What we learned from the Weekend.

September 11, 2017
  1. Lacazette is worth the money.
  2. We can win without Sanchez.
  3. Mr Wenger’s experiment of playing Bellerin on the left is over.
  4. Kolasinac needs PL experience but looks a fine addition.
  5. Welbeck can finish!
  6. Mustafi central with pacy CB’s outside him works against teams who have no attack
  7. Our midfield excel against teams lacking confidence and ability
  8. We are better without The Ox (but good luck to the chap).
  9. In Xhaka and Ozil we have two wonderful creative players who will propel Lacazette towards 25 goals this season
  10. Arsene will struggle to find game time for Walcott

And from elsewhere:

  1. MU are flat-track bullies and will struggle against better, more organised sides.
  2. Chelsea remain a quality team
  3. De Bruyne is a marvellous player and should be sold to Real Madrid – immediately.
  4. The same can be said for Harry Kane
  5. Liverpool played exceptionally well when beating us and were rubbish on Saturday
  6. West Ham are doomed.
  7. And this hurts to write …. Spurs are serious title contenders.

I also learned that it is not a good idea to go walking in torrential rain

written by Big Raddy

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Posted by Erik the Red

Is a Clean Sheet possible ?

September 9, 2017

Seems an age since we got hammered up at Anfield. Why? Not just the International break but also thanks to the poisonous atmosphere around the club. Let’s be honest, it has never really disappeared despite a decent end to last season and an encouraging win on the opening day. Sadly, it will be just below the surface until Mr Wenger leaves the club. Some people, especially the media want him out and will not be satisfied until he departs, all I can say is “you don’t know what you’ve lost ’til it’s gone”.

Enough of that …

The only way to silence the critics is by playing well and a win today is the start of the process.

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Are Bournemouth ready to be thrashed? I doubt it. They are compact, efficient and organised – they will be tough to beat. In particular Begovic is showing why he such a highly rated GK having left the Chelsea bench. Afobe will be trying to show the club that he should not have been sold. Defoe loves a goal against us.

We all know about Eddie Howe. Could he be the next AFC manager? The name certainly fits – we have had a Howe as manager in the past (Don) and he was an Arsenal legend.

Will Sanchez start after a depressing time with Chile and a long flight? It must be difficult to live under such scrutiny and it is starting to show.

And what of the Back 3 experiment? Like many I would go back to a back 4 which suits our squad but why buy Kolasinac if not to play him as a wing-back?

My Team:

Cech

Mustafi    Koscielny    Monreal

Bellerin    Ramsey    Xhaka    Kolasinac

Ozil

Lacazette     Welbeck

I would love to find a place for Iwobi but it will have to be a 20 minute sub appearance, same with Sanchez. We need to see Lacazette  take a more central and involved role, so far he has been peripheral and for 50+m I expect more. Bellerin has been pants and needs to get a grip or get dropped, though it may help the young Spaniard if he were played in his preferred position (are you reading AW?)

Defensively this has been a carcrash of a start. 8 goals conceded in 3 games. Not good enough. Solution? Play Mustafi on the right of the 3 with a RB in front of him – AW trying Holding and Ox was an unmitigated disaster and quite frankly was one of the most baffling decisions of his 20+ year reign at AFC.

We need a win – nothing else will suffice.

Let it be So

COYRRG

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Koscielny Scores as often as Theo.

February 7, 2016

Anyone saying out loud that they think today will be a regulation 3 points against a newly promoted team is a bare-faced, heinous fibber. How did this come to pass?

How is it that we have one player who cost the sum of the Bournemouth team and yet we are fearful of failure? Is it due to Bournemouth’s excellent team ethic or our team inefficiencies?

If we had played them 5 weeks ago I would be hugely confident of victory – today I am not which points to our malaise rather than B’mouth’s excellence

And this in a ground with a capacity of less than 12,000! (thank you Kelsey)

What is going wrong? Is it just the strikers inability to get the ball in the onion bag? The stats indicate a definite Yes. What is the solution? IMO it is obvious – we buy a better strikeforce but that is for the future, what of now?

Mr W stated at the start of season the importance of the midfield scoring on a regular basis: Ramsey has 4, Ozil 3, the rest … zip. Not good enough. So the burden of goalscoring is firmly at the feet and heads of the strikers – OG is doing well but the others? Sanchez has 6 from 14 starts – OK. Walcott 3 from 14, Campbell 2 from 12.

Given the number of chances created by Ozil alone this a simply not good enough. Koscielny has scored as many as Theo!

Unknown

Ooops, this post is starting to read like a Friday Rant 😀

Positives? We are still challenging despite a poor run of results. A win today puts us equal 2nd. We played very well in the 2nd half against S’ton and if we can reproduce that form (not the shooting accuracy!) we can still win the league.

Onto today. Will BFG return from the naughty step? Given B’mouth rely more on pace than brute force I would hesitate but I love the Big Man almost as much as AW does.I expect him to start.

Campbell or Ox? Ramsey on the right with Elneny alongside Coquelin? OG or Walcott upfront? You guess …

Eyes will be focused upon the performance of Afobe. Should we have kept him? I always come back to “how many ex-players improve after leaving AFC?” Perhaps Nasri, maybe Fabianski, certainly Vela but others? Perhaps Afobe would have improved staying at Arsenal – Arsene clearly thought not. I really wish him well but not this afternoon.

I like Eddie Howe, the man has a big future. Could he manage at a Top 4 club with the huge pressures and resources attached? His career path is likely to be a step up to say Stoke/Spurs and then, if successful, onto Chelsea with their revolving door policy. Then spat out with a golden handshake and a few million in the bank.

Our away form is about the same as our home (6 wins away, 7 home).

All things considered we should win this game but there are huge doubts raised by our recent form.

I am very cautiously optimistic.

COYRRG

 

 

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Posted by Erik the Red

Gabriel and Ox to start?

December 28, 2015

How can our team beat the Northern Oilers and then get absolutely demolished by S’ton? It is so typical of the last 10 years. Unfathomable.

If I had to pick a first 11 out of the 22 that took the field on Boxing Day 10 would be Gunners. Is this my AFC bias? I don’t think so – which is why such a defeat came as major shock. An unlucky one goal loss like WBA away one can understand but a 4 goal drubbing??

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Mr Wenger will be looking to get us back on track today against a surprisingly in-form Bournemouth. Let there be no doubt, B’mouth can leave the Emirates with a good result. A 6 game unbeaten run including wins over Chelsea, WHU and MU are evidence of a team brimming with confidence but today I expect us to recover some pride.

Wouldn’t it be great if the Ox could find some form? The man has unquestionable quality and is one of England’s great hopes but what has happened? Is it confidence, over-training, trying too hard – whatever it is he needs to get back to form or face a career as a squad player.

I would like to see Gabriel start, he is going to be a top CB and needs pitch time to establish a partnership with Kos, though today I would like to see the Frenchman rested after a poor game against the cheating Long.

Chambers in midfield? Surely not. Gibbs instead of Monreal? Unlikely. Ox to play instead of whom? If it is to be Giroud then Theo plays centrally.

We are at home, Leicester have a tough game, we can be top going into 2017.

Let it be so

COYRRG

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