Ox The Key To Safe Passage For The Gunners
Mar 10th, 2017 by 'holic
“We’re professional people, we’re winners, we expect to win, we’re used to winning, we like winning, we enjoy winning, our lives are better when we’re winning.”
One of the managers is sounding particularly bullish ahead of Saturday evening’s FA Cup quarter-final.
“We go to Arsenal with a game plan, and to try and execute it. It would be a disservice to our players to tell them just to wake up on Saturday morning and enjoy the day. We work every day for this; this is our lives.”
Danny Cowley, manager of National League giant-killers Lincoln City, isn’t under pressure right now. How his opposite number must wish he could say the same. To be fair Cowley has also said that his team have a one in a thousand chance, which seems far more accurate than the bookmakers odds of 33/1 against what would surely be the biggest FA Cup upset of all time.
If it doesn’t rain, it pours on Arsene Wenger right now. As well as standing his ground in public he has to contend with a bug that has hit some of the squad in the last ten days. Those of us with rather too much snow on the mountain remember only too well the effects of a flu bug on our 1969 League Cup Final team. Don’t panic Captain Mainwaring!
The bug has probably ruled out Danny Welbeck and Alex Iwobi, and possibly Mesut Ozil. Nonetheless the Gunners should still be able to field an eleven strong enough to show Lincoln the respect their run deserves as well as giving us every chance of progressing comfortably in what is surely our last opportunity to lift any silverware this season.
David Ospina, horribly exposed against Munich will want to see Laurent Koscielny starting alongside Hector Bellerin, Kieran Gibbs, and either Shkodran Mustafi or Per Mertesacker.
Aaron Ramsey may be rested after his return to action against Bayern, and if we are to go 4-3-3 then it is possible that Ainsley Maitland-Niles could get a call-up to partner in-form Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Granit Xhaka. A front three of Theo Walcott, Alexis, and Lucas should prove to be a match-winning combination.
I’m not being dismissive of the Imps who have thoroughly deserved to reach the last eight of the competition. The leaders of the National League have beaten Guiseley, Altrincham, Oldham Athletic, Ipswich Town, Brighton & Hove Albion, and Premier League Burnley on the way. That is impressive indeed for a team that isn’t likely to be non-league next season. They have a punchers chance, as they showed with that late Sean Raggett winner at Turf Moor.
We haven’t played the Imps since 1915, which was a year after the last non-league team reached the quarter-final stage. Our previous meetings all came in the old Second Division. The Gunners last lost an FA Cup tie to a non-league team, Swindon, in 1911.
The ‘holic pound
The bookmakers favour 3-0 to the Arsenal, and at around 13/2 that doesn’t look bad value. I’m being a bit more positive although that is based on us going for that attacking 4-3-3 set up which did for Southampton in the fourth round. Anthony Taylor is refereeing so I think Lincoln might well prevent the blank sheet, not that the two things are in any way related, you understand. I’ve grabbed a bit of the 20/1 available if you shop around for a 5-1 home win.
That should guarantee a heroic defensive performance by the visitors and a decider from the penalty spot!
If you are going remember there is another planned march from Highbury to the concourse at the Grove and plan your journey accordingly. To those who will be watching on television and streams from behind the sofa – I feel your nerves. This really could be an historic day, but I have confidence that we will be fully prepared and will produce the performance we need to progress.
Have a great one, ‘holics.
80 Responses to “Ox The Key To Safe Passage For The Gunners”
Drink….Lots!
😀
Kaboom!
Nice preview Guv’nor.
Honestly I’m going for a 4-0 but am thinking we would see Per in defense tomorrow.
Greetings to the Gunnerverse still keeping faith.
COYGs!
At last
A new post free from all the whingers/whiners/moaners/groaners and misery muckrackers of the past week.
Hopefully they have all buggered off together deep into the Forest,to do some tree hugging, before burning their effigies of all the so called shit players and manager that aren’t performing up to their over inflated delusional standards.
If only they would piss off permanently,we might see some of the old gang that used to congregate regularly in the bar,before giving up in despair and disgust,at the absolute drivel spouted by so called Supporters.
Not quite sure they even know quite what the word Support means to be honest.
I can accept a cogent well put together post when things go awry,as they do over a long season,but unfortunately they seem to be in a very small number.
Nobody is pretending everything in the garden is rosy,issues abound both on and off the field,but we are when all is said and done,a top 6 side only,nothing more nothing less,still in the hunt for CL spot and still in the FA Cup,which is about our benchmark.
We have been without the player who makes the whole team tick since October,yet we have only lost to Chelsea/City/Liverpool and Everton away,and Liverpool and a silly one to Watford at home.
That’s not a bad effort in my book,considering the quality of our squad.
2 pivotal incidents just after half time in the 2 ties against Bayern in the CL have ended up blowing the results out of all proportion.
After tomorrow we will have an FA cup semi final to look forward to mid April, and once again we will be one game from another appearance at Wembley.
So there is still plenty to play for,Utd and City still to visit the Ems,and another cracker of a NL derby to look forward to at the Lane.
I am sure the vast majority of people who follow the Club,genuinely want them to succeed,and i for one hope the team can do that faith in them justice over the next couple of months.
Fine preview Guvna and fine post Clive.
Drinks of your choice on the bar gents.
Hope to catch you at the usual haunt, Guvna.
Well said, Goonersince54. If you haven’t already read it, Arsenal Gent’s weekly review on Arseblog will hopefully raise a smile.
Cheers H! See you tomorrow.
And posted before I read @4
Good on ya Clive! and see you tomorrow Baff as well. Watching the sweaties getting a good shoeing?
Clive, you are a beacon. I don’t mind admitting I now want that change, preferably, but while the man is still the manager of our football club I will get behind the boys and hope he can get the best out of them.
He deserves that.
Well said, Gooner since 54. I am sick of all the pessimism and vitriol. Leave that to our pathetic press and media. Time to get behind the team and manager and give some real support instead of just whingeing and complaining the whole time. Holic, don’t give up on our man just yet and don’t judge a season until it’s over.Come on you Gunners!
5-1 seems to be the flavour of this phase of the season, Holic and I’m on the pound.
We’ll need to be careful pre-match. Apparently scientific analysis of the green stuff in Steve’s wallet has revealed that it’s a nasty mould which grows in the absence of sunlight. It’s deadly to the touch, causing paralysis of limbs thereby preventing the putting of the hand in the pocket. Contamination is best avoided. 🙂
Great stuff @ 4, Sweeper. I’m looking forward to getting along to the ground tomorrow to get behind the manager and players of this great club of ours. I’m disinclined to listen to any of the whine and very rarely bother to waste time reading the misery muckraking.
Clive’s post is a tonic and Holic’s preview as measured and sensible as ever. I’m in Cumbria on a family occasion but my ticket has gone to a little lad on his second visit to watch Arsenal at home, although he did see us win 5-0 at Southampton. Good , solid displays from our lads should see us home but we can expect Lincoln to be motivated and organised so we must start like we did on Tuesday but keep it going. I think Ozil may return and the BFG too and I think we will get through 3-0.
Liking this bar tonight. Lots.
4-1, with us coming from behind. Or 1-0 with a pen in added time. Or 10-2 for a touch of irony. It’s all the same.
But preferably please win it comfortably, as we should.
Nice one ‘holic. Ox being the key your headline says he is, are you backing him to put one in the back of the net tomorrow?
Ditto Clive and ‘holic. While AW is in charge all respect to the man and support for the teams and tactics he chooses. While reserving the right to disagree with them … respectfully.
@4 thank you, well said. Been stewing over the negative comments for some time and was glad you popped into the bar. Cheers. COYG!
Well said Goonersince 54.
Sanity at last……..
Nice post ‘Holic….
Easy win tomorrow..
Reports of our death have been greatly exaggerated…
As one who is a less frequent drinker here due in no small measure to the now customary vitriolic invectice to be found on occasion, it is heartwarming to hear Clives words of moderate old school logic.
Well played sir..
A pint of Creme de Menthe on the bar for you — and have one yourself barkeep.
A pint of Creme de Menthe , IF? Followed by an insulin injection perhaps?
Clive & ‘Holic: Well said, both.
Last time Lincoln visited the Arsenal, the First Battle of Ypres was being fought. Talk about snow on the mountain.
Random stats for the day. We’ve never lost against Lincoln when we have been the home team.
Overall record, P26 W 13 D7 L6. All games in the old Second Division. In half of those six defeats we shipped the dreaded five goals.
BtM, depending on what time you arrive I may be inside watching the land of my mother’s birth being crunched by the land of my father’s birth. I’ll apologise now! 😉
A full complement of Gooners are on board for the Cup and I fully expect a resounding Arsenal win, 4-0 would be about right.
I read in the press that Ospina has a problem and Cech may well be in the starting 11. Let’s hope the sickness bug has not struck down anyone not already laid low and those on show put in a performance similar to Southampton.
Nice to see more positive comments in the drinks. All of you going to the game have a great time and COYRs.
Snow on the mountain
As measured as Guinness
Holic and Clive
For now Arsene’s hunt should be put aside there is still a lot of games to be played between now and the end of the season.
Let’s get behind the boys and let’s win that FA Cup, secondly a must stay in the top four in the league challenge is required!
I sincerely hope the omens have now departed and we can start building a decent run!
Great preview Holic by the way we need some positive thinking in those dark days of late!
COYG!
PS. Boro doing everything to loose the game from the start!
Just on the train on the way to the pub now. Rumour has it that NTM is in down and that someone has shown him what a cash point machine is. More importantly, someone has actually shown him how to use it. More import than that, someone has actually insisted that he does use it!!!
I’m intending to watch the whole of the Sweaty bashing which will probably mean that I miss the first 15 minutes of our game. I can live with that for once.
Agree totally with Clive, Holic and many others. Whilst Arsene is in charge he has my support. Those wankers that insist on their protest I hope just fuck off. Genuinely I do. They are a total embarrassment in my opinion. The attention seeking twats should just fuck off.
Hoping for a nice convincing win. No dramas, just get the job done and get out unscathed.
I hope that Danny is fit to start. This is the sort of game that would be good for his comeback.
See you in the pub, those that are going.
For Gooners everywhere, enjoy the day.
We’ve gone with a strong team
today and I guess it’s a shot at
redemption for some after Bayern.
I hope we all enjoy the game !
COYGs
Xhaka you silly boy
Xhaka lucky not to be punished harsher for that challenge..
Ozil on for Ox. Ox has done his hammy but nothing serious, I hope.
Good save Cech!
Blatant foul on Alexis thanks ref!
Anthony Taylor is once again the opposition’s most influential player, though Lincoln is making a good fist of it on their own.
Penalty on OG refs doing it again!
Not taking anything away from Lincoln they are playing well!
Thank fuck. That was a dreadful half apart from Theo.
Theo!!!! Get in.
Beautifully played
At last we broke the deadlock get in!
Theo Theo Theo!
Ramsey FFS man
Ramsey looks like he’s playing for the very first time in his life!
Lincoln will tire and we’ll add a few more. Just as long we (namely Xhaka and Kos) don’t do anything silly.
Yeah Barack @41, Anthony Taylor is dying to flash a second yellow that’s for sure… He has tried incredibly hard to be the 12th man for Lincoln. And they will tire for sure but instead of banking on that, I would pprefer us to start the second half fast and furious and get the second goal early on.
And it’s a real pity for the Ox to have done the hammy again. It’s a double blow for us because not only does it rob us of our best central midfielder for the past month or so in the Ox, it also robs us of Ramsey playing in his best position of no 10. I wanted to see the combination of Xhaka – Ox central midfield combo along with Ramsey no 10 getting a run in the side. But it is just so typical of this season that the central midfield combination gets disrupted again.
Well played
Note to K. Gibbs: when you’re on offense head the ball down, not up.
Giroud!!!!
Lincoln cut to shreds.
Floodgates
3-0, own goal.
Sensible sub, Coq for Xhaka.
Perez on for Giroud.
Sanchez, fine strike.
I’m going to miss Alexis…!
😀
Ramsey, 5-0.
I knew Ramsey would get a junk goal when the game was done and dusted
Ramsey is so bad shooting.. he had to dribble that one in… 😀
Pretty awful first half and how it should have been from the beginning in the second.
Tottenham next please.
Pretty awful really? Let it go man ffs.
Gallant Lincoln but outmatched. Played an open game at the start of second half and were undone.
I’d prefer Millwall, Cynic
BTSport commentators are utter shite!
No added time? Interesting…
A good second half performance yet again Lincoln gave it all they had in the tank in the first it was obvious once we scored the second would follow shortly. Fair play to them they did well and their fans did them proud.
We still looked rusty in the first half and I am not too sure why that is. Anyway job well done I suppose but they’re bigger fish to fry in the next round!
BB
What were they saying ?
That’s better. Some of it may have been like watching paint dry, but at least it was our paint!
Five goals unreplied
Semi-final secured
‘Holic and Clive know
ATG – It was Chris Sutton and Ian Darke, which is all you need to know
All good. Professional job against a team that I am sure will be in Division One / Championship within a few year.
Now come on Millwall….
http://i1.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article10008565.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/Arsenal-kit-man-tweet.jpg
🙂
Just on the train back home from the game. A professional performance all ends up.
Quality time spent with some quality Gooners before, during and after the game serves as a reminder to all about what this is really about. Thank you one and all.
I have no idea if the Bollocks protests took place. I hope they do and I hope that no one was that bothered. How anyone believes that that would be the way forward is beyond me.
There were three twats to my left with their girlie banners hoping to get on motd. Perhaps it was their appeal for the “grow a pair campaign” and they were hoping to raise awareness? For me it was totally pathetic.
Into the Semis and a trip to Wembley.
Bring it on …
On the train home. So is Holic so expect a hum dinger of a blog tomorrow. We both looked DEEP into Steve’s wallet. It was a sight from which neither of us may recover. Great day. Great club. No joke.
UTA and down with the pond life.
Hi mushroom
Does your Mother let you stay up this late?
Gotta laugh at Rambo, couldn’t get it on target till gifted his goal by Sanchez – and even then the ball had already dribbled over the line from his side-step before he thrashed it into the netting. It would be nice to see him return to his form of a couple of seasons back, but he won’t from the deep midfield position. He and Ox should have started the other way round.
Come on Theo, you should have had a hat-trick ffs.
He calls himself mushroom, countryman, cos he thrives on bullshit.
The ground wasn’t completely full today. I’d guess there were 50,000 hot bums on seats. I entered the West Stand via turnstile A which is close to the Diamond Club entrance where directors, Roger Daltry (Can you see the real me? Can you??) and their like make their way to their seats.
There was an “Arsene Out” protest there. Definitely less than 100 “fans” making little noise but waving home-made placards. There were also a good number standing behind them making more noise and singing “Arsene Wemger, we want you to stay”. I didn’t hang around. Too, too, too boring.
At the end of the game I saw three “Wenger Out” boards behind the goal where we’d just scored four to complete a 5-0 win. One of the three had a distinct brown stain at the edge which made me think it’s owner may have been multi-tasking on the gurgler during its creation.
Do you care? Probably not. I don’t. But when you see headlines and pictures in your favourite newspaper tomorrow morning stressing Arsenal fan discontent and showing the tacky placards, keep a sense of proprtion way beyond that which the popular press can manage. It was less than o.1% of those present irrespective of the size of the headline or the prominence of the picture. See if you can spot the brown stain and have a chuckle on me. Joke of a club? Get a life.
Spot on BTM. I was waiting to cheer off both teams at the end when I saw three banners in blocks 5 and 6. I shared some of the language I had previously aimed at Anthony Taylor.
But I had a good day. Share a few thoughts tomorrow after the Guvna has spoken.
What did she wear? Another Wembley trip!
We’re gonna win the Cup!
Job done. Nice day out with a fine lunch and pre-match beverage in good company.
A laboured first half no doubt due to a hang-over from Tuesday (some in the bar will know how that feels) followed by a professional, if less than flair-filled, execution of gallant Lincoln. Some of Lincoln’s stalwarts had clearly read the mantra that Arsenal players are fair game for a bit of assault and battery. The big bald geezer at number 9 needs to learn to play the ball rather than the man. Credit to their defensive organisation that kept us at bay until they ran out of legs.
Bring on Millwall, please.
Baby
You have made my day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A great deal is going on to strart with I’m of to have doubles behind the bar after all the landlord is on his way home from that silly game!
COYFFFFFBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBGOOOOOOOOONNNNNEEEEEEERS!
@ATG
Sorry for late reply.. they were just utter C…ts!
More interested in putting down Arsene, the team and the fans instead of giving any objective commentary on the match.
Well they can shove it ..
..Up The Arse!
😀
Morning all. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>