Once More We Visit The Bridge Of Sighs
Oct 6th, 2014 by 'holic
Taking the day after the match off was a good idea. Leaving the post until the morning after equally so. A strange day ended with us nine points, but not light years, behind Chelsea. You have seen the match, and read other match reports. I’ll give an impression of the day from one perspective rather than add to those.
It turned into a strange day. My inability to read a ticket, and my assumption about the size of the fixture, meant I planned for a 4pm kick-off, only to be told by text that it was the early match while I made a tortuous journey to south-west London. The anticipated sightseeing and lunchtime session turned into a hurried couple of pints before joining the queues to get into the Shed. We were held outside for what stewards advised was an ‘incident’. Once inside all became clear, or rather not. A hint of red in the air, acrid smoke. Some thoughtless plum who presumably knows nobody with COPD or asthma thought it fun to let off a flare in a confined space by the bar.
The resulting shut down of the refreshment facilities meant an early ascent of the upper tier steps to a cramped seat. You can’t all sit at Chelsea, even if you wanted to, and so stand and sing we did. You will have your own take on how it all unfolded, and I will not change entrenched views. Suffice it to say this was far from the embarrassing surrender of last season. We were encouraged early on, but that is to be expected, I suppose. Mourinho has his way of playing big clubs, which involves having all eleven players in their own half for large swathes of the contest, and breaking with lung-bursting pace.
It isn’t pretty, as a million tweeters confirmed, but I can’t help to think back to the latter years of the George Graham reign, when we would do the same to the big sides we faced. Once again the tactic worked, and until Arsene registers a win away to a rival it will continue to be a stick to beat him with. The spat with his irksome opposite number, amusing at the time, is a sign of the tensions he still feels on such occasions, and totally understandable too.
The incident that sparked that confrontation was a vile lunge on Alexis by Cahill. A clear red card offence to all but the hapless official. I’ll be quick to point out others should have followed and he was totally incompetent for both sides. It was a day Atkinson will want to forget, although hopefully his bosses will not let him do so when assessing his performance. That was however a game-changing moment, whereas Welbeck’s equally poor challenge at the end of the match wasn’t.
We had looked more likely to score in the opening 27 minutes but our failure to do so handed Chelsea the opportunity to succeed with their rope-a-dope tactics. Creating little, it was not a surprise they got the advantage with a penalty, when Hazard was alllowed far too easily to make a mazy run into the box and square up Koscielny, drawing the inevitable clumsy challenge. It was a clear penalty from over a hundred yards away on a narrow perch in the gods. Another decision for St Francis of Assisi to duck.
In the aftermath Jack Wishere was quoted on www.arsenal.com thus…
“We are playing against teams who, when you are on top, you have to make it count or they will punish you. That is what they did.”
A perfect summation of the day, and so many recent awaydays against good sides. Had we scored first Chelsea would have faced a decision about when to open up in search of an equaliser and present us with an opportunity to double our advantage. They didn’t need to, and the second-half followed a similar pattern to what had gone before. Jack himself missed the clearest opportunity to level matters, but a rare heavy touch at the wrong moment cost us dearly.
Yet more controversy after the break when Cesc Fabregas batted away Jack’s drive with a flailing arm. That would be a penalty nine times out of ten. This was the tenth. Calum Chambers let fly but cleared the crossbar. It wasn’t our day, a fact confirmed when Costa lobbed the hesitant Szczesny. Presumably the ‘keeper feared another red card situation?
That there were frustrations among some of the traveling faithful can’t be denied. To an extent that is understandable, although the abuse dished out by a very few to our own is not. As stated earlier, until we beat a title rival on the road the undercurrent of dissatisfaction will continue to flow unabated. So huge and diverse is the fanbase it would be remarkable in the extreme if we all largely agreed about the state of the club, at any given point in time.
So once more we ventured out onto Fulham Road, a little despondent rather than distraught. A couple of pints of HSB at Paddington cheered briefly. Match of the Day highlighted Chelsea’s disruptive rotational fouling, and although that is a valid point, we have to learn to deal with it because they are not the only team to engage us so.
There will be better days to come at the Bridge, for sure. I hope I am there then.
269 Responses to “Once More We Visit The Bridge Of Sighs”
Rolls in….
Excellent picture of a frustrating day………I hope too that you will be there and I’m quite sure that you will. Enjoy the day off.
It’s quite heartening, isn’t it, to being playing this season in reverse? By that I mean actually trailing in the league until the final quarter and then coming from behind to win it. I had begun to tire of the other approach, that which requires Arsenal to lead the table for most of the season only to see some leg breaker neutralise our liveliest forward (almost happened again yesterday) or the wind be removed from our sails by loss, simultaneously, of five of the best players in the European game, or some other tiresome set-back.
O.K. we’re playing without five of our best at the moment, but doesn’t that make it even better? I like this plan, lose them early to broken tibia’s knackered ankles, cruciates, hips and tonsils – and then for the first time ever, have a completely fit squad for the run in. Magic strategy, Arsene. I love it.
And most pleasing of all, our weakened squad didn’t look weakened at all for much of yesterday’s game. Arsene has bought well. Wasn’t it a delight to watch Chambers yesterday. He’s only how old?
I couldn’t quite believe that Cahill wasn’t dismissed, nor that the Fabregas hands penalty wasn’t given. But it’s the scores on the doors at the end of 90 minutes that decide where the points go and, on the day, the doors didn’t reflect in our favour (resists temptation to get into comments on lighting fires, baby and breaking through to the other side of the bus stop etc).
For those bemoaning a nine point differential in October, there is some good news. The season finishes in May.
Great work, Holic. You’re a tonic.
And you maestro. A much needed one this morning 🙂
Top 4 on a technicality 🙂
Fine review maestro.
Onwards.
Congratulations on your top four trophy, baff. Clearly no ambition, you should have bought a more expensive laptop and a higher-speed broadband connection and maybe you would have had a chance to get in first. #inbathwerust #bathout #bkb
😛
That was however a game-changing moment, whereas Welbeck’s equally poor challenge at the end of the match wasn’t.
Aye. The game was over and done with by then. And equally game-changing was Atkinson’s decision to never award Oscar a yellow until the game was already decided.
Nice one Holic.
You and BTM far too upbeat for many of the pant-wetters I suspect, but I’m with you guys, there WILL be better days ahead.
Also, it is only a matter of time until someone get pitchside and actually belts Mourinho for real, and I personally cannot wait till it happens.
My money is on tabs. 😎
heh Lars @7.
Spot on Lars @8
Zico 🙂
Brilliant post. One quick question, was the dna boy booed by our section of the crowd?. If so, let me congratulate one and all who did and yes i am a sadist.
I commented in the previous post and i do so here as well. Our inability to break defences is alarming, they havent changed tactics, we have been unable to change ours. I am not blaming anyone here but the apparent lack of pace which i believe was the only way to beat chelsea was not utilized at all. Azpilacueta hardly had a thing to do and Ivanovic had Sanchez’s number yday. I do not understand this insistence of playing jack in the middle and not Ozil. Well i can ramble on but the sad fact is we just do not seem to know how to beat them and that is worrying.
Nice post ‘Hols, but I’m not sure I can call ourselves “title rivals” with a straight face at the moment. I’ll be glad to be proven wrong in May.
In answer to Vinay @ 11 yes, some did – most noticeable when he took a corner down our end. I sort of wished they hadn’t actually, as I think it makes us look a bit bitter. He left ages ago, he’s just another player who plays for someone else now.
Anyway, fine post Holic. Striking the right balance between acknowledging the progress we’ve made since last year, and disappointment that we still haven’t moved as far on as we’d like is not easy, particularly against that lot.
And zico @ 9 – 😉
All well put, ‘Holic. That better day can’t come soon enough to get this particular monkey off our backs.
Zico@9: You could sell tickets for that…
Joe@393 in the previous drinks: tip of the tifter to you. Top post.
Looking forward, I think the next 4-week stretch of games will be a vitally important, potentially defining part of the season for us. I’ve generally been quite lenient and content with what I’ve seen so far – recognising we’ve been integrating new faces and returning WC players, had a tricky run of PL fixtures (not forgetting that dicey CL playoff v Besiktas), and we’ve only actually been beaten once in the lge – in a lot of those draws (Everton aside) we were the better side and with a tad more luck/application should have won.
All that said, come October 18, the time for mitigating circumstances is over. We’ve got a run of 4 winnable PL fixtures and a CL double-header with Anderlecht, and I want to see us hit the ground running with these games starting with Hull. I certainly want to see a return of no worse than 10 points from those 4 lge games, and if Dortmund can win 3-0 in Brussels, I think we should be aiming to beat Anderlecht home and away and hoping that Dortmund drop points in Istanbul.
Touch wood the squad comes back fine from the international games. Arteta will be back, Walcott should hopefully have 2 weeks worth of first-team training under his belt, and Ramsey will probably be back by the end of the month. Reasons to still be optimistic, but now it’s time to deliver!
I suppose I was sitting there waiting for a mistake, which inevitably came. Where was our athletic DMF to take the ball off Hazzard?
It then became much more difficult to break the blues down. Why didn’t we use our pace to get behind them? Our build up was far to ponderous and predictable which played into their hands. I thought we had moved on from tippy tappy through the middle, seems not.
As for the “handbags at dawn” Arsene really let himself down, Maureen is not worth the indignity of stooping down to his level.
This last week we have witnessed two Refs who were totally gutless. Was Atkinson scared of Maureen’s reaction and ducked out of the Cahill assault on Sanchez?
Delia,
Yes and yes.
Atkinson is a wankhammer.
Good stuff, Holic. Waiting for that day. 😉
BtM, nice angle. You could sell a cup with a hole in.
Snowy,
Cesc turned out not to be the Messiah, but just a very naughty boy.
Kind of agree with you though.
Bath, 5th is NOT a trophy. 4th is ! 😉
Zico, a Scotsman wanting to see a punch up. Who knew ? 😉
Delia,
Arsene did let himself down by not pushing the odious little turd right over backwards.
Did you see his grin as he walked away from the referee’s telling off ?
And Rosicky and Podolski laughing on the bench as Arsene went back to Mourinho for Round 2 ?
Brilliant.
Well presented, Delia.
Completely overlooked by most everyone in Atkinson’s horror show was his most impactful call — doling out a yellow to Chambers for a next to nothing foul, with what he probably thought was a makeup call to balance the one on Cahill. That left the young fella walking the tightrope all day vs. Hazard, and, if you watch the replay on Hazard’s run on The Arsenalist, Calum was actually within closing down distance outside the box, and would have stopped him with a foul, but probably reckoned he couldn’t take that chance — he’d have been sent off and so had to let Hazard go.
Good stuff ‘holic. Much to agree with above and in the previous set of drinks, and a certain amount not to.
Which is just as it should be.
COYG
Hi everyone,
Holic, Bit awkward to say I enjoyed your report, because you clearly encountered difficulties just getting to the game. But your detailed background reporting, is one thing in particular, I always look forward to. Didn’t know The Shed wasn’t an all seater. Real shame about the flare incident, yet another example of ‘bullying’.
What we all need to take from this is what you closed with. a nugget that one. That and the reality we will face poor decisions by refs in the future and must be strong enough to overcome it with our play. 😉
By closing with, meant Holic’s gem, right above his last sentence! 🙂
Gregiore@16, am with you 100%. I see no reason why we cant get all 12pts in the next four games. Like I said in the last drinks, thank God the PL wont be won in October, because everyone is already crowning Chelshit as champions. We don’t have no more excuses. And Wenger needs to start feeding ozil some real food, don’t know what the heck he is eating but fabregas cant be getting the ball from him that easily. COYG”””’
And no more experimentation with Ozil playing in the wings. He costs us too much money to be wasted on the wings. You either play him in his position or sell him, since Wenger for some odd reason believes that wilshere is a better no 10 than ozil. Just my humble opinion of course.
Nice stuff Guv! Very measured and spot on!
Nice stuff too BtM my glass-half-full mate! The treble is on!
Encouraging team defence yesterday; now to add the clinicalness when on top as that’s what’s let us down in both our games against the apparent two runaway title contenders. Me, I think we’re well up there with them; belief and ruthlessness are just what are required.
One thing that’s now very clear; Ozil cannot play anywhere other than as central supporting striker (No 10) rotating with Danny. He has to be used as Bergkamp was; curtail his tracking-back defensive responsibilities. That way, he’ll be devastating in such matches.
BJ @ 21, good observation!
Trev @ 19 TR and Poldi laughing, son thank you for sharing that with us. It has considerably lifted my spirits. What a lovely image 😉
Delia, I’m with Trev on the our Manager. About time someone had the guts to dress him down. And boy, he sure did. Bravo! 🙂
Zico, ha ha in general. Keep it coming, please!
LoneStar, previous drinks. No pills needed, Sir. My prescription is for you to read BTM’s post again and just let the warm fuzzy feeling wash over you! 🙂
Lurky, previous drinks. Gervinho has been warmly embraced by the Roma Fans, and they are not NOT easy to please! Have you noticed he is speaking Italian fluently, as well. And does charity work for UNICEF. Raises a glass with you, my friend. xx
Oil is a final third and opponents half player. He’s got the lot if nurtured rightly. In EPL football, he’s not a box-to-box and he’s not a winger. He’s not aggressive or direct enough.
“Oil”; Freudian slip! I’ve been financially doped by “Ozil”!
Cheers ‘holic, great report.
Havent read too many other reports, nor have I watched MotD2, however, I have viewed the game again and we were well beaten, although not outclassed like we have been in the not so distant past. Speaking of class, Maureen has none. I personaly am glad that Arsene lowered himself to that level. Good!! Showed a bit of balls, showed that he cared and showed Josie up for the nutered poodle he is. Contrary to what some would have you believe, AW did not enter JM’s tec area, he was trying to walk around it, the Chav’s shithole stadium admitedly doesn’t leave much room between tecbox and pitch, but he clearly tried to avoid it, it was the Special Pedigree Chump who came out of his area to block him. Maureen, not having the advantage of being able to sneak up behind and poke his opponant in the eye was easily fobbed of by AW, the Chav manager has all the Ra Ra of a Chiuaua. At the end of the game he ran with his tail inbetween his legs delibratly avoiding the customary handshakes. Down little doggie down.
Ofcourse that didn’t stop him growling like a big dog to the cameras afterwards about how he felt that we should of had players sent off, not the smartest of puppies now, is he? I’ll agree with him that the ref was below par (again) but even he must see the irony in his statement when it was the straight red (in normal circunstances) tackle from Cahil that started the whole affair off.
As for the game itself, the Chav’s did what they do to great effect. Efficient and cynical in equal measure, breaking up our play with dirty tackles all over the field, but hey, why shouldn’t they? The (incompitent) ref set the tone early by letting them get away with it, so they continued throughout the game. They stiffled us well and kept us at bay.
For those wondering why we didn’t use our pace to get in behind them, I’m not really sure what we were supposed to get behind. Chelsea sit deep, real deep, they always have at least four players almost hugging the edge of their own box, plus they don’t commit to attacks with real numbers, if a wing back goes forward a midfielder drops back, maybe there’s a lesson to be learned there. (sarcastic smiley face) Good defending, bus parking, whatever you want to call it, it worked and we were limited to sterile possesion and pot shots.
Another gripe is the no shot on target stat (stats=meh), well I can asure you we did have a shot on target, it was a shot definetly goal bound until it cannoned off Cesc’s hand…. How in the name of all things holy is that not a penalty? His hand was over his head ffs! You didn’t mention that in your post match bark, did you Moroniho, you whiney Cockersucking Spaniel.
To be honest, we never really quiet reached the heights, none of our players did. I think we lost a lot of our forward momentum due to trying to tighten things up at the back, not a completly bad thing and it was good to see us at least try to adapt our game to suit our opponents, one would hope that we learned a lot from that game, that we lost due to two moments of briliance rather then our gung ho attitude. and take that into our next away game against title challengers.
We may not be there yet but there were encouraging signs.
Up The Arse.
Ozil needs to get a bit of Devilment to his play, like Bergkamp had. Show a bit more strength on the ball and use it better. If he wants the number ten role he probably has to earn it more.
Although it still mystifies me why we’ve bought a number ten, paid a record fee for him and bunged him on the wing.
H2H#31, great read, thanks. And Cynic@ 32, totally agree with you. He definitely needs to get some meanness to his game, don’t think that is asking too much. Its not like he defends anyways, that’s the least he can do. If fabregas knocks you off the ball with ease, then we got some problem, common ozil show us what you got.
The way I see it, the Ozil ‘experimentation’ being played nominally out on the right might be at an end now anyway. With Walcott hopefully coming back to full fitness, there really are a plethora of proper ‘wide men’ to be picked supporting our lone striker, so it’s now a case of Wenger picking 2 from Ramsey, Wilshere and Ozil to play ahead Arteta or Flamini in the middle of the park, then letting Alexis, Santi, the Ox and Walcott battle for the 2 spots to flank Welbeck (and ultimately Giroud) up-front. I don’t neglect that on certain occasions, there might a call for resting Welbeck, and playing Walcott/Alexis in an interchanging wide-man/CF axis, but I imagine that will be an exception rather than the norm. I will not be happy if come Nov/Dec (barring injuries of course!) Wenger is still trying to accommodate Ozil, Wilshere and Ramsey all in the same team, to the detriment of the likes of Santi, the Ox and Alexis warming the bench….
Hurts losing again to them fuckers but we are a little bit closer than we have been in previous seasons, Put Matic in our team yesterday and the first goal wouldn’t have happened and then the result may have been different, Not sure why we didn’t buy what was needed but who knows maybe they were not available, Top 3 is most achievable but City and them cunts are ahead of us which is no great surprise but things are slowly turning – Whether Wenger will see the full cycle I’m not sure but it will no doubt swing our way,
Up The Arse,
Oh and Mourinho is still the most despicable cunt on the planet when it comes to Football and as for his assistant would have loved too have seen Bouldy deck him 🙂 Mourinho looked like he shit a brick when he got some back – Bully Boy Cunt with no morals or an ounce of decency in his body.
@34 Gregoire,
Spot on regarding the Ozil conundrum.
For me he cannot be a player who’s expected to track all the way back to his own box. Bergkamp was never expected to do that either, nor Henry to some extent unless he chose to. Sadly Ozil’s no Bergkamp (nor a Ljunberg nor a Pires, if those are the wide men he’s meant to emulate) as of yet! If I recall, when Bergkamp first came to Highbury, he was “soft” too but got roughed up daily in training by the the legendary back four to toughen him up. When he complained he was told by Adams, Bould, Keown, Dixon and Winterburn; “its for your own good son as this is what the defenders will do to you during matches, learn how to deal with it”. And learn he bloody well did! Ozil can learn as it’s not as physical as it used to be now but he needs to get a bit of nastiness as Bergkamp always had in his character! Play him in the right creative position Arsene and let him just do that. Roughen him up in training too Per, Kos and young Chambo!
Incidentally, I’d also add Chambers and Coq to challenge with Arteta and Flamini. Enumerable options are available for the box-box and the wide men when all fit. We have enough to be in touching distance till the January Madness Window! Up the Arse!
H2H@31: this clip backs to the hilt your point about Chelsea sitting back even when attacking. Seven Arsenal defenders against Costa and Hazard, and only three in our half — though Hazard still gets his shot off…
http://arsenalist.com/f/2014-15/chelsea-vs-arsenal/costa-lays-it-in-for-hazard-who-hits-high.html
The treble is still well and truly on but if abit too much, I’ll settle for the Premiership / Champions League Double! COYBG!
Dan, can you share what you are smoking? Dram on the bar.
@40 – Bath, I think it’s a hair pomade infusion that DD is smoking. I like its fragrance, I must say 😉
Good evening sir. Loved your optimism also in the early drinks. Cheers me up no end in my Celtic gloom. 😉
Get this striker and the PL is ours, with your permission boss man enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=entZcF4-NMM
tried to stay away yesterday, our 18th anniversary, and mostly did. but i found out the score anyway. and have been kicking the cat (metaphorically) since.
i do love btm’s prescription, though. raise high the roof beam, carpenters!!
Good clip that Ned.
Does indeed show how Chelsea do not commit too many forward (it was like that for the full 90).
Unfortunatly also shows how extreamly easy it is to break on us. 3 man on Costa, no tacke, no block. No one really properly tracking Hazard who ghosts past Kos leaving him for dead. Really should of at least hit the target.
Hope AW makes the whole team watch that on repeat loop.
Scruz.
metaphorically is a funny name for a cat.
😉
😉 h2h.
Bath @40,
Smoking a pipe tinged with a bit of the good stuff! Psychedelic cravat and smoking jacket as attire!
As you were DanC. 🙂
@BtM,
Fabulous aroma with a touch of Sandlewood. Suit you sir!
Thanks Bath.
H2H – ggod stuff.
The thing I liked about AW’s jostle with Jodious Mourinho was that, however hard it was, he did actually shove him in the chest, thereby ridding The Specious One of any notion he might have held that he is in any way special.
He got in AW’s way and AW simply shoved him backwards. Couldn’t have cared less. Can’t change it Mourinho – you’re just a disrespectful, irritating little shit who got shoved out the way. 😆
Shoved he was. In case you missed it. 😆
Enjoy DapperDanC. Well named, sir.
In case you haven’t seen them, the telly fixtures are out for December to January 1st. Some changes. Our game on Boxing Day is on in the evening for example
Wednesday, December 3: Arsenal vs Southampton (BT Sport, 7.45pm)
Saturday, December 13: Arsenal vs Newcastle United (Sky Sports, 5.30pm)
Sunday, December 21: Liverpool vs Arsenal (Sky Sports, 4pm)
Friday, December 26: Arsenal vs Queens Park Rangers (BT Sport, 5.30pm)
Strangely, Trev, Winter describes the episode in today’s Telegraph as
‘Wenger stormed across, his tie flying up, his hackles equally raised before shoving Mourinho. Like his defence, Mourinho did not yield an inch. He told Wenger where to go and pointed the way, indicating the direction back to the away technical area.’
This just confirms how any event can be interpreted in a totally biased fashion by a notionally neutral observer. He makes it seem like a victory for that reptile.
I had not realised what a coward Mourinho is in a purely physical sense. It doesn’t come up that often. But what forty-something man does not know how to respond to being pushed? All the rules and societal conventions that protect him from such things had been ridden over by Wenger. Left to deal with a bit of physicality on his own he looked shocked, panicked and scared. No balls. No instinct from years of experience kicked in.
You could just see him spluttering his indignation. Barely comprehending. “Oh, no that’s not part of the rules, Arsene, you can’t do that.”
Chelsea have had a lot of tough nut supporters down the years. I am not saying anyone expected the translator to lamp Arsene- but I wonder how some of those Chelsea fans feel now they have seen what a wimp their manager is.
Like all bullies, he is a true coward.
Urban Chicken Farmers FC need to work out a strategy to pen the chickens in their own half so they won’t escape into the cultivated part of the garden. Chickens United’s manager is getting uppity climbing over the fence. Meedja starting to stick their noses in the whole business so something must be done before it really starts to get ugly. 🙁
And how remiss of me not to thank the Guv for an excellent post.
Many other top posts above. Special mention to BTM. If it turns out Southampton fielded an ineligible player then the quadruple is back on. Wink.
Bath@54 You couldn’t make it up. Except Winter obviously has…
Also, H2H is on an absolute roll at the moment. I’m loving every word, sir.
Some victory, bath.
Mourinho’s initial, instant reaction was to buckle like his knees had given way at the sheer thought of someone genuinely confronting him.
I’d be quite happy to forfeit 6 league points when we play the Chavs at The Ems, just to see Arsene walk right up to Mourinho and boot him in the nuts.
Oh yes ! 😉
If not DapperDanC, then at least his best friend. It is the cravat that is the giveaway….
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dogjacketphotorealismphotorealisticpiperealismrealisticredsmokesmokingsophisticatedsophisticationwallpaper-fcd1120b6c8627d87be756691eca48fe_m1_5555.jpg
Bath: close observation of the flying tie will show that it wasn’t flying anywhere until the Special Chicken flicked it up with his hands.
http://arsenalist.com/f/2014-15/chelsea-vs-arsenal/wenger-and-mourinho-shoving-match.html
I thought for a moment that Mourinho was going to go down at the first contact. Atkinson would probably have given a penalty…
😀 @NBN. What I chipper old dog! Woof! Woof!
Chaps,
If I told you ( seriously) that Henry Winter is a Gooner, albeit a closet one that might surprise you. This blog is bound to be the polar opposite of Le Grove today and Pangloss said it for me, I agree with some of the sentiments and I am glad there is a constrictive air about this board. We are after all wanting the same thing- a successful Arsenal team.
Sadly despite the nihilism of some of their tactics they did rope a dope us and probably always will while we are so open. As I wrote last night the person who influenced the game most was Matic. Swap him for Flamini and you would have seen a different game. Sadly also the scumbag Moaninho bought superbly in Costa and some Spanish bloke and their squad will romp this league. But as I have also said even if it meant winning the quadruple every year I would not want that Portugese tosser as our manager.. He might be tactically astute but he lacks almost any other redeeming feature.
We have got good fixtures coming up and players coming back and Christmas is coming. All is not as black as it looked last night
If AW decided to play Sir Ches on the wing I’d understand all the angst about him being played out of position. But Özil, according to many is ‘the best No 10 in the world’, so surely must be a class player, and class players are expected to show their class wherever they are played. Those calling for him to play more centrally also clearly have no memory of the many poor games he had at No 10 last season. It appears AW simply doesn’t want him in his favoured (only?) position, but what would he know?
Sorry guys, I think it’s the English game Özil has a problem keeping up with, plus some deep-seated ambivalence to changing his mind-set in order to adapt to it. I was promised by the experts in this group that his low-key (if not downright disappointing) first season was explained by the need for him to ‘settle in’, then all his true brilliance would be revealed in season 2. Well nine games in I’m still waiting for more than the occasional dull glow from him, and that only seen in less pressure games.
I suggested before the season kicked off that he and Tommy V should be offered in a swap deal for Reus and Hummels. Perhaps Dortmund would still consider a straight swap for Reus? More likely they would now want us to add some cash to sweeten the deal…
Öskar
You almost have me believing, TTG
Oskar, you start off making some sense, then you go off and ruin it by proposing that preposterous player swap…
C’mon MAN!!!
Actually, iLonestar, Reus will be on special soon on account of a very low option in his contract becoming available, so we’d probably get him PLUS cash for Özil not the other way round. Reus seems to want away from Dortmund with the Premiership most likely, and Özil would almost certainly find Germany more to his liking. It would be a good deal for all.
I’ve always wanted Reus ahead of Özil, he’s much more of an Arsenal type. The closest thing I can imagine to the Second Coming of Dennis, imo.
Öskar
Oskar, we get it.
You don’t like Ozil.
Change the fucking record every now and then, though.
Oskar – Cesc Fabregas was played on the right and was shite there. Bergkamp ended up being played on the right and was less than spectacular in that position.
If you put your shoes on the wrong feet you can still walk, but it’s fucking painful and takes you longer to get where you want to be.
Ooops, the veg pun thing is very old. Sorry about that 🙂
True enough cynic, but I wouldn’t go buy a pair of Tony Lama ostrich full-quill boots, and then go and wear the boots on the wrong feet…
Even if you think Oskar isn’t giving enough credence to the “played-in-the-wrong-position” argument, why is the manager persistent in wearing his exotic boots on the wrong feet?????
Ozil this Ozil that, phulezzzzzz, he is class and all this thought about him being not good enough in this league is sheer nonsense. He is been played in a position where he finds it increasingly tough to track back and has very limited options apart from cutting to the centre when going forward,hence it is very easy for defenders to track him.
I told this yesterday, if Arsenal need to get the best out of Mesut, he needs to be allowed the freedom Silva gets at city where he has the likes of Toure and Fernandinho clearing space for him to have a free run and then the magic unfolds. Hence i still believe a proper DM will help Ozil as much as the team.
Arsenal overall need to have a brilliant run from now till end of Dec if we were to get the season back on track. No excuses, no half measures, just win at all cost.
Please note the boots are by Tony Lama, they are not made by or of llamas…
Unfortunately all these midfield/wide selection woes get even harder when Theo, Rambo, Arteta, Gnabry and Diaby (ok maybe not Diaby) come back. Imabalanced squad, period. But unfortunately this is Premier not Fantasy League and you don’t get a wildcard to shuffle the whole pack for free, half way thru. Still doesn’t explain why we can’t just let our 3 marquee signings get on with it but, wait, oh no, we had decided to pin our hopes on 5 or 6 young British stars…can’t be upsetting those young chaps. Bit of a mess. Unnecessary. But we struggle on, 3 rd not difficult this season. COYG.
Hold on lads. Oskar( and others) raise a legitimate concern when it comes to Ozil being worked off the ball too easily. I agree with that. But it isn’t from lack of desire. He needs to bulk up a bit. Not saying he needs to turn into The Hulk 😉 more like what Barca did for Neymar. Or Real Madrid did for Bale.
A goalie turned winger? Now that succeeded in wetting my appetite. Has a professional keeper ever given up the gloves, and made a career in another position? Be very hard to curb the instinct to just grab the ball, don’t you think. 🙂 I love goalie trivia!
Oskar –
“class players are expected to show their class wherever they are played.”
Well, Koscielny and Sanchez are class players. Maybe we should try swapping their positions for a couple of games..
No, no! you cry (hopefully) !
They are class players but don’t have the physical attributes to play in each other’s positions. And that, I think, is Özil’s problem. It’s not lacking class, skill, heart or effort – what he doesn’t have is the physique and burst of speed to go past people on the wing.
He is a seer and user of space, which is also reduced if you’re standing next to a touchline. His vision is also reduced by 50% standing next to a touchline.
He is not a great defender but, like Lukas Podolski, who decided he is supposed to be ? Which of the best creative players are also great defenders ?
He does drop back, but in order to give the defenders out balls – not to get in covering tackles for the full backs.
What he needs to be at his best is to play centrally and to have our quick players running past the ball to get into forward spaces.
It’s not all Özil’s fault if that’s not happening.
Jorge Campos! Played in goal and as a striker (and scored too!) 😉
This is fun !
My mate Stu was goalie for the local team til he was 13. After that he played right wing.
Years later he has come back to London after living abroad. Still fit as a fiddle- he now plays right-back.
abb- does that count?
Hey GSD, Can we sign him up! Seriously, kinda cool though. He must be very coordinated 🙂
He is. Energetic. And handsome. And a truly lovely man with a keen sense of humour and a good heart.
Bastard.
Ha ha, Know just what you mean! Got some female friends like that 🙁
Ozil’s heatmap is rather deceptive about the positional conundrum. That is because the positioning and the formations (4-2-3-1 or 4-1-4-1) are relevant when we don’t have the ball. When we have the ball our attacking formations and positioning are very fluid and Ozil invariably moves around the entire width of the pitch when we are attacking. However that hides the problem when he has taken the position at either flank while we are defending and preparing to launch an attack.
Ozil’s genius is being able to see the various possibilities a little earlier than the rest of the players and then to be able to execute the best option. The first few seconds of us launching an attack — especially counter-attacks — are hence extremely important for him to be able to create something. If at that time he is stationed at either flank then his effectiveness in those first few seconds is drastically reduced.
Once the opposition defense is back in shape and protecting the channels then Ozil’s task becomes subtler as he keeps on probing for openings and drags defenders away. However against the more physical defenders who are also technically good enough to be able to impose without giving away fouls he needs to improve the retention to be able to do this consistently and more effectively.
Since the glory days we have always had problem — even when Fabregas was playing — breaking down robust and deep defensive formations in the second wave of attack if the counter-attack didn’t yield anything. Either fast direct runners at defenders — Ox — or truly physically imposing forwards who can create space and time in the penalty box for him and other forwards in the team — to some extent Giroud, but his own finishing in tight positions is rather limited to really benefit his physicality — can solve that problem.
I guess the idea of Jack playing through the middle at the expense of Ozil is to introduce that directness at the head of the attack as Jack does run at the defenders and can dribble well. And Jack and Ozil have started to interchange positions better. However the whole plan would probably be more effective if Jack is positioned nominally at the flanks so that Ozil gets the first touch in our attack’s build-up and then if nothing comes off it he and Jack interchanges and Jack attempts a direct run if there is an opening. In the Spurs match they started to interchange well. In the Chelsea match the interchanges didn’t work so well because off-the-ball movements were being tracked and stopped immediately through cynical fouls which both Jack and Ozil need to improve to learn to avoid.
When Theo is back and fully fit it would be very interesting to see if Arsene persists with playing Rambo, Jack and Ozil together or rotate two from these three and use two fast players on the wings. I think Rambo is probably the most flexible of the trio and given his work rate can complement either of them best.
Yay Alexis : http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20141007/alexis-sanchez-wins-goal-of-the-month
🙂
“Past sell by date” is an appropriate phrase under the circumstances.
Seeing that managers are hardly ever sold on and are not meant to be consumed, I think that’s a pretty shit analogy.
But I might just be being picky.
Temporary reinfestation, H2H. 🙂
Ooops.
I bit too soon it would seem.
Clean up crew quick off the mark there guv. 😉
Heh, Hurricane Holic strikes again. 😀
😉
ANNOUNCEMENT!
Fuck International Breaks!!!
As you were.
Francis Jeffers just came up in conversation. Is he still alive?
GSD @ 79 – I have a friend like that. When I was younger, in better shape, and single, he and I would go out…um, how shall I say it, “trawling for slimmies.”
Being unforgivably handsome and funny, my buddy would have no trouble attracting the fairer sex. I, being funny but not-quite-as-unforgivably-handsome, made a “living” being a remora to his great white.
At least I didn’t go “hungry.”
Ozil is class and will become a premiership legend; end of!
He just needs to be guided and roughed up alot by the BFG, Kos and Flamster in training to toughen him up as Bergkamp was when he came into the EPL. He’ll then be able to dish it back too to cunts like the Chavs. That’s precisely what the legendary back four (+1) did to DB10. Where Ozil then plays after his boot-camp won’t matter a bloody jot thereafter cause he’ll become a man that no one will want to fuck with!
Up the Arse!
I am in Dublin , a fine City and a fine footballing City. I have been discussing footie with a range of people some Gooners, some not. They are all huge Ozil fans because they remember back to him leading a German side who took them apart at the Aviva( they play them next week) and see him playing centrally in a number 10 role as key to his impact.
One chap summed up our situation very well.
‘ To an economist Wenger’s performance has been staggering. To Arsenal fans it’s much harder to evaluate. Some see the entirety of what he has achieved but others see that he has failed on occasions to take them as far as many fans think he could have done’
That’s not a bad summing up of the totality of our situation. You decide where you stand on Wenger but we should never forget we are Arsenal fans. One day Wenger will be gone. Personally I will be very surprised if that isn’t a huge culture shock but whatever the club will need our support whoever we have as manager
“Trawling for slimmies”, Lonestar? I wonder what Carlos would have had to say about that…
Ned, my man, I’m sure that kick’emhard would approve of our methods…Abb might not have approved 😛
If there’s a broken record here, zico (#69) it’s the Greek chorus of dissenting opinion from those apparently willing to allow Özil enough rope to hang the entire team so long as he is being ‘played out of position’ which he cannot be blamed for (unless you look at his performances there last season). I am as a single voice against that mötley crüe and singing in harmony with the great majority of critics outside this excellent forum. Although I believe the tide is turning a little, with one or two others here now not as convinced as they were about our Teutonic knightmare.
No I don’t like him, but only because he seems incapable of producing what he’s undeniably capable off as regularly as he should. For all your interpretation of Özil’s subtle skills in #83, Dr F, all you seem to be saying is that the guy doesn’t have a Plan B when caught out of position, which I would expect a player of his class to have. Plus Plans C and D.
You know well enough, Trev, that my Sir-Ches-on-the-wing analogy was extreme (a bit of humour even) and only a little more so than your lead-booted defender on the wing suggestion. For Özil to start one place to the left of his preferred position (HIS preferred position note, not his manager’s apparently) is hardly an excuse for being all at sea – especially as he only ever starts on the wing and then spends much of the game anywhere across the pitch including in the middle, surprise surprise.
As for those who deride Fabregas, a player with as many Premiership assists this year as the entire Arsenal squad, and only three less than Özil has managed in the whole of last season and this one to date, well I do find that a tad myopic!
What’s the betting he plays a blinder for Germany in the interlull?
Öskar
‘he’ being Özil of course, not Fabregas!
Öskar
Bang!!
Olé!
Damn! Beaten to the front post by, of all thing, a mangy dog 🙁
I don’t believe AW ‘dropped the ball’ on the Fabregas option, SiV. It certainly looks bad in retrospect, but we did have a plethora of midfielders at the time and both defenders and strikers were the priority – hence Debuchy, Chambers, Sanchez and Welbeck. Fabregas would have been another ‘luxury’ player.
Of course, had we not bought Özil and taken the option on Fabregas a year later we might today be in a better position. Especially if we’d spent the Özil money on a real striker. But AW bought who he bought and practically everyone here thought he bought well, me included. I never thought we bought as wisely as we could have last year as I believed our need was greater for a striker than a luxury midfielder. But to have signed the supposedly best No 10 in the world for what looked reasonable fee (then) looked like a coup to me.
Hindsight is…
Öskar
Aw, sorry Lars. And I hadn’t even noticed. Lucky in fact that someone posted between mine or the knives would really have been out for me, aye.
Öskar
Fabregas and Özil were pretty much exclusive the way the deals fell out, SiV. We’re not a $hiteh or chavs club who can afford to buy everyone and loan out those not immediately required. AW has to be much more canny with his budget.
Assuming there wasn’t a quality striker (which is what we really needed) available on deadline day 2013, AW did the right thing to snatch Özil, a guy everyone believed was a steal. A steal, but still something of a luxury addition to a crowded midfield, and once that deal was done no way could AW justify re-signing Fibreglass 12 months later. He would have been an even greater luxury when defenders and strikers were the priority.
Sometimes you get lucky in the transfer market, sometimes you get Özil. We shouldn’t have needed both.
Öskar
Cheers Holic!
By way of explanation re my previous posts #102 and #104, I was conversing with someone who believes AW dropped the ball by not buying Cesc. Those drinks have since been knocked over and mopped up. Now you see them, now you don’t.
Congrats Lars, my demotion gives you the prize after all! 😀
Öskar
AAAARGH
Are we STILL talking about Ozil?!
Is it going to be like this for the next 7 days while we wait out the interlull?
Are we going to bring out the heatmaps again?
Oskar, if you need it there’s group therapy here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ozil-Haters/147990205373633
I’m starting to feel like I’ve wandered into someone else’s internal monologue.
Can we move on? It’s surely all been said now and no one is in any danger of having their mind changed. And by “move on”, I don’t mean endless repetitive coating of Welbeck.
Conversing with someone with a moniker like ‘Specialist in Voyeurism’? You don’t have conversations with muppets like that. You ignore them.
Our old friend, Esso. Sad really. What a pathetic life he must lead.
BTW, ‘Hols, I thought it was priceless when you kept their monikers and changed their posts to messages like “I’m a hopeless little wanker who has no prospects for adult companionship.” (or words to that effect)
The pre-interlull loss brings out the best in the trolls. Hang in there.
Agreed Lonestar. That was a very nice touch.
I just got a ticket for our home game against Anderlecht! My first game at the Ems this season.
I’m not drinking for October but by the 4th of November i will have worked up quite a thirst… Anyone going? Anyone want to sink a few cold ones?
GSD – I am sure that you will meet some of the denizens of this bar in the Tollington Road beergarden of the Tollie pre-match. May not make it myself, sadly.
You fellas are very entertaining 🙂 Holic making me chuckle on twitter, as well. It’s all in the delivery!
I remember toward the end of Alex Song’s last season with us. Some of you were making snide comments about him which really made me mad! I look back at my behavior and just shake my head, who was that silly woman. Haven’t learned my lesson though 😉 Ha ha!
So MNB was back?
And Oskar was conversing with him?
I don’t know who I feel most sorry for…… 😛
Now, I’m off to look for some Greek Chorus girls (preferably ones without a moustache).
😎
@bath
I am not working on the Wednesday after the game. Am currently trying to engineer Tuesday off too to prevent a mad dash in to London and the stadium. I am quietly hopeful that this will be achieved. If so, I will be in the Tollie early and my only problem may be remembering who I met!
Is your moniker due to your being based in Bath these days? Seems sensible but I’ve learned never to take the internet at face value…
Zico@115 HAH!
I actually did ‘laugh out loud’ at that.
No GSD.
It’s because he posts from in his tub. 😉
H2H,
A pleasure to hear from you as ever. That was the second post in a row that has made me laugh out loud.
I am obviously not including my own posts in that…
GSD, don’t fret. It’s ‘Contract Renewal’ time, here at the bar. They’re just showing off, that’s all. 😉
And abb makes it three in three.
Superb hat-trick from the bar.
A drink for each of you on my tab, if you can wait til November…
I am unlikely to be at Anderlecht, GSD but I will send my stunt double to take you up on that offer of a drink.
Holic, you have a gig! 😉
Speaking of show offs … Oskar not only do players change positions, they switch sports! ‘Neon’ Dion Sanders and Bo Jackson both played American football and baseball, albeit briefly. Multitalented! 🙂
GSD ♥♥♥
Now, now Zico. Don’t go making assumptions… I asked if anyone wanted to ‘sink a few cold ones.’ I made no mention of who would be purchasing said beverages. Wink.
Your stunt double can pay for himself until Gunnersaurus stops taking credit for my efforts on his behalf and gets his bloody wallet out. When that happens i can assure you i will be operating on the ‘trickle-down’ effect’ economics model.
But i will leave you with a puzzler far more interesting than some endless Ozil discussion.
A dinosaur walks in to a bar. What does he order?
The best answer WILL receive a real drink from me the first time we have the pleasure face-to-face.
Have at it Holics.
A plasma screen?
http://news.arseblog.com/2014/10/injurelull-ozil-set-for-knee-scan-in-germany/
Might end Ozil debates for a while. 🙁
I have just heard the Geman FA have told Arsenal he will be out for 10-12 weeks. Can any club be this cursed? We literally pick up a serious injury almost every game we play . Still at least some on here won’t be too unhappy
So many injuries…………….. 🙁
at least that should quiet the özil discussion for a while. unless he doesn’t put the right effort into rehab for a £42 million player. then people will trot out more plasma screens and heat maps, etc.
FFS. If it wasn’t for bad luck we wouldn’t have none.
TTG/BB : It is instructive to see how many World Cup returnees from the German squad have been injured this season. Arsene was absolutely right about their need for rest and recuperation — as a team they worked the hardest in World Cup because of their playing style of constant movements — and it is just sad that despite taking so much precaution with Ozil he ended up injured.
Wishing him a speedy recovery. I am afraid we will see the difference between when he plays and when he doesn’t, especially as long as Rambo too is not back to his best.
I think TR7 will get a few more chances and he can inspire a bit of spark.
This news, if true, makes me feel quite despondent.
We talk about a lot of stuff on here: areas of the squad where we’re thin, whether our formation is right, whether our subs could be better used, whether players are in/out of position, whether we made the right signings, etc.
Compared to the injury issue all of the above fade into total insignificance. No squad can seriously hope to win the league with an injury record like ours. It’s beyond a joke.
I have no idea what’s causing the problem. I’d guess that, given its magnitude, it has to be several things rather than one single issue. I’d also guess that some of those factors will be things within our control, and others will be pure bad luck.
Here’s the injury table for the season so far:
http://injuryleague.com/injury-league/
We are in third place, on 54 lost gameweeks (this is before Ozil). City, who understandably have a stronger squad than our own, have less than half that, on 21. Chelsea, meanwhile, HAVE NEARLY A QUARTER OF OUR INJURIES, on 14. Absolutely mind boggling.
It’s basically as if we’re trying to win the grand national on a three-legged horse.
As it stands, I think it would take a miracle for us to win the title this season, and that our realistic target is third place, decent cup runs and maybe some progress made towards resolving the injury fiasco.
This is a pretty bleak moment, I have to say.
Reports saying he felt it during Sunday’s game.
Would explain his performance.
Although, make the decision to let him stay on the field even more baffling then it was at the time.
Feels like we’re being punished, for having some fun here, today.
Football really does mirror ‘real’ life 🙁
@H2H
Apparently he didn’t report it to our medical staff until after the game. Tried to play through it.
Ugh.
A dinosaur walks into a bar turns round and heads out again.
Two cavemen hunters sitting in the corner
Daft from him then, however, even without the benifit of hindsight, he was cleary not at the races at the Bridge.
‘Wow diufinquisaurus’
Didn’t he try to play through pain/discomfort in the Bayern home game last season as well?
I guess given the way critics are prone to deride him (unfairly) for lack of effort etc. he probably feels the need to stay on the pitch no matter what.
I just hope that for the second half of the season Ozil-Alexis-Theo are playing together for a good stretch of games.
It takes a tough basted to play through pain. Ray Parlour comparisons now, anyone?
Well that should end the debate right, gutted, devastated and in pain. I cannot believe some so called fans who are saying it is a blessing in disguise losing him. I mean where do we get such knuckle heads who have brains in the wrong place.
I cannot fathom the fact that the medical team has some issues, this cannot happen every single time. Or is it our training which a few experts had said borders on pushing everyone to the limit. In trying to get the technique to be perfect, are we pushing these players to the brink???.
I dont know and i honest am fed up. We are fast turning out to be casualty ward than a football team. I do not know what will happen this season but one thing for sure, the ones who are saying it is a blessing in disguise and all must be shot.
WUIF That was positively Trev-esque in quality. 🙂
Lonestar @ 142: Ozil is tough. A second generation Turkish immigrant growing up in the tough working class town of Gelsenkirchen playing street football he had to be. 🙂
Can’t believe what I’m hearing about Özil.
Our much vaunted midfield riches are reduced once again to the bare bones. We are left with an unfit Arteta, a Rosicky – who by popular opinion can’t play two games in four days – a still unfit Diaby, a Wilshere who is always 30 minutes from the next injury, a still unavailable Walcott, Gnabry who disappeared months ago, and now Özil, etc etc …….
Chambers is now in the senior England squad having played just about every game this season. What for his chances ?
It is, for sure, a bleak moment. Another season’s challenge evapourates into the horse placenta – and as we were saying the other day, it’s early October.
So, what of Mr Forsythe’s influence ?
Seems Özil didn’t tell him ha had been feeling his knee. What would have happened, anyway?
Great hypothetical question for sure as, of course, we have no idea.
Nor does our medical team, I’m fast coming to the conclusion.
Come on Stan – you’ve just trousered £3,000,000 of our extra ticket money for consultancy services. Get in there and tell them, boy !
Yours,
Extremely depressed,
Trev. (*waits to be told to man up, but stuff it *)
@Trev
We can man up tomorrow.
Between this and the accursed interlull, I think we deserve a good 12 hours of wallowing and self-pity.
Man up Trev. 😉
It’s a great opportunity for LJW and AOC to step up and prove they are capable of the heights we have hoped for for them. And Aaron is only another 2-3 weeks away (fingers crossed).
With the interlull, the injury news, and subsequent slowing of the Ozil bashing, we’re going to watch Sesame Street until the real games recommence. They have an Oscar the Grouch there as well.
And to GSD: he would order a whiskey saur, no doubt.
Man up?
Nah mate, we are the Arsenal, it’s usually man down. 🙁
When do we get our pitchforks out, and head round to Oskar’s? 😛
If Alexis gets injured before our next game.. am going to really lose it.
Must the effects of the Blood Moon only be felt by us?!?!?!
How many spawns of chavs have Mour sacrificed to escape this cursed predicament?!
No more injuries!!
Misdirected anger there zico. Oskar is another passionate gooner who just happens to be underwhelmed by Ozil because he expects better VFM and has irritated everyone by going on and on and on about it. The real enemy is Kronke. And he is marginally closer.
So.. it begins! : http://i.imgur.com/FlwcX7V.jpg
Hate to mention it, bath, but the Sky Sports Football App was saying today that Ramsey could also be out for up to three months.
Arsene originally said let’s not be too hopeful – we’ll say four weeks but it might be three. Seems now it could be twice as long or more because hamstrings are very delicate things and you must not rush them and yabadee yabadee ya ya ya ……
I don’t often say this but, f* ck it !
Sideways.
So we did bid for Schneiderlin : http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/morgan-schneiderlin-tear-gas-bomb-4398646
Maybe we’ll get him next time round.
I did hint at Kroenke, bath.
I’m very confused by the continuing medical fiasco but it needs sorting, and fast.
FAST !!! Hahahahahahahahaha ………. 🙁
I know most of our players are injured but try to keep your chins up- pretty much everyone I know is EXTINCT! Wink.
Great responses to the bar joke question so far- thank you all. But it’s all still to play for…
We are definitely cursed as a club when it comes to injury. What else can be the problem. The issue before was because we were buying younger players, but now this is happening to players that never got as injured as they do now. Well, hopefully Wilshere don’t get injured playing for England, because we will definitely need him. Which means wenger will play him to the ground and another injury might just be on the horizon. Really really sad, now we will see what ozil brings to the team or not. I know what he brings and we will lose that.
take your pick from these GSD copied from the Internet.I prefer No 3
-1-
A dinosaur walks into a bar and orders a beer. The bartender proceeds to pour him one, but it’s flat, and stale. After one sip, the dinosaur spits it out and yells “What the fuck is this? It tastes like primordial soup!”.
-2-
A dinosaur walks into a bar and everyone just stares at him for a minute. Finally, the bartender says “We haven’t seen you in here for ages!”. The dinosaur shrugs and says “So?”. The bartender replies, “We were starting to think you were extinct!”.
-3-
A dinosaur walks into a bar and orders a double vodka. He gulps it down, and says “Don’t you have anything stronger?”. Sensing trouble, the bartender waves the bouncer over, who happens to be a 6 foot 6 brute absolutely rippling with muscles. The dinosaur looks him over, and gobbles him down in three bites. “Much better” he says to the bartender, then pays for his vodka and leaves.
-4-
A dinosaur walks into a bar, tearing apart the doorframe in the process, and trampling several tables into splinters. He emits a deafening roar and proceeds to devour everyone in the bar, spattering blood and bone fragments everywhere.
-5-
A dinosaur walks into a bar mitzvah, then stops and looks around confusedly. “Sorry” he says, “I think I’m in the wrong joke…”
-6-
A dinosaur walks into a bar, and sits down next to Kamikaze Phoenix, who’s right in the middle of telling a joke. Suddenly, the dinosaur snatches him up and goes running out the door. Everyone is shocked into complete silence. A few minutes later, Phoenix comes limping back in, covered with scratches and bite marks. “Sorry” he says, “I guess I just got carried away”.
Yeah, well…I warned you.
I went to Specsavers today.
You won’t believe who I bumped into…… 😉
Everybody 🙂
So do we have report of Ozilness scan yet? 🙁
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/29537980
Esso
I’m gutted I was hoping for this to be a rumour when does it stop Jesus Mary and Joseph?
Lets buy a new squad in January perhaps we can get a decent one in the sales? 🙁
Arthur
Its really hard to feel we’re not cursed in some way about injuries. Its every fucking season for fuck’s sake.
I was sorry to be the bearer of bad news earlier.
Frankly though when an Arsenal player goes for a scan the news is ALWAYS bad. This puts great pressure on Wilshere, Rosicky and Diaby, none of whom are liable to be able to play runs of games. And I saw the Sothampton game where that midfield was put firmly in its place by theirs. Flamini is frankly not top quality, Arteta is better( see what I did there) but we may need to see Zelalem and even Crowley who I understand is sensationally good but very small and very young. It comes to something when Diaby is among the fittest of your midfielders!
I sure do feel sorry for Wilshere now because the microscope is going to be on him. Ozil and ramsay out, we are in deep shit. I see him getting injured soon, how many games can he play without getting injured with the way he plays and, Arsene will run him down. Not happy at all, our so called MF options is really going down the drain fast.
“Arsene will run him down”.
Not a lot of alternative right now, is there?
Ospina in goal, continue with Santi central, play Schezza on the wing. Sorted.
Oh my, those dinosaur jokes !!!!
Left me in raptors. 😉
What do you call a dinosaur who’s left the bar?
Anything you like- I won’t hear you…
Night all.
If Catalonia splits would that catalan bloke need a work permit to play?
*any excuse not to discuss injuries*
I’m surprised no one here has mentioned the one thing that is definitely a contributing factor to all our injuries. I’m positive we won’t have half of the injuries we have today if refs were not allowing opposition players kick lumps out of our guys. It’s ridiculous how many times opposition players make a potential leg breaking challenge on our players and escape with just a telling off or at most a yellow from the ref. Last game it was Cahil on Alexis, Ivanovic on Ozil etc, the game before that it was Melo on Alexis, as a friend asked on another forum; Debuchy was scythed down near our corner flag by Milner a few minutes before his legs gave way, what’s to say Milner’s kick didn’t weaken his ligaments leading to the injury?
Last season I wrote my guest piece on our injury situation and was grateful to receive a hugely positive response as a result.
Without boring everyone with the details, in summary I claimed the injury situation was due to a “perfect storm” of –
i – the stadium development forcing us to adopt a youth policy as there was little or no money available for buying mature, proven players.
ii – those youth players incurring tendon and ligament injuries at very young ages, which are difficult to cure and lead to further subsequent and consequent injury.
iii – our possession based playing style which invites challenges and tackles – receiving the ball to feet along the ground and running with it is more likely to incur injury to players than hoofing it 60 yards through the air.
Not everyone gave a positive response though. One poster, who was clearly very close to the medical function at AFC, informed me that the club was very aware of everything I had written, and that we had the most highly qualified people possible on the medical staff.
He denied that we had any particular injury problem, and said, basically, that absolutely everything was being monitored and was under control. In all, his response was pretty dismissive.
I only hope he is looking in again tonight to reassure us, especially if he has done a head count in the treatment room lately.
If he is here, I have one question for him:
What is supposed to be the use of GPS Tracking systems, heart monitors, personalised fitness programmes, Red Zones, Green Zones, and High Technology Bloody Sock Ties, when our players drop like flies on a weekly basis ?
One more question, if I may:
Did Mesut Özil conceal his injury from the club in the hope that he could avoid treatment with us and get it, instead, over in Germany ?
Whatever the reason, the man was playing with an injury that has now turned into a 12 week absence.
Is there anyone in the medical centre who has the slightest idea what’s going on ?
Sorry, that was a third question.
I would add that the world cup does not help the situation, plainly speaking, I believe that rest (and that means without playing!) for a certain amount of time after long spells of exertion are crucial to recovery.
Cent, BB – also true.
Players are flogged to death and it’s generally the clubs who pay.
Unbelieveably splendid bar!
Thanks all.
Good stuff Trev.
I made a “joke” about if it wasn’t for bad luck…… a little earlier, but we are surely now beyond the realms of pure chance.
I have no doubt that we use cutting edge technology and employ highly trained staff, however something is cleary wrong, either with the technology itself or those that implement it.
Until this is sorted out it won’t matter who we bring in to bolster the squad and our chances of competing are truly diminished.
Cent
Untold Arsenal are saying the same thing…but they are nutters! I think you have a point but Sanchez wasn’t hurt ( as far as we know either time) and most injuries we have appear to be wear and tear not contact injuries.
I’m very much in sympathy with Trev. There is an arrogance about parts of our club which is really annoying and the possibility that a knowledgeable and trained physio could possibly have anything to add to the pool of knowledge seems to have been dismissed out of hand. It does beg the question about what Shad Forsythe has been doing. Has he been given the opportunity to alter things or us his input unwelcome.
This run of injuries does coincide with a better run of games but we will be hard pressed to be in contention for anything by the time Debuchy, Giroud and Ozil return.
Very depressing
It’s definitely time for a Trev post. Only chance we have of a mention on the Tuesday Club 🙂
Totally agree Holic! Shad Out, Trev in!
Indeed TTG 😉
Cabaye allegedly dissatisfied with playing time at PSG. Can he take over the DMF role? He’s certainly more of an enforcer than we’ve had for a while.
ttg – we have had our disagreements in the past and I really don’t want to dredge them up again, but I do think you’re being a little unreasonable about Forsythe. The guy’s been in post for, what is it, three months or something? You believe, not without some justification, that there is something very much amiss with the Arsenal medical staff, and you believe that whatever it is, it has been wrong for many years. You can’t really expect someone to turn it around in three months. Get real.
There’s a drink on the bar for you for when you have. There’s another for Trev, since he shouldn’t be excluded from any discussion of Arsenal’s medical record, or the fallout therefrom.
Night all.
Holic,
I’m working on it ! 😉
Wanted to give a detailed enough view of how one injury or condition can progress through the body, without making it too complicated. Tricky!
Probably more useful than speculating on any one particular player’s problems.
Pangloss
Apologies I was being deliberately and I thought openly humorous about Forsythe it’s quite obvious that he hasn’t had time to change things and as I said in the previous note may have been ignored any way! Whatever the cause it can’t be ascribed to him. I shan’t try to be ironic again!
I blame the scanning machines. It seems every time a player has a scan he comes away injured. Stop going and the problem will go away is my advice.
Öskar
It might also help the squad’s state of health if, when international tournaments are finally over, they could do some fitness training instead of spending half of pre-season flying round the world on shirt selling tours.
But don’t teams like Man Utd do that too ?
Oh yeah……… was it eight or nine injuries van Gaal said they had last weekend ?
A dinosaur goes into a bar “Hi there, Öskar, seeking refuge from the ‘holic bar?”
There, I said it first. 😉
Öskar
Ttg,
You be as ironic as you like – I got it and old Pangloss gets a bit grumpy in the evenings.
And the mornings !
Shad out ! Me in ! 😉
NZ@167, I am with you. Maybe my wording was wrong, but we dont have any choice. Meaning he too will get injured soon unfortunately.
And if you read my previous post,I did say I felt sorry for wilshere,because all the focus will be on him now.
Oy Trev – you forgot the afternoons.
I didn’t dare even mention the afternoons ! 😉
Hey, zico,
The weatherman just said Scotland will be mostly dry tomorrow ?!
Ospina apparently out with a Hip/Thigh injury with ‘no return date’ !
When the Donald did that happen ?!
Sign up Lil’ Poldi and Baby Lady Gooner. They can run for miles and miles and miles…
Trev
Surely not another one ?
Did Shad bring his boots with him? We may need him to play soon. You too, AW, I hear you were a handy defender in your youth, even if Wikipedia noted your ‘lack of pace as a player’ and ‘an ability to guard the ball’. These are desperate times guys.
Öskar
The lost season…
My kingdom for an alchemist…or necromancer.
Have we considered switching to a 5-a-side league yet, or can’t we even raise that many for a game?
Sorry, zico, but I have no idea who MNB is, perhaps I haven’t been here long enough to recognise all the trolls. The SiV I responded to was saying AW ‘dropped the ball’ by not snapping up Cesc this year, maintaining that we could play both he and Özil in the same team to advantage. As an argument it was no more loopy than many I read here daily, which is why I responded in my ignorance.
That may have appeared droll to you, but no more so than you expecting to find girls in a Greek chorus does to me I suggest.
Öskar
Okay, time to brighten the mood.
This weekend sees the annual running of the legendary Bathurst 1000 race for V8 Supercars, the world’s most famous car race on the world’s most exciting circuit. And to put you in the mood here is Aussie legend Iva Davies in 2006 doing a tribute to the great race’s ultimate hero, nine-time winner Peter Brock, who died in a race crash just a few weeks before the 2006 event. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhXEnP0XAQs
Turn up the volume and imagine this being played for whoever steps up for Arsenal in the coming weeks during our injury crisis.
Öskar
…and here is Jensen Button doing a lap of the track in an F1 car which, for the record, was only a couple of seconds faster than the V8 lap record … http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YDDFgtXRBU
Enjoy.
Öskar
If Poldi can’t get a game regularly now.. then my guess is it’s his last season with us.
Just for the record, that was not me who posted @ what is now drink 100.
tumbleweed
Fake identities…ok.
Multiple personalities…check.
Identity theft (of Lars)…not cool.
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20141008/alexis-england-has-the-toughest-league
We may not see Poldi on the left at all if Theo’s back seeing that Alexis prefers that position too!
Ok, so here’s a train of thought about injuries, and maybe one for the medical team. We won’t know if they already know, of course, but AW is supposedly open to all ideas and I’m seriously thinking about contacting him – not necessarily only about this:
As our injury situation is different, i.e. worse, than most other clubs, what, I thought, is different about our players – leaving aside the already discussed age and physical maturity.
Well, they tend to be smaller than many other teams. Not just shorter, but of a slighter physique – thinner, or less fat, if you like. There is a point to being so pedantic.
Muscled, yes, but generally their legs and bodies look slimmer than the majority of players they come up against in the Premier League at least.
It turns out that the National Centre for BioTechnology Information in the U.S. has done some research into the matter and one of their studies produced the following result.
The temperature of the deeper muscles, tendons and ligaments is affected by the amount of body fat present. Not surprisingly, the temperature of the deep muscles increases with more body fat. This seems to lower the isometric endurance (effort without the muscle changing length – pretty redundant in football), but increase the extensibility (amount the structure is able to stretch).
The force required to move a knee joint passively through 30 degrees, and extensibility were measured with and without heat.
With heat, the movement effort decreased, and the Anterior and Posterior Cruciate Ligament flexibility increased by about 25%.
We now know that body fat increases deep temperature, and we also know that the body fat of Arsenal’s players is extremely low. Maybe a little more heat retaining body fat would increase tendon and ligament extensibility and save a few tears and strains ?
Pass the cheese cake ……….
Unbefuckinlievable
Now Kos is sent homehttp://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/oct/09/arsenal-laurent-koscielny-achilles-injury
I’m with you Trev – I don’t ever remember Andre Santos being injured in his whole career.
All well and good Trev, but firing the whole medical team (ok, maybe give the new guy a pass) and starting from scratch sounds like a better idea to me.
Yours dryly, 😉
http://news.arseblog.com/2014/10/koscielnys-chronic-achilles-adds-to-arsenal-injury-worries/
Good that Per retired from Internationals to focus on Arsenal!
We might use him to play on the RW sometimes soon with Ox moving inside to a central position.
http://news.arseblog.com/2014/10/campbell-working-twice-as-hard-to-win-wenger-trust/
“For me it’s a positive just to be here,” he told homeland publication Al Dia.
“I’m learning a lot, although obviously I’d like to play more…but hey, I know that I’m part of a team with players like me and I just have to keep fighting. I know that to play for this team is not easy and well, it’s a challenge that I’m working hard on.
“I have to be patient, remain calm and not get crazy. I’m on a great team with great players and I have to train hard to be prepared to do well.”
“I’m fine, I know from experience that in life that you have both good and bad moments, it’s normal. That’s part of life and learning. I’m happy to wait for my chance. I know I’ve got to keep working hard to earn my opportunity.”
We are really in deep shit now. How many more freaking injuries can this team take. Bellerin, where are you kiddo? Arsenal is calling, show us what you got.
So.. Kos is out as well… wish we had kept vermy.. 🙁
New Arsenal emblem ?
http://nsa33.casimages.com/img/2014/10/09/141009022430335306.png
@BB
I don’t believe Vermaelen has played a single game for Barca since his move.
Why?
Just have a guess…
@N7
I know.. hamstring and all from the WC… but at least he’s back now.
We really have to plan to have a deep squad since we can not seem to shake all these injuries. On the other hand, who knows maybe our reserve bench will step up.
Fully expect to see Campbell and Poldi utilized now!
More worried about defensive personnel injuries than about our midfield..!
BB: last I heard was that Vermaelen had played in an under-19 fixture for Barca and then broken down again.
In any case, keeping Vermaelen wouldn’t have made a blind bit of difference to our season so far.
Trev,
I agree with your analysis and hypothesis. I have great flexibility and need little muscle warm-up.
Now I can tell the Management that my “top-level” fitness is due to Cheetos and ice cream…
happy days!
@Lars
Maybe Vermaelen would have played no part till now, but we sure could use an experienced defender, who was our captain not too long ago too.
Will admit have not been following his day to day progress but he’s probably not far away now. We did not need to sell him and have not got his replacement unless of course you count Chambers, who at 19 is more of an understudy albeit a good one.
We are short at the back and hopefully will not be shown for it.
Ozil out for at least 2 months : http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20141009/-we-will-follow-recommendations-on-ozil-
Good news is that we should be seeing Theo and Gnabry very soon!
Steeling myself to watch England. Urggh.
I did catch an interview with Danny W. He really does have a great attitude and is obviously a bright guy (especially compared to some footballers we have all heard stumble their way through basic sentences). I will hold off footballing comparisons with Titi but the attitude and intelligence are both there. Let us hope they serve him half as well as they did the great man…
https://twitter.com/Theleaguemag/status/520102526667198464/photo/1
BB: We should certainly have made sure to get a replacement for Vermaelen regardless and by all accounts Arsene also tried to do that but why we failed is anyone’s guess. But maybe we knew Vermaelen’s injury situation was so bad the money we could get for him was considered worth more than keeping him on. I mean, assuming the club knew (and I am speaking pure hypothetically here of course) that he was likely to become another Diaby then getting 15 million Euros for him and getting him off the books was the right thing to do.
Trev: some very interesting stuff there about body fat. I do hope that the medical team at Arsenal will also look into that.
Great stuff Esso. Even then, Storey had to be different to everybody else.
Slightly better version here – http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7251/2454/1600/arsenal_1968-69.jpg
BB
At least two months means it could be more and knowing how long our players are out for it certainly could be longer.
Great news on Theo and Gnabry but Theo is the one we are really waiting for now.
Does anyone know if The Arsenal Ladies train on the same type of pitches as the ones the guys use?
Arsenal should retain Dr. Nick to implement Trev’s ideas:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1m-AEWMRVo
start at 20 seconds into the clip…
Is that a knee injury question, Cent?
There was a story on one of the news sites, probably the BBC, this week about the number of knee injuries in women’s football and the theory that because they have a different hip alignment, weight is transferred through the knee joint at a different angle to a man, and the knee ligaments are under more of a load as a result.
If it’s not injury related, fuck knows 😉
I’m never entirely clear why there seems to be doubt that Chambers was Vermaelen’s replacement. Cost almost exactly what we received for the Belgian, is now third choice CB and also covers full back.
The only confusion appears to be that we signed him before TV left, but other than that it looks like-for-like to me.
Esso & Cynic. Good photo of that team. Got them all except David Jenkins. Recalled he got cleaned out by Dirty Leeds keeper Gary Sprake in a Wembley final. Absolutely a red card but typically nothing given.
Trev, once again excellent view on medical matters.
Cynic, I was wondering if they use the same training pitches as the guys do they also rack up the injuries the way the guys do? If yes then the pitch will have to scrutinised more.
Esso & Cynic re photo of ’68 gooner team……all the players were British!!
Uply, 5 gooners played for England tonight. 1 got 2 assists. 1 scored. 1 got MOTM (admittedly as voted for by Andy Townsend) and both fullbacks got 90 mins.
Not the same as the ’68 team (way before my time) but the best we’ve had for a while.
And, to the best of my knowledge, NONE of them got injured.
HURRAY!
GSD……and they all looked good ( from my unbiased perspective of course ; ). The future’s bright, the future’s white – for us Ingerlunders of course!
USMNT wear white as well…
Don’t Tread On Me!
A naive question, but can Jenkinson be recalled from his WHU loan? Or is recall not allowed for year long loans? Pardon my questioning if this has been asked/answered in previous drinks.
Nathan @ 242: I had asked this once before, and H2H and others had clarified that a season long loans come without any recall option. So no. And hopefully the need won’t be felt and Jenks can get a run of games himself at WHU to come back to challenge next year, I am not convinced that his Arsenal career is over.
Spain lost to Slovakia. Monreal is not in the team and Santi played just for 10 odd minutes.
Good.
Morning all,
Another day, another injured player and three more questions for the medical team.
i – how long has Koscielny had these “chronic Achilles Tendon inflammations” ?
ii – why did he travel for international duty with inflamed Achilles Tendons ?
iii – did anyone at the medical centre know he had inflamed Achilles Tendons ?
With a team of masseurs at the centre, I’m sure the players must at least get leg massages on recovery days. Has everyone managed to miss two inflamed Achilles Tendons ?
Sorry, that turned into four questions again, but this gets more unbelievable by the day.
Holic, what are the odds that Arsene picks up a little bit the stiffness in the right knee?
We could do without losing him for three weeks….
Uply @240. Hear hear.
N7@235, good point there.
I always thought Chambers would be better if he played in a more forward role, but as it is he will have to slot in wherever he’s needed at the moment, even if it’s in the CB position.
We’re still short at the back, short on experience that is, youngsters aplenty, maybe it’s their time to step up as options are running fewer by the week. Bellerin certainly looks good, hope he can get more games.
Kos has a chronic meaning on off injury. This will be something that needs to be operated upon and i believe he as well as the team is avoiding it. I remember poldi also avoided an operation just to be picked for the world cup and he is someone prone to that over and over again.
I feel totally deflated, the sense of optimism and positivity seems to transgress towards disappointment. What and all needs to change/, why are we going through this and in the last few seasons have we really seen the team progress?. I am ok if we do not win anything but have made ourselves better than the last season/seasons?. Time may tell but the early indications are not encouraging. Prove me wrong please Arsenal.
Certainties in life…..Death, Taxes &
Arsenal having the most depleted squad due to injuries.
Oh, one more – the swamp dwellers forever in our shadow 😉
Trev
I encountered computer glitches after reading your excellent note which underlined the wisdom of my lifestyle choices. My ACLs compare with any in the land. I really think you should suggest this theory to the club. They should be open to all constructive suggestions.
Re Koscielny I believe he has had tendinitis in his Achilles ( I thought it was on one side) since the second game of the season. This was before the window closed and underlines the stupidity in not resourcing to enable us to rest him.
N7
I see your logic but until we signed him Chambers had never played at centre back ever and many thought it rather speculative to assume he could fill in there without any experience. I was ( and remain) one of them. He is immensely promising but makes a number of errors in that position. I watched him closely in the Capital zone Cup game and he is on a steep learning curve position ally and technically
Not quite, Vinay.
‘Chronic’ means a persistent condition that occurs, or has occurred, over a long period of time, which may also have long lasting effects.
I’m sure that only makes it worse ….. 😉
Trev – surely that would be acute?
Sorry, not really worth saying but I have a new phone to play with.
COYG
@TTG
I tend to agree re: Chambers, but then I also think he brings at least as much to the squad right now as Vermaelen did in his last two seasons.
I certainly wouldn’t feel better about our squad if neither deal had been done.
Pangloss,
I’ll leave you to look up ‘chronic’.
Chambers has settled in very well and i can understand why he will be a fantastic player for us. The worry is, he is been tossed around wherever there is a crack. No RB play Chambers, No CB play Chambers, no LB play Chambers, heck we even wanted to play him as a cdm. Is he good enough?, time will tell. Should we become so desperate, that is the sad part.
Roy Keane and Harry Redknapp biographies are getting more paper space than the wars in Syria or Afghanistan, both of them seem to have written the book to say they are saints and the world is a sinner. I dont mind the Keane book at all because he has dished out fergie and co and i love it anyday.
Finally the rhetoric question of is there any progress with this team continues to haunt me. Indications are no, optimism makes me say yes, time shall tell.
Trev, Excellent report! But did you know some soccer boots are still made from kangaroo leather! Not all are synthetic. When Sir David Beckham found out that his boots were made from some of my mates, he boycotted them! My roo friends have put a curse on the Arsenal, till all players go synthetic!!! 😉
No more kangaroo leather, Joey ?
That would be a big leap forwards. 😉
Trev, Ha ha. ☺
Joey, why did you forget to mention, that we goats are used as well in making those girly shoes! And some of those clubs way out yonder, still believe sacrificing us, before a big game, will bring them luck!!! Why, we’ d mow their pitches free of charge. Big Goat sigh 😉
Another little thought on small / short players:
Most of us in the bar have, at some time, said we need some height / power in our central midfield. The obvious advantage is to be more able to clear the ball from set pieces, win headers generally, and be able to stand up better to the likes of a Yaya Toure, Matic, Schweinsteiger etc etc.
The taller player, though, also has a longer stride.
Even at the elite level of sprinting, Usain Bolt covers 100 metres in 41 strides, while his competitors take an average 44.
That means 3 extra stresses and loading of the ankle, knee, hip and spinal joints for every 100 metres run.
How many more times will Jack Wilshere’s weigh, with his little strides, hit the joints in his body over the course of a game than, say, Matic’s ?
And in case you think it’s trivial, bear this in mind:
At a brisk walking pace, each step will induce a force of around 2.5x body weight through the knees.
Jumping off your bottom stair at home onto the floor will induce a force of around 10x body weight into the knees .
Easy to understand how young, smaller players are going to cause more wear in their joints than their bigger counterparts.
N7 I think it was who posted the other day that, over a given period, Chelsea had lost ONE QUARTER of the player days through injury that we had.
Just coincidence …. ?
Wilshere’s weigh-t, not weigh. 🙁
Interesting observation that, Trev. Sounds extremely plausible.
Sorry Goonerholic, seems some of my animal friends, have escaped from the farm 😉 Nice blog, btw 🙂 Socialism at its best 😉
Cheers, bath. That’s valued from you, sir.
Trev
“I’m sure that only makes it worse” – you @252
“surely that would be acute” – me @253
As I said, not terribly funny.
Small one on the bar for you.
And on a slightly unrelated topic, Roy Keane sure isn’t going to win friends with that book of his. He sounds like a real jerk. A bitter, twisted jerk. And a bully, and bullies are usually cowards as well.
Nothing new then, is it?
Well Roy, I have a bit of sage advice from the ages for you:
Best keep your mouth shut and let people wonder if you are a fool, rather than open your mouth and remove all doubt.
I also think Chelsea eat more veg thus staving off rickets
Trev
In all sorts of ways I think the size issue is very germane to our problems. You make the point cogently about the stride patterns and I can remember the semi- final at Wembley against Chelsea when in the second half it became so obvious that they were so much physically stronger than us. I had that feeling again on Sunday. Yet in 2004 in the Cup tie at Highbury I remember the reverse feeling that they couldn’t get back into the game because we had so much power in our team and Vieira and Gilberto were imperious.
It’s ironic the turn of events that has unfolded because it was Wenger who redefined what midfield players could look like with the employment of Vieira and Petit. And now we see YaYa Toure who has taken midfield play to a different level. There is still a place for a good littl’un but they have to be able to live with the extra power that the top players have and the point you make will still apply. I think we went down the tiki taka route but Im not sure that’s not a busted flush now and the prototype player of the current era is a super athlete who is much bigger than his counterpart fifty or even twenty five years ago.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>