Aston Villa 1 Arsenal 2 : And everybody breathe

January 14, 2014

I was a bit of a silly boy, on Saturday morning I decided to tell everyone that I predicted much laughter as the weekend results were sure to throw up a few results in our favour and at the expense of our rivals.

Well as we all know I got those well and truly wrong with everyone in the top 7 before the weekend winning their matches. So Monday night and a trip to Villa Park for us was starting to worry me, despite our stats at Villa Park it feels to me that they have had an indian sign over us at the Emirates, and maybe they could transfer that to Villa Park for just one night.

Arsène surprised a few of us by including Gnabry in the starting line up, the only other significant surprise was Monreal in place of Gibbs. Although in that left back slot Arsene has somewhat of a luxury as proven tonight, Monreal is a fine player and when Gibbs came on to replace him there was no change in balance or ability.

Villa were not in the game from the kick off, we dominated possession but were struggling to find a way through the parked bus, Lambert adopting the counter attacking game that works so well away from home in the Premier League, from what I have heard and read this seems to be Lambert’s default tactic not necessarily reserved for visits of the big boys, it probably explains Villa’s low points haul at home as visiting Premier League teams will be happy to take a point, only a few will push all out for a win. Anyway this is an Arsenal blog not a Villa one so on with the match report.

Young Serge Gnabry took it upon himself to start vandalising the bus, a left foot drive hit Villa’s centre back Baker on the temple and he was unfortunately stretchered off concussed having been knocked out for a minute or two. It is never nice to see a player stretchered off, but it meant that Lambert had to shuffle his pack from the three centre backs formation he decided to go into the game with, which would open up some space for us eventually.

After the restart we took some time to reestablish our superiority and Villa had a couple of nearly moments. We were controlling possession but not really finding a way through the defensive lines, that was until Özil did what he is brilliant at, dropping out of midfield to receive the ball from our defence he had the ball in space and time, his movement had also created a vacuum in the middle of Villa’s lines, Monreal made a great run into space and Özil did the other thing he is brilliant at put the ball on his toe, looking up Monreal found Wilshere who within two touches had put the ball in the corner of the net.

jw1

Less than 15 seconds from the restart Jack won back possession in Villa’s half, Giroud made a fine run and Jack flighted a gorgeous ball on to his left foot, Giroud took a couple of touches (one may have been a bit fortuitous but what is it they say about making your won luck?) and with his third drove the ball convincingly into the bottom corner. 2-0 time to relax, what was I worried about?

og 1

Both goals showed that technique that Arsène craves in his players, sorting their feet out while moving at pace and under pressure.

We played the first half out at a canter and it is easy to criticise the players for not going for the kill, we still had plenty of possession and plenty of it around the oppositions box, but there was an element of cockiness and there were one too many flicks rather than proper passing and moving.

Unfortunately someone applied the handbrake at half time and no one seemed to be able to find the damned thing in the second half.

Villa grew in confidence and played a bit better than they had in the first half, we continued to be frivolous in possession and made it hard for ourselves to control the game.

With 20 minutes or so to go, Santi gifted possession to Villa deep in our third, and the ball was swiftly delivered into our penalty area where Benteke could not refuse the invitation for a diving header.

We had been relaxing too long and found it difficult to re-establish the upper hand in possession and ended the game conceding a lot of ground and a few too many aerial balls into the box. Thankfully there was no real drama in the remaining minutes of the game and the defence held firm to see out the match and put another 3 valuable points in the bank.

The sad news of the night is that Monreal may be out for a while if as feared he has done a metatarsal, and Rosicky will probably miss a couple of games whilst his nose is realigned. Better news was the return of Oxlade-Chamberlain, and also the return of that change of pace from Jack, it’s still not there every time but he is getting stronger every game, and if he can continue to find those runs and space in the box he should be able to add a few more goals to his tally before the season is out.

Ratings

Szczesny – 7 didn’t really have a lot to do

Monreal – 8 I really like the way he plays, unlucky to get injured when trying to score a third for Arsenal, good assist for the goal.

Koscielny – 7 did very well to keep Benteke and Abonglahor quiet most of the night

Mertesacker – 8 leader

Sagna – 7.5 Some good crossing tonight strong defensively, can’t really fault his performance.

Flamini – 7.5 excellent cover in the latter stages

Wilshere – 8 one goal one assist, returning to form

Özil – 7 bit too quiet for my liking needs to get involved more

Santi – 6 very erratic with his passing

Gnabry – 7.5 thought he was roaming into the hole a bit too often first half which unbalanced the side, clearly has bags of potential

Giroud – 7.5 nicely taken goal, should have done better with an early header, and hold up play lacking

Subs:

Gibbs – 7
Rosicky – broken nose no time to rate
Oxlade-Chamberlain – 7 just for being back, actually made some nice runs and found himself in threatening positions, I’ve missed the lad

Gooner in Exile

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Revenge is a dish best served cold

January 13, 2014

As I sit beside the frozen icy slopes of Zermatt I am reminded that revenge is a dish best served cold. And a January evening in the Midlands is pretty chilly!

To those who cannot recall the first day of the season, we got royally *****ed, a more polite way of saying this would be the the referee on the day had a poor afternoon. As I have little access to the internet, I cannot say who tonight’s ref will be but he will surely do a better job.

Nor can I say who will be in our opponents team tonight but given their recent record I expect the Arsenal to be confident. You chaps will no doubt be able to discuss who will be the cause for concern in their line-up; Benteke may be back on form etc etc.

But ultimately, it will be how AFC perform tonight. Top of the Table, in good form after a brilliant December and on the back of a stunning win over the miscreants (who are no doubt giving it large after beating a relegation threatened Palace), if we play to our potential we should regain our position at the top.

Third just doesn’t feel right does it?

Losing Theo was painful and it will be interesting to see how Mr Wenger copes with his loss.  I think we have enough in the squad should he not be able to buy a top quality fox-in-the-box.

My team (with no injury info)

001f

Someone has to miss out and for an away fixture it has to be Santi, TR has been superb this season and deserves an automatic start, plus he is more defensively aware when Pod ventures forward.

No jokes today, sorry. Just a brief intro to tonight’s match (maybe someone can add something to the post)

May the Footballing Gods bring good fortune down upon the Arsenal.

Big Raddy

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Posted by Erik the Red

The centre-back conundrum that nobody mentions….

January 11, 2014
Since the beginning of the season, Arsenal has been solid defensively in most games (the game against Man City, remaining one important exception) as the team has learned to defend as a block but has also benefited from the strong defensive display of the “Per-Kos” pair and the discipline and dirty work carried out by Flamini and/or Arteta.
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However, Flamini, Metersacker and Koscielny are very much prone to injuries (all three of them!) and/or suspensions (esp. Kos and Flamini). With everybody calling our for a new striker or forward to enhance our bid for our first EPL title in a decade, one should not overlook the importance of having quality defensive players at our disposal…
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If Flamini can be somehow replaced by the likes of Arteta and even by Ramsey/Wilshere/Rosicky on occasion (Will Diaby ever get fit again?), it seems that at the moment, we are a bit short at the centre-back position. Vermaelen is not the “Verminator” anymore and although he is hard-working and committed, his injury and error-prone records in the past two years does not really make him a “truly reliable” back-up. As a result and since our team’s good form this season has been strongly based on our defensive strength, wouldn’t it make sense to (also?) look into purchasing a quality centre-back to give reliable back-up to the “Per-Kos” pair?
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If so, which players could be approached?
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Written by RC78

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Posted by Rasp

2014 Predictions

January 9, 2014

Now that all the turkey leftovers have been consumed, and a long football lull has descended upon us, restless minds wander off in strange directions. Me, I spent some time gathering numbers and drawing charts.

The season is more than half gone, and, to the delight of Arsenal fans around the world, our team is still Top of the League. The difficult Christmas period is over, and each Premier League team has played twenty football matches, ten home and ten away. There are eighteen remaining fixtures, nine home and nine away. The end is still far away, but I cannot resist (can you?) contemplating: Will Arsenal remain TOTL at the end of the campaign?

As it stands, the top five teams are: Arsenal, ManCity, Chelsea, Liverpool, Everton. My numbers and charts tell me the following stories.

Everton:

Good away form, but not so good home record. Nonetheless, if they continue with this performance, they should be in contention for that last, coveted CL spot. I predict they will continue with this level of play to place themselves within striking distance of fourth. Projected 72 pts, predicted 72 pts.

everton

[The left axis shows the number of points gained in a match. The right axis shows the point total. Solid lines are last year’s results. Dotted lines are my predictions. Stars mean home games.]

Liverpool:

A team with a very good home record, but their away form is the worst of the five teams. If they do not improve, they are looking at a fight for fourth. My prediction is that they surely will raise their away form. Unfortunately for them, in the second half of the campaign Liverpool will host all four of their competitors, which will surely deteriorate their fine home record. As the result, I see them finish firmly out of the top three, and it could be worse for them if Everton create a surprise. Projected 74 pts, predicted 73 pts.

liverpool

Chelsea:

So far, Chelsea has gotten the same point results in the equivalent fixtures last season. If they continue to replicate last season’s results, which saw them dropping points to lower teams, including a home draw against Spurs, it might just get them third like before. Judging by this year’s form, which comprise a formidable home record and a decent away one, Chelsea will be in contention for the title. I see them performing slightly worse at home and better away for a close second place. Projected 82 pts, predicted 83 pts.

chelsea

ManCity:

Ten home wins, a perfect record, marred by a pedestrian away form. Amazingly, compared to the point results from the equivalent fixtures last season, they are +10 and would be the darling of the Swingometer, if it were updated. Furthermore, if they continue to replicate last season’s results, they would saunter off with 88 points and the title medals dangling around their necks. With their current away form, the projection puts them just short in the fight for first. In my view, they will improve their away record slightly, but at the same time, I cannot see them continuing their perfect home record. I’ve marked them down as dropping points to Chelsea, and some lower team, with Southampton the strongest challenger. However I must admit that, with weak conviction, I have marked them down in a few places. They are a strong team, but in my dream world they fall surprisingly to third. Projected 84 pts, predicted 82 pts.

mancity

Arsenal:

A red hot away form, but that home opener loss and the draw to Everton weakens Arsenal’s claim to the title. Even so, if they continue to perform like they did in the first part of the campaign, the projection gives them first place. More realistically, I think their away form cannot continue. With trips to Chelsea, Liverpool, and Everton to come, the away average will fall. On the other side, with the exception of the ManCity visit, the remaining home games should be winnable, including the one against ManU. If—and this is a big “if” I admit, especially considering how Arsenal performed at home last year—the Arsenal manage to turn their ground into a fortress, the long awaited silverware will be arriving this year. Projected 86 pts, predicted 85 pts.

arsenal

Putting it all together, Arsenal stay on top when one uses the home+away form of the previous twenty matches to project the final standings. But as discussed, I don’t think the current form will hold. In my predictions, I have conservatively made all head-to-head matches between the top five to be draws, which might be too conservative. All the nuances aside, I see Arsenal remaining on top at the end as well. (Wouldn’t be an Arsenal fanatic if I didn’t.)

summary

For all that, in both the form projection and my guesstimation, the title race appears extremely tight between the three teams: Arsenal, ManCity, and Chelsea. With the projected/predicted gap no more than four points between first and third, if there are no surprises in form, the final games will again be the deciders: Arsenal at Norwich, ManCity hosting West Ham, and Chelsea visiting Cardiff. The two latter matches seem likely wins for the favorites, which will mean many chewed fingernails for Arsenal fans on the last day.

What do you all think? Am I realistic with my game-by-game predictions? Let the argument begin 😀

COYRRG

TwentyTwelve (aka TT)

(*) For comparison, the last column in the table gives the expected point total, if the teams replicated their point results from the ’12-13 campaign for the remainder of the season.

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

Theo replacement?

January 7, 2014

Late yesterday afternoon, the news broke that Theo Walcott would be out for the remainder of the season. t w 2 0 From my point of view there is a terrible irony.

I was about to write a post in which I looked at the current top six sides contesting the League, and decide which team was most vulnerable to an injury to a single player. I was thinking of Toure at City, Brave at Utd and so on.

Guess who I had penned in at The Arsenal?

At some point of last season, I described Theo as our most valuable player. This never meant I considered him our best player, simply most irreplaceable, given what he offered the team in terms of goals, assists, and pace in attack. Against Tottenham, we saw what Theo may offer through the middle. Now, I don’t believe he would be the right choice in that role in every situation, but his performance certainly made me think we could get through this season without recruiting a striker.

Now what? Gnabry has the pace, but I doubt he will have as many goals in him as Theo this season. Ox? Again, pace but, he will not have Theo’s goals yet, I doubt. I have read through yesterday’s comments on here following the news. As would be expected, there are sensible thoughts from both camps ie the need to replace Theo in this window, as well as the “we’ll be ok” camp. My view? No more squad players, therefore serious quality or not at all. The player must offer an alternative attacking and threat to the Ollie/Nick option. In other words pace, power, and goals.

This season we have reached the half way point and are serious contenders for a Trophy. We face a massive opportunity, and the Theo news cannot be viewed as anything but a very serious blow. There is one other point worth remembering. Arsene made a bid for Suarez. This tells you that he is after a world class goalscorer, and I am convinced he would move for one again this summer. Given the position we are in, why would Arsene not move heaven and earth to bring that move forwards to January.

There are three weeks left. I will make one assumption. Arsene knows who his summer targets are, therefore paying over the odds for one of those may prove money well spent.

Written by MickyDidIt89

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

The Rosicky, Gnabry, Walcott Show – Match report

January 5, 2014

I’m really getting into this business of constantly getting tough draws. We’ve had six so far this season: in Europe, we’ve drawn Fenerbahce, the Champions’ League Group of Death and Bayern Munich; in the League Cup, West Brom and Chelsea; and in the FA Cup, Spurs for the Third Round. And most of those ties have proved to be very enjoyable.

Spurs arrived at the Home of Football on a mini-high, having, in their last four games, won three and drawn one. They’d summarily ditched the manager who’d given them one of their best starts to a Premier League season, and given the job to Tim Sherwood, highly thought of within THFC circles but completely lacking managerial experience. And apparently he’s also a Gooner….

Sherwood appears to come from the Harry Redknapp school of thought: all swashbuckling flourishes, and bugger the planning. The answer to the failure of Soldado under AVB was to sacrifice a midfielder by pairing Soldado up with the ever-lovely Emmanuel Adebayor, in a 442 formation. That’s all very well when playing a team with a substandard midfield, like Man United, but, whatever our other faults, that isn’t going to fly when facing this Arsenal side. It’s always going to be tough to avoid ceding complete control of the midfield to us when it’s five quality midfielders against four, especially when one of the four is Aaron Lennon and another, Nabil Bentaleb, was making his full debut.

And so it was. Arsenal bossed the midfield, and that assured us the victory. Arteta was utterly assured throughout. Rosicky was effervescent, his constant movement making it a very uncomfortable evening for anyone in a white shirt (well, a white shirt with a splash of red on it). Wilshere didn’t have quite the performance he had against Cardiff, making some of his old overambitious errors of judgment, but he still had a good match. Cazorla was back to his very best. And Serge Gnabry was tremendous, linking up again and again with his partner in speed, Theo Walcott. Gnabry plays without fear, enabling him to get the best out of his obviously significant talents. He certainly looks to be the real deal.

In defence, Mertesacker was rested, at least initially, with Thomas Vermaelen getting a much-needed run-out. Monreal continued at left-back, with first picks Koscielny and Sagna also chosen. Fabianski got a chance to get his shirt dirty.

The big question for Wenger was what to do up front, with Giroud unwell, Bendtner injured and Podolski having been unconvincing against Cardiff. Walcott got the nod. How would we cope with a short guy up top, when a key component of our success this year has been the solidity afforded to us by tall Giroud’s tireless efforts? It turns out we coped well, very well indeed. Our play was faster than usual, with Walcott (5’9”), Cazorla (5’6”), Rosicky (5’10”), Gnabry (5’8”) and Wilshere (5’7”) buzzing around, quickly exchanging passes and looking for any chance to run at the Spurs defence. It worked a treat.

Spurs had a couple of moments in the first half, including when Eriksen capitalised on an error from Koscielny to go one on one with Fabianski. But Fab stood strong and pushed the near-post shot round the post. Setting such moments aside, Arsenal were the dominant force in the first half. Our diminutive attacking force worked its magic.

Having tested Lloris on a few occasions already, the breakthrough came when Sagna attacked down the right wing, passed inside to Gnabry, who (while Walcott made a decoy run to stretch the defence) fed it to Cazorla, who was in buckets of space. The little Spaniard arrowed a first time shot into the far corner. It was an excellent finish, but it was made easier by Lloris misreading matters, and diving to his near-post.

cazorla v spurs

So we went into halftime with a deserved 1-0 lead over the old enemy. The fly in the ointment was the premature departure at halftime of Vermaelen. I thought it was a preventative step, to avoid the Belgian getting a second yellow card, since he seemed to have been targeted by Spurs after picking up a booking. But after the game I learned that he had in fact suffered a cut knee or shin. In any event, it was a pity for his day to be terminated early, with the BFG being brought on.

If we were the better side in the first half, we were doubly so in the second. Frankly, I was expecting more from our friends from the other end of Seven Sisters Road, but they were pretty lame and tame. Adebayor reverted to type and was anonymous throughout, save when he fluffed his one decent opening (cue lots of laughter). Soldado was poor, and Lennon not much better. Eriksen wasn’t too bad, and was the source of most of their interesting moves, but even he didn’t look a patch on any of his opponents.

Gnabry wasn’t quite as much a force in the second half as he had been in the first, but Rosicky, Cazorla and Walcott remained as energetic as ever, and they were a source of problems for Spurs’ suspect defence and undermanned midfield. The quality of our play and superiority deserved a second goal, and that arrived just past the hour, when Rosicky, breaking after we’d defended a corner, caught Danny Rose in possession on the halfway line. Having stolen the ball from Rose, Rosicky broke forward – Walker tried to make up the gap, but Rosicky held him off and, as Lloris came out, dinked the ball over the Frenchman and into the net.

rosicky v spurs 2014

With Özil and Flamini having been brought on for Arteta (who got a knock) and Wilshere, our remaining substitutes had been used up by the time Walcott picked up a knee injury. We have to hope it will prove not to be serious, Walcott certainly looked fairly chipper as he was carried around the pitch, like a mini Caesar in front of the entire bank of Spurs fans, who took the chance to bait the England man. Some might say it was silly for Walcott to respond, and there is something in that, but I can’t help but smile at the pics of Theo with his “2-0” figure salute. In response, coins rained down on Theo and the stretcher-bearers. And we had to play the remaining ten minutes of the match with ten men, which brought Spurs onto us. But they couldn’t do anything with the advantage, the closest thing to a goal in those minutes being Özil’s effort, which was well saved by Lloris.

And through we went to the 4th Round.

It’s always great to win a North London Derby, even if our superiority deserved at least one more goal, and the FA Cup does retain something of its old appeal, even in these less sentimental times, but perhaps the significance of the match is the success of playing without a hold-up striker. It probably wouldn’t work against sides stacking their defences (Cardiff, Sunderland, West Ham, Chelsea etc), but against the more ambitious teams, who will give us space, it is something we could make more use of. Walcott certainly showed how well he can function in that set-up, so long as he has plenty of support and options from the attacking midfielders behind him. But I am sure Podolski could do very well there too, even if he was off his game in his last match. It will be interesting to see if Wenger deploys it in other matches.

Fabianski: Spurs didn’t give TPIG2 much to do, but he did his job well. Good save from Eriksen. 7/10

Sagna: Excellent game from Bacary. I think he won every aerial battle he had, and didn’t put a foot wrong throughout. Linked up with Gnabry well. 8/10

Koscielny: Dominated Adebayor, generally excellent, but fluffed his lines once when under pressure from Eriksen. 7/10

Vermaelen: Did well, snuffed out Soldado’s one break. Shame that his game was ended early. 7/10

Monreal: Completely blocked off Lennon, and the Malaga link-up with Cazorla was a fertile source of opportunities. 8/10

Arteta: Ran the midfield, made Dembele look ordinary and generally allowed the side to keep its shape. 8/10

Wilshere: Not as good a game as against Cardiff – not that he played badly, but his attempts at creating attacking moves resulted in lost possession on more than one occasion. 6/10

Gnabry: Superb performance from the youngster, especially in the first half. Had a fantastic effort that was only fractionally too high, and linked up brilliantly with others, Walcott in particular. Showed maturity, creativity and bravery throughout. 8/10

Rosicky: What a fantastic performance from our Czech genius. He was everywhere, he seems to become more energetic with time. Great goal, both in its creation and execution. Sign him up, quickly. 9/10 MOTM

Cazorla: Back to his best, he really tormented the Spurs defence. Took his goal clinically. 8/10

Walcott: Fantastic performance from TW14. He and Gnabry were able to threaten Spurs with their combined pace, and lots of good link-up play. As for his injury, all Gooner fingers should be crossed. 8/10

Mertesacker: As ever, the BFG was solid, did everything right. 7/10

Flamini: Did his job well without anything standing out. 6/10

Özil: Nearly scored and played a number of good through balls. He did mess up once when on defensive duties though, and gave away a freekick in a dangerous position. 6/10

Written by 26May1989

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

Arsenal Arsenal’s Friday News Roundup

January 3, 2014

Last Friday:

The Boxing Day win over The Hammers combined with City’s defeat of Liverpool saw us move back to our rightful position at the top of the league. Theo’s tasty twosome got us not just back into the game but put us in the lead, a lead that was consolidated by a gem from the much missed, of late, Lukas Podolski. Theo later claimed that his second strike was the first headed goal that he had scored in the Premiership.

The loss of Ramsey, on his twenty-third birthday, with a thigh sprain was a blow but I’m sure Aaron will be back quite quickly and will be raring to go.

When asked about Podolski’s impact Wenger replied

“Yes we had two real wingers from that moment on and it made a huge difference because we had good width in our game and that created many problems for West Ham”.

One headline I never expected to see appeared in The Telegraph; “Outstanding Mannone takes credit” Yep our former ’keeper Vito played a blinder for Sunderland and kept a clean sheet to ensure a rare win for them at Everton. It’s always nice to read about Arsenal old boys doing well, but only when they are playing against our rivals, of course.

Saturday:

Depending on the outcome of a scan, Ramsey could be out for a minimum of four weeks, if the injury proves to be only a strain, or eight weeks if it’s a tear. Let’s all hope it proves to be the former, we need our Welsh Wizard back as soon as possible.

City scraped a one nil home win over lowly Crystal Palace to leap frog us into first place, a position we can regain with three points away to the Barcodes on Sunday lunchtime.

Sunday:

Arsene made four changes as Ozil had a slight shoulder problem and Vermaelen was sick, so Koscielny returned at centre back and Rosicky came into mid-field, while Wilshere and Flamini replaced Arteta and Ramsey.

Despite the interest Arsenal displayed last summer, Wenger confirmed that he had not made a bid for Toon’s French mid-fielder Cabaye, although no mention was made of the player with regard to the up-coming transfer window.

The faintest of headers by Giroud from a lovely Walcott free-kick and it was one nil to the Arsenal…. Enough to take us back up where we belong.

Speaking to

http://www.arsenal.com after the match Arsene was happy with the win;

“I am very happy. It was a very intense game against a good Newcastle team. We got a big physical challenge today. Overall I felt that we were in control of the game until we scored the 1-0. We missed a second chance that would have certainly sealed the game. In the last 15 minutes we have shown another aspect of our team – resilience, fight. We threw our bodies in the box. You have seen today a technical aspect of our team that was quite good but as well a mental aspect that was needed in a game of that stature”.

Monday:

Olivier Giroud speaking to French TV has said Wenger need not buy a new striker in January;

“If the coach wants me to rest, he can do it without buying a new striker,’ Lukas Podolski is having a good come-back. Theo Walcott can play as a striker. We have the quality and the quantity. I would rather not see a new striker come in”.

Is it significant that he made no mention of Bendtner?

In my mind Olly has done a brilliant job for us but both Poldolski and Walcott offer very different talents to our French striker and to use either of them in his place would bring about a significant change in our playing style. I agree with him to an extent, I don’t want us to sign any old striker just for the sake of it, but I wouldn’t be averse to us signing a top, top goal scorer.

Tuesday:

The manager’s press conference must have been a gloomy affair, the list of injuries, which had been steadily shrinking recently, suddenly reached crisis proportions.

Ramsey; out for three weeks.

Ozil; out for the Cardiff game and awaiting assessment.

Monreal and Vermaelen are doubts following sickness.

Walcott shoulder problem, Rosicky calf problem, both will be assessed later in the day.

Giroud ankle problem and Gibbs calf strain are both likely to miss the Cardiff game.

Wilshere no specific injury but will be subject to a medical check.

The one glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel is represented by Oxlade-Chamberlain who is one week away from normal training. Let’s all hope and pray that the light in the tunnel is not the injury express roaring towards the remnants of our squad.

Even without a crystal ball it’s easy to predict a much weakened starting eleven for the next two games at least.

Vermaelen, if fit, can fill in at left-back, otherwise Sagna can cross over with Jenkinson on the right. The midfield and attack would probably be a mix of Arteta, Flamini, Cazorla, Gnabry, Podolski and Bendtner.

I suspect that one or two of the injured players may be available, at least I hope that’s the case.

Thirty-three year old Tomas Rosicky’s contract is due to expire in the Summer. The MLS could be a destination for our little Mozart. Arsenal’s policy of offering only one year contracts to players over thirty could be a problem. Tomas is quoted as saying

“I would like to carry on at Arsenal but there are a few question marks. If I should leave, then I would be tempted to play in the USA.”

Rosicky has been a revelation over the past twelve months, can we afford to lose him? I don’t think so!

Wednesday:

Naturally with the opening of the transfer window all the “news” is about players, we will sign, players we might sign and players who want to sign. So nothing of any importance there.

A piece of news relevant to Arsenal was the disclosure that Chelsea had made a £49.4 million loss for the 2012/2013 season, a significant step back from the £1.4 profit the previous year. However, when calculated over the two seasons allowed by UEFA, and taking into account other write offs, it is expected that the Chavs will have made a loss of £33 million, just inside the limit of £37.5 which would have put them in breach of the Financial Fair Play rules. They will have to make drastic cuts in their expenditure next season or they will almost certainly break the rules.

The era of buying expensive players and paying exorbitant wages could be over at he Bridge and the playing field may just have been levelled out a little.

Thursday:

Gunners back on top!

Following the late Bendtner winner and the even later Walcott strike it was a return to the top of the Premiership after City had briefly usurped our position with their close victory over Swansea City.

The goal came at a price, Nik injuring an ankle in the process of scoring it, so will be out of action for around three weeks.

Another result saw Tottenham overtake United in the race for a Europa League place with a 1 – 2 win at Old Toilet. Manager Moyes almost suffering apoplexy due to the refusal of ref. Howard Webb to award the obligatory penalties to the home side, he later rubbed salt in the wound by booking Januzaj for diving.

In transfer speculation the Sun seems to think Arsenal are chasing Berbatov, it wont be much of a chase as the former Man U striker seldom moves faster than an arthritic aardvark with a hangover.

With both Giroud and Bendtner injured will Arsene step up the search for a new striker? Will it be Henandez, will it be Berbatov, will it be Diego Costa or maybe Alvaro Morata? Which one would fit in best? Which one would you like?

Only one more game to go, The FA Cup third round tie with Spurs, before our nine day winter break, so it should be a revitalised side that goes to Villa Park to exact revenge for the opening day defeat.

That’s it for another week.

Norfolk Gooner.

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

An epic climax ……Match thoughts

January 2, 2014

I enjoyed that game more than any other this season, and I was at The Emirates to witness the stunning beauty of those twenty minutes against Napoli.

First up though, I’d like to begin by talking about Sex, Baby. So, if you’re very old, then cast your minds back, and if you’re very young, then tune in, listen and learn.

Two versions to consider here. Both equally valid. One, the tantric style Sting and Trudie slow build up version with an epic climax, and second, what I’ll call The Pamela Anderson, out back for a relieving fast and furious quickie.

Alright, I think you can guess where I’m going with this. There are different types of match day experience. Some all thinky tactical beardy stuff, and some just raw passion. For all of the musicians on here, think of the kind of stripped bare, acoustic, no frills, distortion pedalless, nothing synthesized, pure stuff.

This game was always going to be about getting stripped down, no frills, no toys, just pure muscle flexing, sweating, teeth gritting love, drive, passion and above all patience.

Ok, the first half was pretty dull, the weather dreadful, and I felt for the poor sodden fans. Things is, there’s no such thing as a Free Lunch, as the expression goes. What they were treated to was one of those nailbiting, exhilhirating, edge-of-seat, tension filled, ballbreaking finales. Fantastic, my favourite.

Ok, so some days the sun shines, the football is elegant, and we dominate. Two up in twenty minutes, and cruising all the way to the line. Like some of that too, but, there’s no tension.

In terrible stormy conditions, Cardiff sailed up the M4, and floated their defensive flotilla in front of their goal. Fair enough, I thought. Good plan. Right then, what could we do about it.

We started with a front four of Podolski, Theo, Jack and Santi, and I wouldn’t have been alone in thinking that this could well turn out to be quite exciting. It didn’t. The first half was pretty dire. However, for me, this meant the second half had to be dramatic, as however it panned out, things were going to get edgy if we didn’t score early. We didn’t. Per came damn close with a couple of headers which surely would have found the net on any other day. Oh well, shit happens.

Boy, did the Lads do us proud though. 100% efforting going on all over the place. My MOTM Jack Wilshere was energy, thrust and die-for-the-cause energetic. Santi too, although far from the incredible form of last season, probed and kept trying to find the eye of the needle threaded ball needed to open up a packed defence. Into the last 10 at 0-0, and things were getting a little tense.

Crikey, now only two minutes of the ninety left.

Yessssssss, Nic Bendtner smashes home into the roof of the net. Brilliant, bloody brilliant. Can we hold on? Verm on for the injured Nic. Cripes, we’re going defensive. Brace yourselves peeps, things could get messy. Bugger, five minutes of Fergie time. Yessssssssss, Theooooooo. What a class finish with a delicate dink over the keeper in the 92nd. Three whole minutes for the fans to finally relax, sing and dance. What a finale, what a climax.

The team and the fans earned that, although our very own Chas, who was at the game, has just mentioned that “the moaning was reaching a crescendo” just prior to the Nic goal. Let’s not forget that breaking down a massed defence is not easy, whoever you are. Winning like that happens to be what Champions do.

Very much an afternoon for Sting Fans.

What a start to 2014. Top of The League, and now you’d better believe it.

Written by MickyDidIt

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

Old wine, or new bottle, or old wine in new bottle?

December 31, 2013

End of the year, and part of the ritual is to take stock, and look forward towards the future with glorious plans and renewed expectations. And what a fantastic year this has been for Arsenal fans! At the midway stage in the Premier League last year, Arsenal was lying 7th, well off the pace for Champions League qualification, and even off Spursday football places. Qualifying second in their group, Arsenal faced a tough round of 16 encounter against Bayern Munich, one of the best teams in Europe at that stage. With significant changes to the Board, a new owner in tow, there were uncertain times for the club management. The fans were up in arms, with substantial ammunition provided by a negative press, dubious pundits and even the Arsenal Supporters Trust. Difficult times indeed!

But Arsenal managed to make a fantastic turnaround. Attaining qualification for CL was nothing short of a miracle! Yes, Arsenal lost out in a two leg epic battle against eventual winners Bayern, but before that showed their mettle in an amazing 2-0 away victory. Despite all the negativity, good progress was made in the summer transfer window. The progress continued in the current season, and Arsenal is sitting at the Top of the Premier League at the halfway stage. Qualification to the Champions League was gained from the aptly termed “Group of Death”. Grudging acknowledgement of Arsenal’s strength and mettle is gently arising from beneath the rubble of disdain and the green fumes of envy. Indeed, if the league was played over the calendar year, Arsenal would have been Champions of 2013. Oh, what a year this has been!!!

 

per and kosser

All in all, a good year in prospect. There are plenty of challenges yet to be met. Plenty of time still before we even begin to celebrate the achievements of this team. But, also plenty of positive vibes and expectation in tow. So AA ers, looking towards the future, what did we learn new about Arsenal this year, and what were we reminded of afresh, that we did not know with so much certainty one year back? Let us discuss. Here are a few of my tentative suggestions. It was not all rosy, though. Injuries continued through the year. The squad seems a bit thin. Progression to the round of 16 in the Champions League was gained, but only in second place. Like last year, we have drawn Bayern Munich. Lovely games in prospect, but significant challenges as well. And if the vitriol from the fans is a bit subdued due to the sustained run of fine results and resilience in the field of play, the negativity from the press and pundits continues unabated. Perhaps most importantly, whether by luck or design, Arsenal continues to be at the receiving end of poor refereeing decisions. Alas, some things never seem to change!

First, same time last year we did not know what a fantastic central defensive partnership, together with a very competent goalkeeper, we were developing. Indeed a large part of our success this year owes itself to the fantastic defensive pairing of Per and Kos. What a duo!!! And what a great leader in our beloved BFG! When Verms got injured, who would have thought we would have such a strong defence where even a fit squad captain cannot find a place?

Per and kossser 2

Second, one of the best revelations of the year was the discovery that Ramsey had developed into such a fantastic player. He was the subject of much of the blame and vitriol during our indifferent showing in 2012. Perhaps somewhat undeservedly. But our beloved Rambo rubbed all these adversities off his shirt, returned in style from his long standing injury, and has grown to the stature of one of the best midfielders in the League, perhaps in Europe as well.

Ramsey

He has shown a very mature head as well, leading for his country at a very young age. In tow, Jack Wilshere is developing into a fine player, if somewhat idiosyncratic on occasions. Together with Theo, the Ox, Gibbs and Jenks, they also form a British core to the team which had been somewhat deficient for a while. Who would have thought a year back that Rambo would develop into such a fantastic and dependable player, and Jack’s game will be coming along so nicely as well?

The English players

Third, one of the most encouraging developments of the year, at least for me, was the maturity with which the owner Kroenke, Gazidis and the Board conducted themselves. Perhaps the best development was that the Board did not interfere in footballing matters, leaving team and signing decisions to the people who know best, led by one Arsene Wenger. If you think that this is not a surprise, look around at other clubs. Several clubs have met with significant disasters as a result of owner power, such as the Spuds, Cardiff and even the Chavs, and in some others the environment is not very nice even if the performance has not been equally devastating.

The principles of the club, that a fantastic team can be developed without wasting money on the wasteful purchase of overpriced bench idols, was not compromised by a new owner and a new look Board. Surely, this was not a given at the start of the year, after the club had gone through a rather aggressive ownership contest and change of hands.

Fourth, amid the mantra of financial fairplay and traditional hesitancy to spend big money, and the recovery from an expensive move to the Emirates, who would have thought that Arsenal would spend their money where it mattered most?

Ozil

In the procurement of one Mesut Ozil, who despite his tentative adjustment to English football and the Arsenal way of playing the game, has given the team something really special, Arsenal showed purpose and ambition, and real ability to deliver trophies. This came together with the free transfer of one Mathieu Flamini – ah, what a fantastic transfer move!

flamini

Fifth, against the backdrop of significant unrest and disquiet among good-weather fans, ably supported by the press and pundits, who would have thought that the positive outlook of a sane fan-base would shine through? The struggle against the doubters and doomday-usherers still continues in earnest, in ArsenalArsenal and elsewhere, but The Home of Football still reverberates with the positive chants and outlook towards the new dawn awaiting in the New Year!!!!

AA ers, what do you think? My final thoughts are:

COYG! Onwards and Upwards!! A fantastic year 2014 awaits!!!!

Written by arnie

Arsenal Record 2013 Calendar Year

P W D L F A GD Pts
38 25 7 6 70 34 36 82

Where would 82 points put us in seasons past?

SEASON Winners P W D L F A GD Pts AFC on 82 points
2008-09 Utd 38 28 6 4 68 24 44 90 4th
2009-10 Chavs 38 27 5 6 103 32 71 86 3rd
2010-11 Utd 38 23 11 4 78 37 41 80 1st
2011-12 Oilers 38 28 5 5 94 29 65 89 3rd
2012-13 Utd 38 28 5 5 86 43 43 89 2nd

Chart by MickyDidIt

2013 Calendar Year League Table

P W D L F A GD Points vs Top 7 Total Home Total Away
Arsenal 38 25 7 6 70 33 37 82 10 19 19
Shitty 38 25 5 8 86 39 47 80 10 19 19
Chavs 38 23 8 7 71 40 31 77 10 20 18
ManUre 38 23 8 7 70 37 33 77 11 19 19
Spuds 38 21 10 7 55 46 9 73 10 19 19
Dippers 38 21 9 8 87 39 48 72 9 18 20
Everton 38 18 13 7 54 35 19 67 11 20 18
Toon 38 16 6 16 51 62 -11 54 13 19 19
Southampton 38 12 15 11 49 43 6 51 13 19 19
Villa 38 11 10 17 50 58 -8 43 11 20 18
Swansea 38 10 12 16 44 54 -10 42 12 18 20
Norwich 38 9 11 18 37 62 -25 38 12 20 18
Fulham 38 11 5 22 39 67 -28 38 12 19 19
West Ham 38 9 11 18 41 57 -16 38 12 19 19
Stokies 38 8 11 19 34 60 -26 35 11 19 19
WBA 38 7 13 18 45 61 -16 34 12 18 20
Sunderland 38 7 10 21 36 62 -26 31 12 19 19

Stat Overkill by GiE

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Posted by peachesgÖÖner

Slog On The Tyne: Arsenal Report and Player Ratings.

December 30, 2013

So we enter 2014 as the star on top of the Premier League Christmas tree.

Will we still be there at the end of May? Who knows, but if we are it will be thanks – in large part – to grinding out difficult wins like yesterday’s at Newcastle.

Toon have been one of the EPL’s form teams in recent weeks so going up there three days after playing another away fixture and coming home with all three points should not be underestimated. Coming away with the win was hard slog indeed and made a fitting end to a year in which we have been the best team in the country, bar none.

If the league title was played from January to December, we would be Champions.

There were a number of reasons to be concerned before the kick-off yesterday: injuries or illness to Ramsey, Ozil, Monreal and Vermaelen had severely reduced the manager’s options; Olivier Giroud was on a long non-scoring run and the referee – Lee Probert – has previously shown himself blind to fouls committed on Arsenal players.

Nevertheless we started brightly, moving the ball well and finding our players at close range for little give-and-gos.

Unfortunately whenever our moves reached the point where we could hurt the opposition we chose precisely that moment to misplace a pass, miscontrol the ball or chose the wrong option entirely.

Even superb technicians like Santi Cazorla were found wanting.

To a degree we seem, as a team and a squad, to be slightly off our game at the moment (perhaps the result of mental and physical fatigue from a recent unhelpful schedule that might have been devised specifically to harm our prospects).

Newcastle, to their credit, worked hard to deny us space and to ‘get in our faces’. They are a big, physical team with some talented players and it was easy to see how they have been getting good results. I noticed before the game that several of the “experts” were tipping this game as a good bet for a home win.

Newcastle were set up pretty defensively against us so it was no surprise that Theo Walcott, in particular, had little space to exploit.

Referee Probert, true to form, was letting quite a few clear fouls on Arsenal players go unpunished but, in fairness, he also overlooked several fouls by our players. However, for the second game running there was an off-the-ground jumping tackle on one of our players (Williamson on Giroud) that went completely unpunished when, at the very least, a yellow card was merited. It seems like it will take another leg break before we start getting protection from this sort of recklessness.

In the first half we managed to get off a few shots from medium distance, but the ball was magnetically drawn to Tim Krul’s midriff on each occasion.

Newcastle came on strong in the last couple of minutes before the break, forcing a fine save from Szcesny from a long distance effort and hitting the crossbar with a speculative lob.

Half time 0-0.

The second half continued much like the first with Arsenal having the majority of possession and looking like the better team, without fashioning clear goal scoring opportunities.

Newcastle were most dangerous down our left flank where Gibbs was often up against two players because Cazorla had been pulled infield.

But the real battle was in central midfield – a place where Newcastle have been particularly strong and combative this year

Tomas Rosicky and Matthieu Flamini were our stand-out performers, constantly breaking up Toon moves, winning tackles and keeping the ball moving when we were in possession. Rosicky also looked the most likely to provide a breakthrough going forward.

Jack Wilshere also had a very combative game. He has a tendency to turn into trouble and over-elaborate on occasion but I thought this was a much better performance from him than in recent outings. His overall pass success rate was 83% – but it was 100% in our defensive third of the field, 90% in the middle third and 67% in the attacking third, where he was trying lower percentage options. Defensively, he won two third of his tackles. He has also been reading Arsenal Arsenal I reckon, because his body language was much better and he (mostly) got straight back up after being fouled/falling over.

The breakthrough, when it finally came, was from our handsome, non-scoring French centre forward.

Not much had been working for Olivier Giroud (a lot of his lay-offs went to black-and-white shirts) but, as ever, he laboured tirelessly for the team, taking his usual quota of knocks into the bargain.

But when Theo Walcott floated a beautifully weighted free kick into the box, Ollie got a slight contact with his head – just enough to guide the ball past Krul’s left hand.

og

What a pleasure it was to hear “one nil to the Arsenal” ringing around St James’s Park. It goes without saying that our away fans were fantastic (and were just a fraction louder than usual, thanks to the presence of Chas and Ant).

Soon afterwards we almost made it 2-0, when Theo managed to get a toe-end on a through ball which then rebounded back to him off Krul. Theo’s second stab at it – a little lob – was goal bound but was headed onto the crossbar and out by an alert Toon defender. The ball then came to Giroud on our right of the six yard box for a gilt-edged chance to at least threaten the net. Sadly Ollie showed why many people still have doubts about him as a finisher, shanking the ball away from goal. In comments yesterday Rasp put this down to his lack of a decent right foot.

Gibbs was removed with an injury and Flamini moved to left back, while Arteta slotted into midfield.

Then came perhaps the hottest debating point of the game. With about 15 minutes to go, Arsene Wenger opted to go completely on the defensive, taking off Walcott, putting Carl Jenkinson at right back and moving Sagna into the middle to give us three centre backs. In post game interviews he said this was because the team was looking tired and he thought it better to close out the game. He even referenced mistakes from previous seasons where we had let in goals late on through not being defensive enough.

According to some who commented yesterday it was tactically astute and enabled us to cope with the extra forward players that Alan Pardew (Arsene, Arsene knock him out, Asrene, knock him out) had thrown on to try and salvage a point.

To me it seemed crazy. It led to a final quarter of an hour that made The Alamo seem like a pyjama party as we basically said to Newcastle: “OK, you have the freedom of the park to bombard our goal.”

There were numerous Toon crosses into dangerous areas; countless heart-in-mouth moments as the ball bounced around our penalty area; last ditch clearances and headers; frantic hoof-outs from the back.

We failed to control the ball for more than 10 seconds at a time and were, in my opinion, slightly fortunate not to have conceded.

Meanwhile with Walcott off and a ponderous Giroud up front, there was never any chance of countering with speed.

The one real counter-attacking opportunity came when Tim Krul came up for a Newcastle corner. We cleared the ball and got a throw-in in their half. Krul was desperately legging it back up the field. All it needed was a quick throw-in from Jenkinson to the screaming Bendtner (who was on for Giroud) and Bendy would have had an open goal to aim at (albeit from about 40 yards out).

Unfortunately young Carl had been possessed by the Eboue fairies and as he diddled and dawdled the chance went begging.

The final whistle, when it came, was a huge relief.

In summary, we deserved the three points for being the better team for 75 minutes, but boy did we make it tough on ourselves at the end.

Player Ratings

Szczesny: one great save from a long range shot; some fine work as we were under siege at the end… but there were a couple of howlers from our young Pole in this game. Following his gift to Carlton Cole a few days earlier I hope the carelessness of last season is not creeping back into his game because he has been fantastic so far. 6

Sagna: very solid defensively and offered plenty going forward: 7

Mertesacker: thank Dennis for the BFG. We really needed his calm head and composure in this game and he was excellent during the final onslaught. 7.5

Koscielny: back in the side and back to his best – which he needed to be at times. 7.5

Gibbs: had real problems in the first half because Cazorla was caught inside and the Toon fullback kept making overlapping runs. Overall though he was as solid as we have come to expect and contributed to our attack when he could. 7

Flamini: a very good game from the Frenchman, tackling hard, covering brilliantly at times and doing well when forced to move to left back after Gibbs’s injury. His pass success was an outstanding 95%. 7

Wilshere: better than in recent outings. His defensive work was solid but he still has a tendency to run or pass into trouble at times. 6

Cazorla: some good moments from the wee Spaniard, but too often his touch was off where it really mattered – in and around the opposition penalty area. 6

Rosicky: all action from start to finish and our stand-out performer. Without Tomas it’s unlikely we would be coming home with three points. 8

Walcott: Newcastle’s approach to the game meant there was little or no chance to exploit his pace. But he made the goal with a beautiful free kick and was very unlucky not to have scored. 7

Giroud: was having one of those games until he scored. You can’t fault his effort, but he will still need to do more to convince some people that we don’t need an extra striker in the January window. He gets an extra point because of the goal. 7

Substitutes

Arteta: seemed a bit off the pace. 6

Jenkinson: aside from falling asleep when he could have given Bendtner a chance at an empty net, he did his defensive work well. 6

Bendtner: did all he could for the short while he was on. 6

RockyLives

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