November Horribilis Continues
Nov 29th, 2015 by 'holic
On a blowy old afternoon in East Anglia Arsenal welcomed back Aaron Ramsey in place of Joel Campbell. The Gunners went into the match still in fourth place but with a chance of moving level on points with Manchester City and Leicester at the top.
Arsenal took control early on and in just the fourth minute Alexis tried his luck with a long-range right foot drive which skidded just wide of the post. It was noticeable too that Mesut Ozil was quick to get himself into forward positions from the off.
Arsenal being Arsenal there was an early injury too. Laurent Koscielny went down clutching his side and in obvious pain. Nine minutes in his game was over before it had got going, and Gabriel was summoned from the bench. Once more we have a nervous day or so until the full extent of the injury is known. We can ill afford to be without arguably the best central defender in the top flight this season.
Sensing the need to lift spirits the travelling faithful kept up their usual barrage of songs. It brought a response with a rapid break that ended with Bassong clearing Mesut Ozil’s effort from Nacho Monreal’s accurate cross. In the nineteenth minute the German magician freed Monreal again and from another fine cross Giroud just failed to get the right angle on his near-post flick.
Somewhat surprisingly Norwich were not applying any real pressure up the pitch, defending deep and in numbers instead. Indeed Arsenal were very keen to press the home side and impressed with their workrate in the opening phases of play.
Santi Cazorla’s dancing feet conjured up an opportunity for Alexis to let fly from the right hand edge of the box which Ruddy gratefully saved. A minute later it was Santi’s turn to have a go, and although he fired his effort over we were soon celebrating the inevitable opener. Mesut Ozil feasted on Alexis’ through ball following a poor clearance from the Norwich ‘keeper, and clipped a delightful finish inside Ruddy’s far post.
Norwich City 0-1 Arsenal
With the Gunners in complete command Aaron Ramsey was next to try his luck but his effort was deflected wide for a corner which came to nothing. There were a couple of nervous moments when first Ozil, then Alexis found themselves tumbling into camera positions at the edge of the pitch. The latter was shoved into a pit by the lumbering Bennett who somehow avoided censure from Jon Moss.
Acceptable to push an opponent in here, according to Jon Moss.
Arsenal appeared shaken by those incidents and for the first time Norwich forced Cech into action, saving well from Brady. Then astonishingly they were level. It was a moment that Gabriel will want to forget. He was caught the wrong side of Grabban who slotted Brady’s pass under Cech for the unlikeliest of equalisers.
Norwich City 1-1 Arsenal
It was the Canaries who had the next effort too, Hoolahan blasting Howson’s cross high and wide. Arsenal were probably glad to hear the whistle so they could refocus at half-time.
Barely was the game underway again and another anxious moment as Santi limped off clutching his knee, but thankfully he soon returned. The game assumed a similar pattern to most of the first half with Norwich happy to sit all eleven in their own half and invite the Gunners to find space.
Alexis found space to conjure up a cross in the box which Ozil was on the end of but Bassong was on hand to hook the ball clear for a corner before Ramsey fired over from a quick throw in. Mr Moss decided to take centre stage, booking first Cazorla for simulation, then O’Neil for a mistimed challenge on Rambo.
Just before the hour came another horrible sight for Gooners as Alexis went down clutching the hamstring which had threatened his inclusion today. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and quickly became the sense of choice for some on social media. He hobbled off to be replaced by Joel Campbell, and again thoughts inevitably turned to our title challenge heading onto the treatment tables at Shenley.
Hector Bellerin sliced an attempted cross wide of the near post as we sought a second goal, but on the break we nearly gave it away. Cech produced one of the saves of the season to deny Gabriel a headed own-goal! Looking leggy, Aaron Ramsey made way for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. It was Arsene’s final throw of the substitution dice. Without Alexis though we had lost much of our attacking energy.
With a quarter of an hour remaining Dorrans fired over from the edge of the box as the match entered a more open phase. Our attempted response ended with Giroud heading over, the Ox the provider of the chance. Eleven minutes remained when Gabriel came to the rescue with a last ditch clearance from Olsson’s cross. As in the opening half Arsenal were allowing the hosts a far greater say in the closing stages.
The current form, just two points out of the last nine, is obviously a concern. Far more significant though may be the injuries. Not just the number of them, but who. Francis Coquelin, Koscielny, and Alexis are key components of our strongest eleven. We face a particularly testing run up to the new year if all three are missing, and whisper it softly, but what if something happened to Ozil?
Don’t go there. Hate November? You bet I do.
94 Responses to “November Horribilis Continues”
First?
Certainly not good enough but I still have hope before it kills me in the future. Hope not!
Third???
Optimistic at the moment?
Usual rules apply after a bad result all. Please do not used post numbers as the hard of thinking who post only abusive nonsense will be removed.
Thank you.
More on the ball than the team today, ‘Holic. Except for a brief first-half spell, we didn’t look much the better team.
Giroud had one of his off-days where is most notieable for his complaining about being fouled and Ramsey looked understandably ring rusty.
Sanchez injury is worrying, to say the least. As you note, without Alexis we just don’t look the same attacking threat.
Wouldn’t have minded if AW had thrown Reine-Adelaide in instead of Campbell as that might have sparked something.
With these last three games we’ve missed an opportunity to put some clear water between us and the rest. Hope we won’t come to regret that.
Top marks again H – pity the team were not up to the same standard.
We started comfortably and Ozil tucked away the chance that came his way very nimbly. Norwich eventually upped the tempo and surprised themselves with an equaliser – very poor defending by Gabriel. That gave them a surge of confidence and they took control of the midfield from then onwards.
The loss of Alexis not only a major concern / miss for the next few weeks, it left us devoid of any impetus up top – Giroud starting to look knackered and lacked any impact on the game. We are a confidence team and when ours drops, we suddenly look quite ordinary. In the end we barely deserved a share of the points. Certainly we have lost that championship winning look at the moment.
Injuries, injuries, injuries….
it not only stretches the squad but kills any tactical use of subs – what a dreadfully lopsided team we looked in that second half. When is Walcott back – there are no goals in the other options at present.
Bring on December – we could finish anywhere in the top seven
Agree heartily with your observations ‘holic.
Injuries piling up now to key personnel and the team unable to turn draws into wins.
Our squad is looking small and fragile.
Good game for the neutral, (whoever the fuck that is)and all that, but I really thought Giroud had reverted to his old ways of gesticulating to the ref and moaning every time he was tackled/dispossessed,and was generally poor all game.
Gabriel was decent but wrong side for their goal, and Monreal’s crossing,which is usally so good, was well below par.
I think we can all see now how difficult the task will be against Olympiakos. Especially without Alexis.
Another bad day at the office? Or a general malaise?
While the focus will be on the Alexis injury, the one to Kos is just as daunting. And once Canaries scored, the entire side apart from Sanchez played tight, and once his hamstring tightened completely, it was game, set, match; hugely fortunate to get a point.
Any update on Walcott’s return? He’s now desperately needed.
Something’s really not right with our fitness regime. We keep losing players to injuries in a frightening manner,I’m tempted to think someone put a hex on us. Where did we wrong the footballing gods to deserve this kinda luck. So frustrating!! We keep having these sort of games season in an out. Is it really worth believing anymore?? I’m losing faith. The way we are playing i would not be surprised if we found ourselves on the back end of a 6-0 whopping. Not good enough to lift the championship.
I notice Philippe Coutinho also had a slight hamstring strain, but Klopp put him in the stands, whereas Wenger has taken an unacceptable risk with Sanchez against a relegation threatened side.
Nobody should be surprised that Wilshere, Rosicky, Gibbs, Flamini and Arteta cannot stay fit – or Welbeck, or even Walcott, all these players have bad injury records going back years.
This injury crisis is not bad luck, it’s bad management. Bad management of the players health, lack of foresight, lack of ambition. For how long must this lunacy continue – and it is lunacy!
Sorry holic, it’s just the heat of the moment
We can’t even complain about not buying players. Our major problem is with our damn injury record. What in the world is going on? Wenger has to take full responsibility for Alexis injury. Not bad luck, why didn’t he rest him? That’s desperation right there. We can’t beat Norwich without Alexis? Whoa we are really playing like a shitty team right now. Don’t even get me started on Giroud with his complaining and Lazy self…
Whatever I said post WBA … ditto.
Good job we don’t face these relegation hunters every week. No wait, two more to go… 🙁
Oskar
Wenger played Giroud into the ground the year before his major injury. He has played Alexis into the ground since we signed him.
Nice measured post Holic.
To be honest I don’t get too upset anymore at games like that. There have been so many of them. The next one could be May, it could be next week.
Now there are those that will tell you about those who say the same old things. They will be moaners, doomers, all sorts of things. There will be holics who look for all sorts of excuses. But for the injuries we would be…….. Fill in the gaps.
The decision to play Sanchez was ridiculous in the extreme. I said so pre match and I say so even more now. There is no doubt that Sanchez is one of the very few top class players we have. To risk him like that away at Norwich was simply bizarre. It may also tell you a lot about the quality and depth of the squad.
Several had off days. Giroud looked as mobile as an aging elephant trying to work out how to use his Zimmer frame. Lack of a quality replacement meant that his turmoil extended to the full 90 minutes.
I keep being told how top class Gabriel is but his lack of games means that I’m yet to see it. Who knows, if Kos is out for the mandatory 3 weeks plus we might actually see what he can do.
After the spuds game we were told under no uncertain terms that we now had 4 very winnable games to come. Well we have taken one point out of the first 6.
For me this is the weakest premier league for many a year. The quality of the sides this year is not a patch on the sides of 6/7 years ago. This will be the best chance we have had in years to mount a title challenge. If it wasn’t for the likes of Cech, Ozil and Alexis then that may already have disappeared.
All in all a sad but very predictable day.
I have fished out my steel capped football boots from the garden shed.
I found an old tin of Dubbin,i am polishing them as we speak.
I report for duty at London Colney Monday morning 9am sharp.
One final point.
Matt called it right a few posts ago. Why we don’t rotate 1/2 players here and there is a mystery. Why we go into other games having made wholesale changes is equally as baffling. Why we constantly have so many in the treatment room may not be quite such a mystery anymore.
When I posted ‘underpants’ it was not a suggested style of defending for today’s game.
Regardless of the less than stellar performances we would have at least 4 points from the last 2 games and be top if we hadn’t conceded really poor goals.
Oh well. UTA.
Clive for captain.
Evening Steve
Trust all the family are well your end.
As our current crop of players seem to be dropping like flies,
Have persuaded my Brother to suit up as well.
Younger,but not as fit as me,so i may have to carry him a bit as his legs go in the 2nd half,but i have a couple of cold eyed retired Ramblers,ready and willing, [ not so sure about the able !! ] to come off the subs bench if needed.
I am particularly looking forward to going head to head with the Surging one from City,just before Christmas.
I am sure he will have Private Hospital insurance. !!
Evening Clive. All well thank you. I trust you and yours are likewise?
I think we could do a lot worse than wheeling out a few of the Rambler stalwarts. I’m sure they would add some fighting sprit and some good old fashioned equalising challenges. I’m sure they could make use of Ollie G’s Zimmer.
Let’s be honest, anything along those lines has to be an improvement.
Nicely done, Holic.
The game seemed to radically change after the two incidents where our players were introduced to the cameramen surrounding the pitch. Interesting that John Moss gave nothing to the idiot who shoved Alexis into the camera pit, considering the free kick awarded to Norwich for Alexis’ perfectly fair shoulder charge on the Canary bloke.
However, that’s two of our four “easy games ” done and we have one whole point to show for them.
AW said after the game that Alexis told him he felt perfectly fine. I/We, however, have all been saying that maybe we would have to rest Alexis today because he has been carrying a hamstring niggle. I thought the manager, together with our world leading medical team, made the decisions on when to rest players – not the players themselves.
As Thierry Henry said after the game – if the player said he didn’t want to play, he might as well not be at the club – he is bound to say he is okay.
AW said the team looked jaded today and he really had no options up front anyway. Well there’s a shock. Just about everyone I know said all summer that we needed a keeper, ideally another good centre back, and most definitely another defensive midfielder and a striker.
Our best centre back lasted seven minutes today, our best goal scorer is probably out for 4-6 weeks judging by the way he went down, and Cazorla finished the game “on one leg, with a knee injury” in the words of our manager.
There was no shortage of effort from anyone today, apart from Giroud who strolled through the game like we were 5-0 up, not even bothering to try to get onside with any urgency at all. At the moment, he would struggle to get a game for the Dog and Duck.
We now have to find two or three top-top quality players in the January window where they are normally rarer than hen’s teeth, and admit that a number of the current squad are not up to the stresses of a Premier League season.
Özil is just majestic but is fast running out of playmates.
No need to comment Trev has said it all. Agree with every word.
Surely Jeff Reine Adelaide must be a better option than Campbell?
The benefit of a week’s rest should not be underestimated given we played a CL game on Tuesday
Good report guvna. Bad day at a very wet and windy office with chilling longterm implications for the next few weeks.
Good observations by Steve T and Trev. Nothing to add. Very disappointing.
These performances are not mystifying guys, and neither are the lengthy injury records of certain players.
Number of truly class players is small, their backups represent a big drop in quality, therefore AW will only play them when his hand is forced. The best guys then get overused and spread too thinly.
Still can’t believe with our network of scouts searching the four corners, there was not a single outfielder worth buying.
There was no shortage of effort from anyone today, apart from Giroud who strolled through the game like we were 5-0 up, not even bothering to try to get onside with any urgency at all.
I don’t like Ian Wright much as a pundit, but he got Giroud spot on recently when he said (something like) the Giroud whose place was under threat and wants to fight was useful, but the Giroud who’s comfortable and spends the game looking for free kicks and moaning to the ref … isn’t.
Words to that effect.
We got the useless one today.
Made me laugh when he was throwing his arms around and moaning about a cross not coming to him, possibly from Campbell. The lad was probably so shocked to see Giroud in the box instead of hanging about on the D that it made him shank it.
Too much not to like about today but all seen and said before. Just waiting now for the bfg to say that we’ve learnt a lesson from today etc.etc.
It was interesting that today was the first time we’ve had Moss reffing since Moanhino dobbed Arsene in for apparently saying Moss is “soft.”
Perhaps he was out to prove a point but there were no favours from him today at all – one might even say the opposite was true. Even shoving Alexis into the cameraman passed without comment. Hmm.
UTA.
Horribilis indeed. For anybody needing a lift, this one is almost guaranteed to give you something.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEkXAHIKdKI
Meanwhile Klopp is said to be interested in bringing Reus and Hummels to Anfield. If that eventuates I will not be responsible for……………!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oskar
You could be right, Noosa (#27). Prior to today we won our last 11 straight under Moss. And very fair he was too, imo, in those 11…
Oskar
The injuries to kosc & Alexis r a big blow to the team.Lets hope the two players will not be out for long .
Excellent stuff, Holic. Was in the air and missed it. The thoroughness of your summary makes any post match viewing unnecessary. I already have ‘the picture’.
Clive’s boot:
https://www.freebets.com/v2/infographics/history-of-boots/images/2.png
They don’t like it up ’em.
BS of the day:
Norwich City defender Ryan Bennett said he did not mean to push Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez during their 1-1 draw on Sunday, tweeting: “Genuinely was trying to stop, not push Sanchez, just to clear that up.”
Clive was one of the lucky ones, Ned, we had to wrap our feet in strips of old horse blanket tied up with bits of barbed wire, etc etc… 🙂
Oskar the python
Where are all the regular excuse makers and the holier than thou, defenders of truth, justice and everything AW
They are as predictable as an AW transfer window…lots of promises of futures to come
One thing Arsene has become very good at is learning from his past mistakes
problem is he has become very good at repeating them week in year out
maybe that is what they do at training each week
what an absolute circus
37.
You complain about that type of post. You complain about their absence.
What can we do to make you happy?
And the irony of you calling others ‘holier than thou’ is not lost.
Can’t we all just express our opinions without digging each other out and polarising things by trying put everyone in a box?
A drink behind the bar for everyone.
PUNCTUATION SALE
>>>>>>>>>>>>
Ned @35,
Utter drivel. Bennett, not you. 😉
In my view it was a clear two handed push in Sanchez’ back. The hands were open, there was no attempt to grab the shirt to try to stop him running.
As such, the push was a foul. As Sanchez was running towards the touchline it was dangerous – ask Debuchy what happened when Arnautovich did it to him.
We, therefore, by defenition have dangerous foul play. That is a red card and should be retrospectively awarded.
It won’t be.
Cheers, N7.
I got these – .,?!'”:;().
Very nice. ?
I have noticed that most of our injury prone players are mostly British. Is there something more to all these injuries than just the medical team not doing their jobs. It takes more time for them to come back from injuries. We cant keep saying its bad luck anymore. Something is definitely not right. I can bet you that Alexis will be back sooner than expected. Is it because of a difference in training regime for our British players when they were younger or what? We cant keep going through the same shit every season with practically the same players getting injured and think we can win the league. I heard Kieran Gibbs has a little injury, he has not even played 90mins in the last month. With this crappy league this year, anybody can win it, even fucking Spurs. We need at least 2 players in Jan, I doubt our stubborn coach will even get one.
Just had a look at physioroom dot com, being an incorrigible masochist !
We have 10 players in the treatment room and only two of them have suggested return dates before the turn of the year. That may be because yesterday’s victims have yet to be assessed but Kos and Sanchez did not look good.
First impressions of Sanchez were of a grade 2 tear which would see him out for around 6 weeks. Hard to see what Kos did but he was clearly in great pain.
I said a couple of weeks ago that Kieran Gibbs would have joined our perma crocks in the treatment room if he had been playing more, simply because he always does. Well, he seems to have surpassed himself. He is now listed with a Calf/Shin injury, with no return date, without even having played.
I’m sorry if this sounds a bit sarcastic but the sheer repetition of this situation is doing my head in.
Our current roll call is Gibbs, Koscielny, Arteta, Wilshere, Cazorla, Rosicky, Walcott, Sanchez, Welbeck and Coquelin.
BtM, if you’re there with any of those cups with holes in, could I order a couple of dozen please.
Cheers !
SAG,
I’ll spare everyone a repetition of my thoughts but they’re in the archives somewhere.
I could immodestly add that I’ve yet to see anything to convince me I was wrong.
How, when and where does all this conjure up? You cannot have 3 of your best players getting injured in the same game, Santi hardly played after the knock. We should have put the game to bed in the first half but we being we, allowed them to come back and that got them a belief that they indeed can hold their own. We were making Brady look like Liam yesterday and he was dribbling, crossing and running past our defenders as if they did not exist.
Arsene will find it hard to explain why the DM was not bought. There is no doubt that the league was/is there for the taking and i still believe we will.Yet the lingering feeling is this will be one more case of oh so near yet so far. Time shall tell, till then praying hard for a fast recovery to Alexis and Kos.
P.S- Gibbs someone said, sorry not counted.
The injury situation is very frustrating.
While I do think that Wenger probably should have rested Alexis, the reality is that given where we find ourselves with injuries at the minute – I don’t think he had much other choice than to play him. The same people who give out about the decision to play Alexis are precisely the ones who would be moaning about resting him if we got the same result with him on the bench. In this respect, Wenger is damned irrespective of what he does.
I noticed from Geoff’s timeline at the weekend that the club have brought in independent experts to assess our training methods in an attempt to decipher anything unusual that might have led to so many injuries. These people found nothing apparently. And given the plethora of medical people at the club now that “Shad” has arrived, I’m inclined to believe that even more. I think Trev’s suggestion in the past that starting players at too young an age can have on-going consequences is very valid. But I also feel that the brand of football we aspire to play, means that we generally source players of a higher technical ability who just have a tendency to get injured more when they play in a league that demands so much more physicality than its Spanish, Italian or continental comparatives. The consequences of this strategy is that we have to make sure every person in the squad is deserving of a place.
Of course, there are very valid questions still being asked. While many point to the failure to purchase another DCM, I still find it utterly amazing how we haven’t bought a centre forward that optimises and compliments the brilliant creativity and movement of Ozil and Alexis. Roll on January.
Old horse blanket tied up with barbed wire, Otd? Sheer bloody luxury. We had to play barefoot with acorns hammered in for studs.
Trev@41 : At my age, it is utter dribble…
Agreed a red card for Bennet would have been justified. It was violent conduct, end of.
Cheers Guv’.
Almost 24 hours later and I’m still pissed off, better if I keep my thoughts to myself on this one.
One thing though……
Blame that awful monstrousity of a kit.
Those stripes FFS!!
Whoever sanctioned that needs to be sorted out, crucifiction too bloody good for ’em.
Cor!
Look at Trev’s #%*!’s
I’m another one who always bangs on about our injuries but that’s such a big part of what defines Arsenal nowadays. I think there is something in fragile British players. Only Calum Chambers has yet to join the queue for sick notes of our Brits and that may be because he rarely plays. The Gibbs news is no surprise , he is terribly injury prone.
I have referred here before to my seven year old grandson who is in the Brighton pre- academy. He loves playing football but was asked to play four times the other week. These are small sided games for relatively short periods but a lot of them are on 3G pitches which are hard and unyielding. If he does make it through further he will be asked to play a lot more and I think his parents will start preventing him playing that much while his body is still developing. I suspect British youngsters don’t get the preparation kids from overseas do. Hence the fragility of Gibbs, Ox, Theo, Ramsey , Wishere and Welbeck.
GSD@50: Found this rare sketch of Trev in his more leonine days:
’’’’’’’
= =
!
( ~ )
,,,
Damn! ‘Holic’s software has pulled out Trev’s eyes and squashed his face unrecognisably.
Ned @ 52/53 Amazingly the likeness is very close 😉
Actually Trevs a fine specimen of a man – dodgy knees apart. ( I don’t want to spoil my chances of a drink from him next time we meet at the
Tollie ). 🙂
H2H,
I don’t come in here to read that you’re keeping your thoughts to yourself !
Come on, spill the beans !
On the other hand these injuries may have a few upsides by forcing Arsene’s hand:
– Rambo in the middle, if he can find his form from 2 years ago Santi will find it had to get back in the starting XI. Rambo is the future, the more he learns the better.
– More of Gabriel please. Many tend to forget it took quite a lot of games for Kos to hone his game and eliminate from it the kind of howlers plaguing his first season. Gabriel has all the required qualities and needs game time, the more the better.
– Ox on the left, imho he performs better there than on the right and this is probably where his position would be if we hadn’t bought Alexis. Another player for whom game time can do wonder.
And looks like Joel Campbell will be back in the starting line-up too.
All in all we only need Giroud to pick himself up and we’re still in decent shape. We better be because Sunderland is everything but an easy game under big Sam. If anything his teams are even more dogged than those from Pulis so we’ll have to be ready for a tough fight. Being out of the League Cup looks like a blessing right now.
Theo will be a big help once he’s back. Physioroom shows Dec. 15.
Damn, from a calf strain?
Kos looking possibly back this week. But I agree, more time for Gabriel could (would, or at least should…?) be a good thing.
Why were we wearing that 3rd kit anyway, H2H? It’s bluddy commercialism gone mad. In my (far from) humble opinion we should wear our first team red and white on every occasion possible, and the away kit only when it clashes with the home side’s. If anything that would make away kit/s rarer and hence more marketable, no?
Oskar
Acorns for studs, Ned? Like running on marshamallow, mate. We had 1″ bolts driven through the foot from the top with nuts under for studs. Weighed a ton and chafed a bit, but we still played every week for fourpence a game.
Oskar
#58 … assuming that blue monstrosity actually sells, which I doubt.
Oskar
Evening all. Had my haggis thanks. 🙂
Kos is too good not to play into the ground. Unless he is in a hospital bed.
You are such a patriot, H.
With whisky gravy, I hope.
Even if Kos is fit for Saturday why not rest him? Sure Gabriel would be able to play against Sunderland? Save Kos for Greece. I don’t get this flog em till they’re dead school of thought. That’s what having a squad is meant to be about?
Uply@54: 🙂
I am told Trev was once spotted on the Tube after a game wearing purple socks. It was all I had to go on…
Otd@59: Fourpence a game? We could only dream of fourpence a game. Tuppence a season seemed like riches untold then.
Interesting to note that Calum Chambers played in a holding midfield role in the U 21 team’s win at Brighton tonight. Not sure how he played but interesting to note a ( brilliant) winner was scored bumpy the 16 year- old Dutch boy Malen. The way things are going we may see these lads at Christmas!
Sorry by not bumpy! ?
A season, Ned? You were hired by the season? In my day every unemployed player had to turn up on the morning of every game, pay to get into the ground, clear the snow off the pitch with our bare hands, line up for hours while the owners had their lunch and shagged the waitresses, and then beg on our knees for a game from our coach, Herr Goebels, who picked 11 plus reserves and sent the rest off to some camp in Poland for ‘retraining’. I died regularly mate.
Oskar
Otd@68: and you try and tell the young people today that and they won’t believe you.
OTD
We were lashed with a cat of nine tails after crawling to the ground on broken glass. We had to give three pints of blood and our first born children to get into the ground then we had to lick the snow off the pitch and then go into the dressing room where we had to strip naked and get a fire hose of freezing cold water directed at us for an hour before we were beaten with a wet kipper and told to run around the pitch fifty times.
If we won our choildren were released but if we lost things got really tough.
Try telling that to the yoinger generation. ?
Safe to use numbers now so @57 – Theo was shown as being fit for November 29th not so long ago, so I tend to take physioroom with a huge dose of salt.
Andrews Liver Salts. Keeps me regular.
Ttg@70: and I thought that only happened at the better English public schools…
TTG@70.
What’s the problem? Independent experts have analysed Arsene’s training methods and found them to be sound… wink.
NBN@ 72
My school was much tougher than this although it wasn’t public…but definitely better!
Alexis is apparently now going to be back in three weeks. Theo should be on the bench at the weekend. Sanchez is a much tougher geezer than the English lads who are nearly always the subject of pessimistic news.
I hope Arsene factors in the fact that Theo, Aaron and the Ox will be out early in the New Year if normal service is resumed and thinks accordingly about the transfer window. Having too many players is not a problem we normally have to contend with.
Have we got a massive mammoth of an injury problem?!?
Let’s bring up ye microscope of olde and see…:
http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/82/f4/7d/82f47d72afa03dc058eb0c0679f20b14.jpg
…yap!
TTG@74: But approved, surely?
Proper boots. Proper shorts. Proper shirt, not some cast-off design for a fag packet, and, most of all, proper North Bank.
http://www.whoateallthepies.tv/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/PA-9066526.jpg
NBN @77
Definitely approved?
More trips down Memory Lane for older ‘Holics from the same series:
http://www.whoateallthepies.tv/arsenal/169285/the-black-and-white-years-30-marvelous-vintage-photos-of-arsenals-highbury-stadium-between-1931-1967.html
Sick room busy, even in those days, though…
TTG@ 75 That was a good one. But knowing boss man, am not looking forward to any new signing. He is already talking about ” if we find deals” then he will do it. Really? deals in January, good luck with that.
TTG@79: ?
Turns out Santi tweaked his knee after all: http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/dec/01/arsenal-santi-cazorla-ligament
Looks like Bielik and the Jeff are going to get some game time soonish.
‘Keep, now you’re done with your haggis any chance you can find that little checkbox somewhere in wordpress that will enable caching again? Feels like phone modems are back in style tbh.
Santi ‘tweaked his knee’, Matt? That’ll be an Arsenal ‘3 weeks’ then, ie 3 months.
Just when I’d read on BBC gossip that during the Norwich game Santi became the first person to complete 1,000 successful league passes this season. I’m astonished we have anyone playing enough to be in the reckoning, never mind topping it.
Congrats Santi, and commiserations at the same time.
Oskar
Evening all. Will post Wednesday night. Goodness knows what. It will be freestyle! 🙂
Have been off line since Saturday!
Was at the match on Sunday and it was not a pretty sight. We lost all belief after Alexis went off and the away support’s enthusiasm drained away. Never have I been to a game where I felt so depressed at the lack of spirit in the final 20mins when we usually give it one last effort.
With the news on the injuries so depressing I hate to think how we are going to maintain any challenge for a title that was up for grabs.
I will be there on Saturday but have no expectations that we will be able to field a side who can win against Sam’s relegation candidates.
COYRs
OtD.
I was informed recently that Puma pick the strip we don for any given match. A sad state of affairs, but as in all things footy today money rules. The club have been paid handsomly by the kit suppliers and they now have the power to call the tune.
Three new kits per year and they all need to be promoted, although even with all the promotion in the world I can’t imagine ever wanting that third kit, it’s hidious. I’m not really a fan of that sweaty looking goldy one either, but at least it has a little something “Arsenal” about it (last season’s one was way better, imho). Not to worry though, because by the time I’m (we’re) just about getting used to them the whole circus will begin again with a new kit launch. Yet another way to fleece the
supportersconsumers.Trev.
My (previously unspilled) beans we’re rotton, just a bunch of pissy points that have already been made over and over again.
*Why are our players always broken?
*Why didn’t we bring in more in the window?
*Rinse, repeat, deja vu, been here before, etc, etc, with a fair few expletives thrown in for good measure.
Now a few days have passed and I have had time to rationally assess my original dark thoughts and now I can calmly claim that I feel……….
Well, exactly the same.
I have read that Alexis told the boss that he was okay to play, like that’s supposed to make it alright.
How many of you have (now or in the past) young kids?
Ask them if they are okay to stay up or do they feel that it’s time for bed?
You know what answer you’re going to get, but just because they have claimed to be “wide awake” it doesn’t mean that they really shouldn’t already be tucked away heading for Sleepsville. Players want to play, Alexis is a terrier he’ll run until he drops, he’d play a game straight after a game if it was possible, but that’s where management comes in. Wenger has to protect him from himself. He’s always preached about the “red zone” and how important it is to make sure players don’t overheat (for lack of a better methaphore), but Alexis wasn’t just hot, he was at melting point. Le Boss himself had informed us of a hamstring strain pre match FFS, this to me is negligence, a gamble that really shouldn’t of been taken. If we can’t rest him against the likes of Norwich, Sunderland etc, then we really are in a worse state then many of us would like to concede.
Injury “crisis”.
Is it really a “crisis” if it happens every year?
What I mean by that is, if we know something is coming, a drought for example, then the powers that be insure that there is enough water stored to get through the water shortage “crisis”. They don’t just put a few bottles of over dated Evian in a cool box and hope for the best. Arteta (bless him) is past it, his legs are gone, anyone who has seen him over the last few seasons will tell you the same. Rosicky hasn’t had a full season since he was in his twentys, he’s now 35. Great servants to the club, but kept on for one season too many.
Wilshere, Ox, Ramsey, Walcott, Gibbs, all important team/squad players, yet not one of them are capable of a sustained run in the team. Before the start of the season Theo had already missed 1030 days through injury, that’s almost three fucking years!!! His latest absence forced by a stiff Sheffield breeze. Jack’s no better, he’s been out for a period of (at least) a month (often a lot longer) 9 times since Sep 2011. Gibbs is out now even though he didn’t play, Ox is more in and out then a proffessional Hokey Cokeyer and Ramsey picks up niggles due to being Shawcrosed by that Orc cunt………..
That’s seven players in our squad that just can’t be relied on, I know that and I’ve no doubt that the majority of you would agree, yet every fucking year we find ourselves crying about the latest injury “crisis”, cursing the football gods and bemoaning our luck. But obviously (well, to me anyway) luck has got fuck all to do with it. I’ll let you draw your own conclusions.
Well, there it is Trev, beans spilt.
a fine read – h2h
well spilt
H2 H
Good stuff albeit depressing reading. Your point about Alexis is particularly pertinent. I’ve been in Dublin today and got into conversation with one of the taxi lads. He asked me if I rated Liam Brady and following that a conversation about football ensued. He said’ What nobody but Arsenal fans can answer is why with your injury list you didn’t strengthen your squad in the summer?’
I replied that I didn’t think Arsenal fans could either! I’ve yet to meet one who can justify our squad building approach especially when we have a lot of youngsters who by the manager’s admission are not ready to play in the first team. But I’m largely preaching to the per I mean con verted?
H2H- Thanks for that. I couldn’t have laid it out any better. we have to stop calling it bad luck, just bad planning. Even worse coming from someone with the resume and experience of Wenger.
With today’s news that Santi faces three months out it is difficult to see how we can continue to mount a title challenge. May I be proven wrong but December 2 and just two points off the top spot and it feels like our season could be over.
In other concerning news: Liverpool are hammering the Saints in Southampton, and are looking very Kloppish.
Evening all. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Holic’s next post looks at possible positives- so I didn’t want to bring up H2H’s drink in that bar as it is mainly negative. However, I couldn’t move on without saying what an excellent drink it was. Really nailed the issues we have without loads of extra hype and mud-throwing. Just a frank assessment from an interested fan. Great stuff.