There’s Only Two
Aug 26th, 2017 by 'holic
I could leave you to finish that headline. Instead I will confess that like most of us right now I am hearing voices. Or rather, a voice. That little devil on my shoulder trying to steer me from my preferred course. The preview of our trip to Anfield is currently shaping up thus.
Me: It is a Sunday to get back on the bicycle after last week’s somewhat shocking fall in the Potteries. We can field teams that can beat anybody on the day when they click. We have a half-decent record at Anfield down the years. Arsene Wenger and those players he still has confidence in have a job to do, for sure.
Voice: We have also taken some embarrassing beatings there in recent years. Klopp’s team is on fire and will not give us the time or space in which to get into the match. Prepare for another horror story. If you can’t win at Stoke this is a journey too far.
Me: Last week we played well for much of the match but paid the penalty for selecting an unbalanced trio at the back and not being ruthless in attack. Laurent Koscielny, and possibly Per Mertesacker, can give us a more solid foundation tomorrow. We also have the option of Alexis Sanchez, if only as an impact substitute.
Voice: He’s one of a clutch of players who might not be here in a week’s time. How are we in this situation four days before the window closes? Kieran Gibbs fair enough (assuming he accepts a lower salary), we have his replacement in Sead Kolasinac, but Watford played our negotiators and we blinked first. Skhodran Mustafi, our most expensive defender last summer, is bound for Milan this? Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain? Seriously, if Chelsea or Liverpool have offered £35m I don’t understand the delay. It all paints a depressing picture of our management team unless Seri and van Dijk are secured in those four days.
Me: If we are in profit over the summer next Friday I’m a convert. That would be monumental mismanagement. It won’t alter the fact that I’ll still turn up as often as I can to support our club and enjoy the day. Yes, football as a day out has changed. The company you keep, the food and drink you enjoy. All contribute. Without the latter maybe fewer people would still be prepared to pay the high prices we have to these days.
Voice: That devotion is a one-way street. The club don’t want you old boys who spend their money in the businesses around the stadium rather than in it. They want the once a year fans who will spend big in the club shops and pay over the odds for the appalling catering and drinks available to those in the lowest and highest tiers of the stadium.
Me: I’ll give you that one. 2-1 to me I think. So what will the ‘holic pound be on this weekend? Well, I’ll never back against us. We have the players tomorrow to play a back three. Lest we forget defeat at Stoke was only our second in competitive fixtures using that set-up. Many are predicting a free-scoring affair but it could be a little more evenly matched than popular belief suggests. I’m taking the 12/1 available against a 1-2 away win. We’re going to prove a point!
Voice: You are chucking good money after bad. Liverpool are playing well and you can see that Klopp has got them playing a lot more as a unit than last season. Arsenal may score a goal or two, but I fancy the Liverpool high energy attacking players will get four or five.
Me: Well, well have to agree to disagree, as so many do day in and day out on social media, and even here in the drinks these days. All I know for now is that I live to watch Arsenal week in week out and will always back the boys on the pitch. At the end of the day everything else is just noise, and lots of it uninformed.
Wherever you will be watching the match I hope we give you reason to enjoy your Sunday (and for those who have a bank holiday on Monday, then too!). Have a great one ‘holics.
113 Responses to “There’s Only Two”
that mr voice is one cheeky fella
Fingers crossed
misskakuuuuuu
Nice one! The Bi-Polar Disorder is now ubiquitous.
A must win, already, against a direct rival? Possibly! It’ll certainly not harm the lower mood symptoms
If ever a game called for a disciplined 4,1,2,3 – with the deep-lying CDM “1” just staying the fuck put at all times (Elneny or Coquelin) – this is it.
Liverpool are the best high-pressing, counter-attacking side in the League. Unbeaten last season, with the best head-to-head record, against the top 6 clubs. They’ll just let Wenger’s side have the ball, nick it when the opportunity arises, then break away with their blistering pace and mobility of Mane, Salah, Firmino and their two full-backs. Consequently, The Arsenal have to score first to improve their chances of a victory away at Anfield.
The prudent starting eleven with EPL, big-game experience:
Cech
Bellerin Holding Koscielny Monreal
Elneny
Ozil Ramsey
Welbeck Lacazz Sanchez
UTAAD&AN!
AFCOF!
Only listen to yourself,’ holic. I think we’re all hearing those voices but they have to be pushed aside. Stay positive, but not just tomorrow, all through the season too.
Thank goodness it’s not just me who is hearing voices ( apart from Mrs TTG). I’m very torn in the same way as you Holic. I will never stop loving my club but frankly a club owned by Stan Kroenke is not the same club I grew up supporting.
I’m a resident pessimist here although, our best team could pull off a shock. If only our manager knew what it was. We haven’t got the right defensive midfield in the club and I can’t believe morale can be good at present. Our best hope is that the Mugsmashers are knackered after Wednesday. Gegenpressing is a tiring old business but the thought of Mane, Firmino and Sturridge handing us a new one keeps recurring. I desperately hope my lack of faith shames me. But our club is a mess at present and we are made for Liverpool at present.
Cheers H!
See you at the Bournemouth game mate.
CANY
FUCKING
WAIT!
not one bloody ball in their filthy net for almost five hours of football
hearing couple of voices now and one is especially obnoxious
eee – raaa – weeeb
Nice one H.
You have the sanest voices of anyone with voices I have ever met.
Hard game to call. I share the voice’s and TTG’s anxieties but have great hopes that we can find the Arsenal’s traditional great performance when written off.
We need to compete all over the pitch and find a defensive midfielder to shield the CBs (however many we field).
Cech
Bellerin – Holding – Koscielny – Kolasinac
Coquelin
Ramsey – Ozil
Sanchez – Lacazette – Welbeck
COYG
Thanks for the preview Holic (and your continued, metronomic blog production in general).
Going into a game like this with confidence on the floor feels very familiar so it actually doesn’t bother me like it used to. My hopes would be raised considerably if Sead was played left WB and Bellerin right, at least one CB in the back 3 and Alexis up top with Laca – you know, available people in the positions they like to play in.
The boss can do what he likes with the Ox but I really don’t think he makes a huge contribution to the team and would take 35m for him in a flash.
Just pray it’s one of those games where the lads feel things are so dire it’s time to play to their actual potential, but you don’t normally see that till March when things are 95% f#cked.
Fingers crossed anyway!
This just in on Twitter from David Ornstein:
Mustafi & Ox to be left out of Arsenal squad tomorrow with strong indications both will leave. Wenger feels no pressure to replace them #AFC
Lose the next couple and make no more signings and Wenger will have to face toxic atmospheres as early as matchday 4. Yikes.
Right last of the evening.
The above tweet was from a fake account and I went for it hook line and sinker. As you were!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aItpjF5vXc
I’m genuinely glad I’m not abetting man as I would have no idea how to call this. I will be brutally honest, as always, who knows which Arsenal will turn up. I’m still not convinced that Arsene knows his best team so there is no reason why we should. The fact that we are on the verge of letting two of our non panic buys from last season leave after only a year is more evidence that we really don’t know what our best side it formation is.
Tomorrow at kick off time I will be with number 1 son st the Stade Mayol for some French egg chasing. I will rely on others for updates from the game. Like many, my love for this great club will never die. However, I struggle to identify with those that run it or those that demand the most ridiculous of salaries just to turn up and wear the shirt.
For those going, enjoy. For those elsewhere, keep everything crossed.
Great preview H. An enjoyable read as always.
big day tomorrow
and
vegas shite tonight
saw my first llama
and ‘hol hears voices
.
deep joy ??
.
llamas – weird
let me fuckin tell ye
donegal no fuckin place for em
minded me of a beautiful italian woman
i knew – elegant and sultry but
the longer she stuck around the north
the belfaster her accent got
.
fuckin criminal , so it was , hi
Gina fuckinLollofuckinBrigida so she was
hi
‘lo
Jenkinson dislocates shoulder on Birmingham debut
love that kid
shame
goonah to the max
howdy dandy baff ?
my caledonian cousin
Dia duit máthair
????
.
discussion just today
translating road signs for diversions
cos of the floods
they’re bilingual here
few were posh dublin Irish
not donegal Irish
and a car load of big eejits were dredging brain vaults
for o level and a level doings
4 decades hence
.
it’s all still in there
somewhere ?
drink was not involved
.
the llamas were real
The llamas were real it’s the world that surrounds them that is all in your mind 😉
The voices in my head are telling me that The Scorpions might just be the greatest band that ever strode a stage.
Now that IS crazy.
This isn’t though. Gary Moore breaks a string and just keeps on going during the rocky bit. As you would.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fza-xzksmtU
Hi all
I didn’t do an away report from Stoke because I was so dispirited (and soaking wet) come the end. A shocker of an away day.
I hate Stoke, even in August.
I’m not going to Anfield because I don’t have enough away credits to get a ticket.
So I’ll be watching Sky like so many and cheering on the glorious Gooners.
More in hope than expectation.
COYG!!!
yer away day coalface reports
i always look forward to c100
????????????
.
cynic
punch yerself on the eyebrow
ye haven’t got a fuckin baldy notion
?
I haven’t got any eyebrows, I make Duncan Goodhew look like the werewolf boy in a Mexican circus
If Mustafi is allowed to leave on loan it will underline the stupidity of our transfer dealings.
I met the Dalai Llama once, cba, and played frisbee with him. Lovely fellow, very keen on automotive tinkering with his pre-war Austin Ruby. He was responsible for a miracle while I was at his place in Dharamsala.
We could use a miracle tomorrow. Especially if we continue to play Welbeck and leave OG and Theo on the bench. I guarantee that if either OG or Theo played tomorrow and failed to score we’d never hear the end of how rubbish they are (despite being our second and third best strikers last season), but Danny fails week after week and STILL gets picked. I may have mentioned this before… 🙁
Thanks GH and I’m with you on
the holic pound.
Too early in the season for panic
methinks, get it done lads!
Good luck with your pound, ‘holic. Guessing a possible outcome, without even knowing which eccentric selection AW will put out to achieve it, strikes me as about as over the top as charging machine guns in WW1. Did I ever mention I had an uncle do that (the WW1 bit)? Just one generation ago ffs. My dad’s older brother. 100 years, one generation! Wenger is ageing me more each year.
My pointless (it’ll never happen) 4.2.1.3 selection:
Cech
Holding Mertesacker Koscielny Monreal
Xhaka Kolasinac
Ramsey
Alexis Giroud Lacazette
If we play proper defenders and Alexis and not Ox, and they don’t play Coutinho we’re in with a chance.
…and not Ox or Danny, that should have been.
Think we will stick with 3 at the back
for now. My guess is
Cech
Mustafi Kos Nacho
Hector Xhaka Elneny Kola
Ozil, Alexis, Laca
But who knows as AW likes to find
a place for Ramsey.
Uneasy about this one. Very much a depends-which-Arsenal-turns-up day.
OM@32: I would guess it will the RamXhakcle pivot starting in front of Holding, Kos and Nacho.
I notice this post is categorised as ‘Uncategorised’. Still in two minds about how it should be categorised, Guv’nor? 🙂
Never a truer word, Ned @33.
Thanks Ned, and heh! ?
Christ on a bike, if you think things between Arsenal fans are bad thesedays, try being a Forest fan when a “brother” robs you of the last half time pie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gvk3fwmrZIs
Shit just got real 😀
Given our workload this year unless we give up on the U Ropey League completely ( not a decision many of us would advocate) it seems bizarre defensively to sell or loan Gabriel , Jenkinson, Bramall, Mustafi and Gibbs. If Ox goes who is our back- up to Bellerin? Chambers or Maitland- Niles?
What is our optimum CB combination- BFG, Koscielny and Nacho?
That leaves a Europa League back three of say Holding, Bielik and Plegezuelo possibly- far too inexperienced . If Nacho plays CB who is the back- up LB? Presumably we might use Nelson wide on the right although the boy is a forward player every hour of the day and night.
There is an unseemly haste to sell players and not replace them and the squad is looking too thin given the travel ( two games in Eastern Europe) and our notorious injury record. As with most things happening at the club at the moment I don’t understand it.
I also don’t understand why we need to free up so much cash when we have huge cash reserves, Wenger was allocated £100 million plus player sales and we have spent £46m plus the salaries of Laca and Kalashnikov ?. We are likely to generate fees of around £100 million and save wages of £ 25 million . So in this transfer window we will have a surplus of over £50 million in fees and save £ 5-10 million in wages. Is this to offset the hit next year when Alexis and Ozil leave or because Stan has a priority project he needs to finance in the US- maybe a channel that shows executions or car crashes for our delectation
Lacazette doesn’t start but Welbeck does
LOL
No Kolasinac or Lacazette starting at Anfield. I understand less and less
It’s almost like…
https://www.counter-currents.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/DrStrangelove060Pyxurz.jpg
Or
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WI4WLHZNFmo
Just seen the starting line up, bewildered! Lacazette on the bench, Welbeck at CF after his useless efforts last week. Still persisting with the Ox at RWB and Hector on the left ! Should the Ox be in the side which means the Bosnian doesn’t start, crazy.
Fearing the worst, watching this one from behind the sofa.
NBN@34
Good shout on the team.
Can’t see starting Ox on the left
if that’s our plan. Anyway,
fingers crossed Alexis is raring
to go we’ll need him today.
Laca and Kola on the bench.
Ox at LWB.
Welbeck up front.
What, just WTF is he thinking.
Seriously, can anyone think of a single good reason for this?
It’s almost like he’s showing he can do anything he likes and proving nobody has the stones to stop him.
It might work today but that’s a bewildering selection yet again, that is square pegs for round holes.
COYG
Their pace in Salah and Mane is scary. I hope we score first and keep some defensive organization and discipline throughout instead of bombing forward as usual. A difficult watch.
What a shit effort that was
Oh Danny boy….spurns a good chance.
Cech with s huge save.
What a miss by Welbeck and a stupendous save by Cech.
well done Cech.
very fast pace.
Play a right back at right back, not left back. Play a left back at left back, not centre back. Play a centre back pairing as part of a four.
Play someone with a bit of pace on each flank in midfield.
Play central midfielders with a bit of dicipline who actually work as a pair.
Play a number 10 if you have to or two strikers who can actually score.
Management is simple.
We have conceded already. Shambolic defending or is it no defending? We don’t stick to opposing attackers like, say, Man United do and we have already paid for it.
Our worst fears are being realised before our eyes. We have no defensive midfield and both wings are being penetrated so easily . I suspect Lacazette might have done better than Welbeck on that chance. This could be anything
Arse and nose, TTG.
We are all at sea at the back, MF gone AWOL, is Ozil on the pitch.
My God.. just watching Carragher pointing out what Ramsey was doing when Liverpool scored and he looked like he was pleading with the bench to tell Oxlade-Chamberlain what to do whilst wandering away from the play!
WTF is going on?
It’s OK Delia, Ozil’s jogging stats will be awesome after the game.
OX off, Welbeck off.
At half time and not on 70 minutes, as per Coaching For Dummies.
Bring Holic’s mate The Voice on at half time or has he been on from the start the way these loons are playing ?
Arsenal look frightened.
What is really fucking stupid is that we’ve got a back four on the pitch and we are playing a three, with players out of position to do it.
And we are getting destroyed 1-0
You can’t play Ramsey in this role and Ozil in the same team away from home. Frankly it’s a horror show when the ball gets forty yards from our goal.Its acutely embarrassing but it just underlines how awful Wenger is at setting up teams especially away from home and especially against the better sides.
Gary Neville talking bollocks about not knowing how to change it, it’s simple.
Get Ox off and play Monreal in his natural position on the left, switch Bellerin to (guess what) his natural position on the right and have two centre backs playing … shock horror …. centre back.
You then put Walcott on the right and you replace Welbeck with Lacazette.
It ain’t difficult.
But it’s too late anyway.
Fucking shit, Arsenal. Total utter fucking shit
I’m despairing ?
Dear oh dear, 2-0 and our defending just gets worse
This could get horribly embarrassing. Must change formation and personnel at HT.
Keep sitting on your hands, mate. Just let it happen.
Vengaa aahhht naaah!
Nobody even warming up with a light jog before getting a full warm up during the break to come on.
Players out of position, signings who don’t get to play, indulging 3 who have clearly said they want to leave. It’s hard to know if we’re a bigger mess off or on the pitch right now. If I ever hear “one arsene Wenger” ever again, I’ll puke.
ONE ARSENE WENGER
*waits for vomit*
Alexis body language at the whistle, standing in the box waiting for a cross while a trio of his mates diddle away time in the corner after a Liverpool giveaway, speaks volumes.
hahahaha
We’ll have a tough time finishing in the top half of the table this season on that display.
Maybe then the Board will realize we need a change of Manager, especially with a half full stadium.
Our second half performance will tell us a lot.
Has Wenger got a clue what to do?
Do the players believe what he says?
Do the players care about the club?
Do they have pride in themselves?
Cynic has some good ideas but I’d bring Kolasinac on for Ox. Theo isn’t the man I’d bring on when you want greater application. Laca for Welbeck certainly and maybe Elneny coming on for Monreal or Holding to give us a tighter 4-3-3. We have to stop losing before we can try to get back in it and they have too much space.
The Wenger Out calls are going to start worryingly early, can he really take a whole season of this?
We have half our team who just don’t give a fuck. They’re not going to be here in a year or so, or in some cases seven days time, so why should they?
Ramsey only cares about how good he looks – clue mate, you look shit.
Ozil couldn’t give a fuck, Oxlade-Chamberlain is off (possibly this week) and is playing like he knows it. Why is he in the team at all?
Welbeck cares but is not good enough to matter, Sanchez looks like he gives a toss but only at the end of the half when he can rage for effect.
I feel sorry for the defence, who are getting nothing from their team mates and are being played in a system that just doesn’t work in positions that are unfamiliar to them.
This three at the back is rubbish IMO
Might still pull this back but I wouldn’t put a penny on it. We could have lost all three league games this season.
TTG – The only reason I say bring on Theo is that he will bring you goals, or at least the chance of some, and we’re already so shit defensively that using that as a reason against him coming on is irrelevant.
And we go back to a four, which is how we should have started!
Ramsey off Coq on. No worries lads the cavalry is here!
WOW, players playing in their correct positions. Who is the tactical genus who came up with that plan?
Sorry It’s Coq not Elneny on bench. That’s a sensible change
2 nil up the arse it’s all over thank fuck Wenger is in charge!
Absolutely abject from Bellerin. Game over.
We can concede from our corners too
Update 3 nil up the arse and nothing
Jesus it’s 3. Apols late reply Cynic. Been driving a porcelain bus the last half hour. Wretched. Display and all over the bathroom
3-0
We are being embarrassed.
I was hopeful going into this season but we are only going further backwards under Wenger. Can’t coach and can’t inspire a performance.
Destroyed shame worthless!
Should I add more?
Demi must be happy chap!
It’s going to be a long old season. This is bollocks.
We can still win 4-3
@89 – Photoograph your bathroom and make it a work of art titled Anfield August 2017
Sorry Desi my iPhone keeps coming excuses
‘ All I hear is about new players. It is more important to harness the collective spirit of the players . The answer is not always in the transfer market. ‘
Guess who ?
hahahaha. You cant make this shit up. Jokers been led by a Joker of a manager. You cant even get angry at this shit anymore. We deserve it. the fans, the top management. Everyone involved with this club deserve what Wenger has turned this team into because we have accepted this shit for far too long.
Half an hour to go and I can barely watch them toy with us much longer
SAG – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuvEJ-U1UDc
QED!
Rushed back from a weekend away for this Shit even tho like most I could see what was coming – If he’s got an ounce of self respect he will go tonight not only is he killing his legacy he’s also doing serious damage to the club he loves – This constant drip drip shit shower weve been served up over the past few years is going to put a long while to put right and somebody needs to get a grip on it now, Half the squad are paralysed by an inept midfield and defence whilst the other don’t even want to be here – How the fuck has itever come to this ?
SAG
I know many wonderful loyal Arsenal fans , many on this site and THEY do not deserve this. Please mind your comments. And No Arsenal humiliation is EVER funny
Poor young Holding has been exposed today but I blame him not an iota. We are selling two centre backs and it’s unfair to expose him too much at this stage . Wenger think on.
Sorry get rid of top then work your way down!
They look like there is something not right with them!
I know many will pick some of the players, maybe all of them, after this game, but has the arrogant, stubborn old bat resigned yet?
Shambles fucking shambles !
Too easy, how to turn defense into attack in 3 passes.
I can barely wait for Wenger’s comments after the match, more than for a new episode of GoT
Mind my comment? because? Don’t tell me to mind my comment I can say whatever the heck I wanna say. I will repeat myself we all deserve this especially the so called “loyal Arsene Wenger fans” Do I need to repeat myself or what? I don’t feel humiliated. I saw it coming. Wenger should feel humiliated and get the fuck outta of the club.
TTG
Let’s get behind the manager and the team yet again afterall he knows best!
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
We could have had Klopp. These players adore him.
We have been in decline for years. Nothing strange about this result really is it? We don’t ever learn we don’t make the changes we are fucking useless that’s what we are that’s what Arsenal stands for fucking useless !