn’t be very entertaining , would it?

As to tonight’s game, it is eminently winnable. We smashed the Bulgarians at home and should do so again tonight …. but we are The Arsenal and there is many a slip twixt cup and lip etc etc.

Unknown.jpeg

Our form is good though untested against decent opposition, our players are fit apart from a couple of centre forwards, our results are better away from home. What can go wrong?

Complacency; both from manager and players. They will expect to win, as we expect them to.

Ludogorets have earned the chance to play in the CL, having won the Bulgarian League and beaten among others, Red Star Belgrade in the qualifiers, they have also drawn with Basle so they are no pushovers. Less than 100% effort will result in a loss of important points.

Why are they important? You already know 😉 so I won’t waste your time.

My Team:

Ospina

Jens   Mustafi     Kos     Gibbs

Elneny    Coq      Iwobi

Ox    Sanchez    Ozil

Should Xhaka start in place of Elneny or Le Coq? Not for me – he has to stay on the Naughty Step and learn that making stupid tackles like the one v Swansea is not the Arsenal Way.

The only other question mark is whether Arsene will rest players (see :complacency). He may choose  to play Ramsey and Giroud in order to rest Ozil and Sanchez, however AW has been clear about giving Ramsey time to bed into the team again, so I doubt he will start. Whereas the FFP has shown why he is important and that sometimes Alexis can be the Plan B.

Ludogorets ground has a capacity of just over 8,000 and is sold out. I expect to see the crowd fervent for the first half, less so in the second, followed by some heads down muttering  allowing our travelling few to be heard celebrating.

Let it be So.

COYRRG

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Posted by Erik the Red

Reading: Player Ratings and Analysis

October 26, 2016

Well, that was fun wasn’t it?

Reading were no pushovers but not good enough to really threaten, that said, Martinez made a couple of fine saves which highlighted our abundance of quality keepers.

At 24, Martinez was one of the oldest Arsenal players, he is older than Ox! Fortunately for him GK’s have a longer shelf life.

And what of the Young Pretenders? Iwobi shone as one would expect. He could be the Real Deal, a future superstar. Up there with Messi and DB10. He has amazing dribbling ability, great balance, a good eye for a pass, he can shoot, tackle (?) and has stamina. I hope AW allows him to develop slowly and not overplay him, thankfully Ramsey is about to return and perhaps Iwobi will get some rest.

Jeff, and Niles found it hard to get into the game but showed flashes of their potential. Both typical Wenger youths; inventive, fast and confident.

Once again, Holding was impressive. Alongside Gabriel we looked solid in the centre of defence. Gibbs showed why he is good enough to play for England but not good enough to start for Arsenal, in other words the best FB on the pitch.

Jenkinson must have been delighted to start again for the club he loves. As one would expect his performance was full of energy but The Corporal has the problem of always being second fiddle to the best RB in the PL.

Elneny held the midfield and did his work efficiently and without too much drama.

Upfront we continually chose or misplaced the wrong final ball. Perez was busy as was Ox but we really should have  put more pressure on the Reading goalkeeper. I cannot recall Perez having a shot on target however it is easy to see why Mr Wenger has such confidence in him, Perez needs Ozil and Sanchez to flourish.

Ox. I love this bloke. I love his energy and his passion. I love his intelligence. But …. he should be progressing faster than he is if he wants to stay at Arsenal. Danish TV had Ox as the Man of the Match . Yes, he scored twice but his passing, especially this crossing, was wayward (I say this without the benefit of stats!). Against a young Reading side in a game with little pressure Ox was the best player on the pitch but I expect more.

The subs did well. Zelalem and  Willock both got a taster but the best news for Gooners was the return of the mighty Giroud. He looked fit and strong , bringing out a marvellous save from Al-Habsi (who had a great game.)

Overall, Arsenal played some wonderful, dynamic passing football making for a really enjoyable evening.

Player Ratings:

Martinez     7

Jens               6.5

Gabriel         7

Holding        8

Gibbs            7

Iwobi            8

Elneny          7

Maitland-Niles       6

Jeff                6.5

Perez            7

Ox                 8

Written by Big Raddy

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Posted by Erik the Red

Another Goal-Fest?

October 25, 2016

Strange how the EFL Cup has become such so much fun. A few years ago it was just anther fixture to be got through in a busy PL/CL season and one we hoped would not result injuries; today it is  (IMO) more interesting than Boro last w/e.

Why? Because:

A.  It doesn’t really matter if we win or lose.

B. We get to see the depth of our squad and in particular the young stars of the future.

C. It is potential Silverware (though not open-bus through Islington silverware).

Tonight we entertain Reading. A Reading who not so long ago were a PL team with good players and Steve Coppell as manager. Not so any longer and one must wonder why. Reading is a rich town, has a fine ground with a good fanbase evidenced by an expected 5,000 travelling fans tonight.

They have a good man at the helm, Jap Stam is a proper bloke, anyone who stands up to the Whisky Sodden SAF is OK in my eyes; whether he is a good manager is another thing altogether but I wish him well.

Players? No idea. I only know Paul McShane, who plays FB for ROI, and Steven Quinn who played for Hull when we smashed 😀 them at Wembley in 2014.

Our team is just a guess. I am delighted that Corporal Jenkinson makes his Emirates return tonight and hope he has a brilliant game. Hector is just magic but we need a proper back up.

Anther player returning is Didit’s favourite player Mr Giroud. I look forward hearing that Beatles dirge at least once tonight.

My Team:

Martinez

Jenks    Gabriel   Holding    Gibbs

Maitland-Niles    Ox    Elneney   Iwobi

     Riene-Adelaide        Perez

This team has two chaps with double barrelled surnames. I like it. Could this be a marketing plan to increase the costs of replica shirts? If so, AW is a genius and expect more such signings.

I expect a tough but open game and hope for a win.

Actually what I really, really hope for is a repeat of the 7-5  of which I am sure Chas will find a video for our entertainment.

COYRRG

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Posted by Erik the Red

Petr Cech makes a point

October 23, 2016

Oh boy, what a difference a few days makes in Arsenal world. From heroes on Wednesday night to zeroes by Saturday afternoon.

Arsenal twitter was best avoided yesterday evening and it’s entirely possible that no-one will be bothered to want to comment about the game today. But there are things to say …….

Petr Cech kept us in the game and saved us the embarrassment of a possible home defeat. He looked like he meant business from the start following on from Ospina’s fine display the other night. Competition is good.

Boro didn’t actually come to play football but as luck would have it (their luck that is) we couldn’t resist giving them a couple of opportunities to try and score. Cech’s agility was amazing and many stood and applauded his fine saves. The very experienced Valdes also kept Boro in the game.

So what was wrong with our team? No Cazorla we know from last season upsets the balance in midfield. I felt that both Elneny and Coquelin were too static, they seemed to be protecting each other and so there was no fluidity through midfield which slowed down the attack.

The pacy thrusting runs of late just weren’t there. Alexis was hampered and maybe this was a game for Giroud as many high balls were played over the top.

Everyone seemed tired, although Theo was lively but couldn’t add any goals and Mesut just didn’t want to score yesterday 😉

Parked buses always present us with a big problem and the longer we go in a game without scoring the more difficult it gets. If only we could put away a couple of early chances …………

But ……… hey ho, We Are Top Of The League …….. if only for a few hours ……. so we really mustn’t complain 🙂

Written by peachesgooner 

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

Winning Run to Continue?

October 22, 2016

Middlesbrough come to us on an unbeaten run of one. Arsenal are on a 7 match winning streak. Should be easy, never is.

Unknown.jpeg

The current form of the Gunners is as good as we have seen for many a year and the prospects are positive. However, it has to be said  we have played ordinary teams and the real test of our potential is yet to come in November which has been crap for us for a couple of generations.

Will Mr Wenger celebrate his birthday with a gamble? Will he give Perez a run out? Will Gibbs excellent performances won him a start? Will he reward Ospina? I doubt it.

My Team:

Cech

Bellerin    Mustafi    Koscielny     Monreal

Cazorla       Coquelin    Iwobi

Walcott     Sanchez      Ozil

Our bench is awesome and  all riding the pine would be first on the team sheet at ‘Boro.

And what of Boro? Well, as I sit in an airport lounge awaiting a delayed SAS flight, I cannot really tell you. I have been to Middlesbrough and have to say it is an unimpressive town. I was staying at the home of one of the city councillors who very proudly showed me her city. For her sake I feigned interest but have to say I couldn’t wait to return to Islington. To those few Boro fans who can read, if you can move down South of Watford into the light.

We need to take the points this afternoon and many will think anything less than an easy victory will be failure. In the PL this is rarely the case, as we all know “there are no easy games at this level”, but I am hopeful.

Win today and we could go ToTL. Happy Days.

COYRRG

 

 

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Posted by Erik the Red

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