Eight Unbeaten? Or Another Bad Day Post International Break?
Oct 13th, 2017 by 'holic
I haven’t been to Vicarage Road since the eighties, so when a good friend offered me a ticket for this weekend’s match I answered in the affirmative. I’m looking forward to see the transformed version of what was always a quirky stadium. Those were the days of Elton John and Graham Taylor. We lost there more than once, as I recall.
We travel for this latest instalment on the back of a seven match unbeaten run sadly interrupted by the international break. The break has not been kind to us and the loss of Skhodran Mustafi to injury has understandably frustrated. At one point this week we thought we might also be without the services of Laurent Koscielny and Sead Kolasinac but both trained today and if there is no reaction for the skipper he can come into the back three as a straight swap for Mustafi, and Kolasinac can man the opposite flank to Hector Bellerin.
There is a boost in midfield too with Mesut Ozil training today and tweeting to the effect that he was ready to play again. Granit Xhaka and Aaron Ramsey could feature behind him but Mohamed Elneny will be buoyed by Egypt’s qualification for the World Cup in Russia and he may get the nod. The front two will be a real poser for the manager. Danny Welbeck, preferred in the early matches, is fit quicker than expected and available. As for Alexis much will rest on his mood following Chile’s exit from the biggest competition of all. Expect one of those to partner Alexandre Lacazette.
Watford of late has been a good ground for us, but this season they have quietly gone about their business, and have lost just once in the Premier League. That was by 0-6 to a rampant Manchester City in their last home match. Their other two home games ended all-square against Liverpool (3-3) and Brighton (0-0). Lest we forget we are looking to avenge our last meeting at the Grove in January when Watford took all three points, winning 1-2 on a grim January evening.
The ‘holic pound
Not discounting the fact that the Hornets currently trail us by a solitary point I am feeling very positive about this one. The friend who came up trumps takes us to win this 1-3, a repeat of the scoreline on our last visit here in August 2016. I’m backing that too at a best of 12/1. Those who are going, I hope to bump into you at some point of the day. The fact that BT Sport 1 are showing the game live means there should be no shortage of streams for those who do not have a sports subscription package.
So, I’m backing the team that hasn’t won an away League match to beat the team who haven’t won a home League match. Have a good one ‘holics.
148 Responses to “Eight Unbeaten? Or Another Bad Day Post International Break?”
*puckers up*
*reciprocals down*
?
Do enjoy your trip to Vicarage Road Holic and I hope it is a triumphant one. They used to be a bogey side for us but we should be able to beat them. The elimination of Chile won’t help Alexis who now sees himself unable to play in the World Cup at the peak of his powers at the same time as he is outside the Champions League. I understand Ramsey ( another one whose mood may be depressed) may be injured
We are on a decent run and we usually start to play productively away from home at this time of the season. I hope we can grab a 2-1 win
I also hope the Mickey Mousers can beat Yoonited
Enjoy your trip H.
Who knows what will happen? Which team will turn up this time? Who knows?
My last visit to Vicarage Road was to see Saracens v Bath a few years back? That time I sat watching the game with a few beers. Unfortunately the authorities deem that football fans not responsible enough to enjoy such luxuries.
3 points please. Not really bothered how.
CBA is on the juice early tonight?
.
.
.
*flounces off*
*trips over steve’s weller wank mags*
.
.
.
.
?
nine was a RAGING BULL emoji
here
.
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not so clever now cba !
.
.
.
*slopes off*
horizontal on
thankfully fuck roars the attendant hoards
?
sleep is good
Enjoy the outing down the yellow brick road ‘holic. A smash and grab would do us nicely.
anybody juiced on mateus and just hanging loose?
mind you
rest snoozes rare to come by
.
it depends which snore will turn up
16
not funny
sorry
.
.
.
twat here
.
.
have a tune
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRof0M1IJ1I
Evening H
I fancy you and fellow Gooners will have an enjoyable day out at Vicarage Road tomorrow.
Always plenty of goals when we play them at their place,so expect no different this time.
I wouldn’t play Sanchez or Ramsey after the crushing disappointment midweek.
I wouldn’t play Ozil either,and even with a few injuries we should be able to see off Watford.
On the subject of Ozil,excellent article by Barney Ronay in the Guardian today,one of the best football journalists plying their trade these days.
Not a pretty read if you are an Ozil fan.
I hear strong rumors the little Spanish maestro and his twinkle toes are getting fitter and stronger by the day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-aVtKEhpO0
21 me
not clive
who i love
(see #2)
How are you cba. I’m in mellow mood here. Only on blended nonsense, but pretty mellow nonetheless.
come on clive
?
*fashions olive branch outta poundshop toffee crisps*
.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72tPspH3Eg0
‘hol
in all honesty
.
.
.
sorry
.
i will behave
CBA. Tune for you. And anyone else who wants to join in.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ojnDaqaEg3E
cba
one last time
your friends don’t need it
and the other bastards don’t believe it.
why were some of my drinks deleted ?
.
WE ARE THE MODS
WE ARE THE MODS
WE etc
.
?
howdy steve ya big darlin
‘holic i can take or leave ?
28
throwin
nice shapes
.?.
29
(flake news)
.
.
Evening CBA yer big cowboy you.
Polish that Lambretta and head to the hills.
no comments were deleted
but
should the campaign i’m starting now
gain traction
my grandchildren’s future internet embarrassment
should lessen
.
(start smitin’ like the might dub bloke ‘ hol)
well steve
rode yesterday to the beach
on an lml
so
*raspberries*
to you
i live beside the beach
but
the point is still made
I would love to live by the beach…
I’m working on it.
Then no Arsenal.
‘holic
there is nothing like it
an old 60’s garage song
has the line
“i go down to the seashore to wash my brain”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oog9EnBOIVs
.
.
a complete life saver
@ 22 and 25
No Olive branch required,
Irreverence is an absolute must in the Bar when there are so many posters that are weak of spirit,and bereft of intestinal fortitude when discussing the fluctuating fortunes of the Arse.
A bar is meant to be a place of fun,drinking and enjoyment,catching up with friends after a hard days work.
Hard to distinguish from a fucking wake in here most of the time.
So your posts are a shining beacon of dare i say it,not unlike the inimitable Spike Milligan in all his utter madcap humor.
Cheques accepted made out to Cash.
fuck off ya tart
.
*renews Ramblers magazine subscription*
#16 … I haven’t been juiced on Mateus since the ’60s, bt8. Or was it the ’50s? Keep up America.
Just burning out my fuse up here alone, Chris.
Last time I actually saw Spike Milligan in the flesh was performing at the Mermaid theatre in The Bedsitting Room … https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bedsitting_Room_(play) … c1963. One of my most favourite theatre memories. A National treasure, Spike. But which nation, cba?
This is no time to burn out, bt8, Arsenal needs you. And so does your country so long as its curent leadership holds sway.
thanks for the preview Guvvy.
Last time I was at Vicarage Rd
Charlie Nic scored, twice I think
unless my memory deceives.
It was a cracking day and I hope
for the same for you this time.
Last season I thought our win at
Watford one of our best performances
– the home game was one of our
worst. I’ll take a 4-2 today to the
mighty Gunners.
Juiced on Mateus sounds like a Ronco album to be flogged on telly at Christmas by Peter Powell, along with The Buttoneer and those brushes that get cat hairs off your best velvet jacket.
With some bird on the cover showing half her jugs off, like those saucepots who used to be on the KP Nuts display behind the bar in pubs.
I tell a lie it was Big D Nuts.
And to keep it on topic, here’s the Big D girl with Alan Hudson
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9PfvDG2ilsM/ThOJsW-ojSI/AAAAAAAAKhA/j9VV4VRF54c/s640/1979marapr.jpg
Friday night eh…
Half century, don’t mind if I do.
Read the Ronay article – I’m
amazed he’s still nicking a
living churning out the same old
shite – Ronay that is.
I would dissect it but why bother
– a dead toad should be left in
peace, not laid out on a Guardian
table for the amusement of
hackney-ridden adolescents.
@49 She may not be showing 50% of her boobs but I do reckon a full 100% of her bodacious bellybutton. 😉
3-1 to the Arsenal
You heard it here first
No, NG, I read it first in ‘holic’s OP. And that was after reading my own mind and finding the same conclusion. But let’s not quibble, so long as we win.
You could be right, Cynic, whatever a Ronco album might be (I haven’t lived in the UK for more than 50 years). But if it’s boobs you want on an album cover you really can’t go past Joe Berluck And His Erotic Voice (that is how he was billed), for example … https://i.ytimg.com/vi/bUinyrMY0N8/hqdefault.jpg … and … https://img.discogs.com/mHaRaK3pN5QnEylxHzF-7i-f5Bo=/fit-in/300×300/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(40)/discogs-images/R-1607841-1231841519.jpeg.jpg
You could check also out YouTube for Berluck but I wouldn’t bother!
Ooops, that second link failed. Try this … https://i.ytimg.com/vi/4CjZrmZ2z6M/maxresdefault.jpg
Nice preview ‘Holic. Some numbers to confirm your memory: We won only three of 12 league games against Watford in the 1980s and lost five of the six away games. However, we haven’t lost at Watford since November 1987 and in the Premier League era we have won seven out of eight.
Cheers H! Have a great day out. 28th shaping up nicely!
That it is Esso! 🙂
Morning all.
39 may be my favourite drink of all time. 🙂
#
and then i’ll go and spoil it all
by saying something stupid
like
mooooooo oooooooo ooooooo
#
safe and speedy journey ‘holic
and
horse the swally into ye like there’s no tomorrow
.
.
UP THE ARSENAL
Poo and Manure into injury time
in a fairly dull 0-0 draw.
Good result for us I suppose.
And Chavski losing to Palace.
That’s good too.
Hang on Palace, only 75 minutes
to go.
No Alexis or Rambo.
Elneny and Danny in.
Mert for Mus.
Certainly an experienced back 3.
Ozil, Theo, OG and Jack on the
bench if we need to attack.
Osp, Rob and Coq.
Should be good enough but a bit
of pressure on Laca as he’s the
only reliable goal scorer in there.
The Palace lad just missed a sitter
to put Palace 3-1 up.
Palace haven’t looked that bad,
haven’t really seen them this season
but don’t know they’ve managed
to lose 7 in a row.
Now the useless Townsend has missed
another.
Oskar,
They still won the game which is exactly what matters the most regardless if you’re useless or not on top of that against Chelski! This gives us a brilliant opportunity to move up the table are we up for the task?
Come on Arsenal! ⚽️??
Am I Oskar? 🙂
Spillchucker I guess.
But you’re completely right
ATG, opportunity knocks.
Get the 3 points Arsenal!
Laca changing his boots on the
sideline, hope those are the shooting
ones he’s putting on
Just back from a break in Berlin. Did I miss much?
Having watched this game for 30 mins it is my considered opinion that we need LJW off the bench and onto the pitch.
Get in! BFG!
Merted!!!
Bloody handy that goal, we’ve
struggled to get into this game.
I love it when we score from corners
Per purring.
I’m watching in Bermuda, a very pleasant place to watch an encouraging first half. Lots of good movement. Particularly impressed with Bellerin, Iwobi and Welbeck
I noticed on the replay that
Watford seemed to have Cleverly
picking up Mert at the corner.
That was very foolish.
Lots of endeavour and one or two promising moves, well taken goal by the BFG and relieved Hector is having a decent game. My Man of the Half was Laca . Hope Jack gets 20mins.
COYR
I think your Bermuda trumps my Berlin TTG (although it’s a great city and you don’t get autumn hurricanes).
Per purring but Welbeck down and Ozil on for him.
Sorry about Per comment getting repeated.
Fucking hell. Ozil should win the game down the other end and penalty.
Bellerin concedes a penalty. Stupid.
Wasn’t a pen but Ozil should pass that chance into the net,
Two crucial chances saved by Gomes but the penalty was very harsh. Our shout was much stronger. We’ve been too passive in the second half and have not controlled the game in midfield. Maybe the result of all the travel but we need a big end to the game
Looks like we won’t take this opportunity
Ozil didn’t travel. Yes I am pissed that such a good player misses so many easy chances.
Watford are faster and athletic against our slow coaches esp Xhaka, Per, Elneny. Watford want it more.
I wish Wenger sent in any of Theo or Jack in place of Özil. No disrespect, but I think this game isn’t for him.
Wenger is playing for a draw! Deluded!
No he’s not. Lolo’s crocked.
Sorry to say we are getting outplayed by Watford and Cited smashed them 6-0. We are a toothless team and won’t finish in the top four. Lack of creativity by us is glaring.
Citeh
@86
yep, passed up 2 great chances
to make it 2-0 and kill the game.
Fingers crossed to somehow
nick a late goal.
Dive for their pen I wonder what the FA panel will do regarding this?
Typical fucking Arsenal!
Ozil. Ozil has lost this match.
2-1. We always looked like we would lose and we have.
Weak Manager players and the rest goes up to the top fucking shambles
Phooey
Well deserved loss. Apart from the corner and Ozil’s chance we created very little. Richarlison is a diving prick but we are a top 4 team at best. Catalyst for change my arse.
Countryman
Football is a team sport and you can’t single out a player, OG is as useful as a toilet roll!
Ozil. Ozil has lost this match.
He is utter junk but the main problem we have is persisting with three at the back when we don’t have the players for it and they have never looked comfortable with it, plus you leave out Sanchez (which is fair enough after all the travelling) and Walcott, depriving yourself of a ton of goal potential.
Ozil, Welbeck, Iwobi etc… never going to score many goals.
Get back to 4-3-3 ffs and pick players who can score goals.
We have too many passengers and want away players in our team to win anything.
This is just so typical let’s find a scape goat in Ozil! What happened to the rest of the team?
We didn’t play well and we are far from anything good! Catalyst to become shit and shambolic more like, I have seen it too many times before. The broken record jumped again?
We never learn we never take opportunities when other teams stumble is as simple as that! We are not a top team and we will never be until there is a massive change at the club!
Have a lovely evening Holic and Holics.
I don’t give a shit if Sanchez has to travel miles he gets paid a lot of money and needs to be included in the squad as most of this team is not good enough to win anything!
That was an awful second half performance and the Watford manager made much better substitutions than Wenger. Giroud was made for their two Centre backs whereas Welbeck and Laca had been taking them all over the place . Ozil was not the right guy to bring on. LJW would have brought intensity whereas Ozil brought his usual languor.
I also think Kos was struggling throughout the second half but the game turned on two wrong penalty decisions. No way was theirs a penalty.
We are 6th and I’m afraid with this squad that’s about our level.
A blind man can see where we need strengthening and we failed to do enough in the close season . Very disappointing to be losing to teams like Watford.
The Deeney substitution and the accompanying formational switch turned the game. Xhaka and Elneny stopped bossing the middle and we had to play whack-a-mole at the back. We never had the game under control thereafter.
Kos’s injury is a worry, and it denied Jack a run-on at the end, which might have been our best chance of snatching a late goal.
Watford is a top four team, Ttg. Just look at the table…
Never a penalty.
Here we are nearly in November and all is chaos at the club with players not ready to play , lots of injuries all over the pitch ( some chronic like Kos) and uncertainty about Ozil and Sanchez. So we sell them both in January?
We get a fraction of what we would have got in the summer, will struggle to replace them in January and two months from the window have hardly used either player- one goal between them! That smacks to me of really muddled decision- making and that is really hurting us as a club.
There is such obvious talent as the first half showed but we really do need a change of coaching philosophy at the club.
Think Ozil and Alexis are gone in Jan,… hence neither of them started…
If we don’t get replacements..
Does not bode well at all…!
NBN – “Deeney substitution and the accompanying formational switch turned the game. Xhaka and Elneny stopped bossing the middle and we had to play whack-a-mole at the back. We never had the game under control thereafter”
Ok! So who’s paid and tasked with the responsibility to also see that and make the appropriate tactical and personnel changes to also adapt to that? Oh, and also whilst we were still one-nil up and winning away from home at an in form Premier League side with a young and upcoming Manager?
What Watford changed was totally predictable as it’s been done to Wenger’s teams for time immemorial! It doesn’t need an academic to see that?!
Oh well, just the same old ?, but on a different day! It’ll just keep on happening. Fortunately, only 20 more months or Wenger-ball to have to tolerate! Should coincide beautifully with the end of the Brexit period! ?
Arsenal Football Club Only Forever!
Not, Arsene Wenger Forever!
*Fortunately, only 20 more months of Wenger-ball to have to tolerate! Should coincide beautifully with the end of the Brexit period! ?
I thought we were scrappy 1st
half, certainly we played well for
last 10 but that was it. 2nd half
we were worse.
The game turned on 2 bad misses
and an iffy penalty. Slagging all
and sundry individuals off seems pointless
to me, the fact is that 8 games
into the season we’ve already shown
the inconsistency from last season
and we’re not good enough as a
team to challenge for the PL.
Changing formation, tactics etc
won’t change that, it’ll be the same
guys making defensive mistakes
and not finishing clinically.
Personally, I hope we can enjoy the
cup competitions and finish as best
we can the league. Until we clean
house we can’t win the league so
I’ll enjoy when we do play well
and lump it when we inevitably
don’t.
What I find particularly puzzling is that we seem to drop our intensity once we go one up. We hadn’t achieved peak fluency in the game yet, as was evident enough – we were nowhere near to producing chances at a good rate. Shouldn’t this be the aim of every self-respecting “flair” team? It was one up against Watford thanks to a header from Mertesacker, for fuck’s sake – is that really the standard we are aiming for ?!
I recognise this as a recurring theme for a while now, and I believe it is our ultimate failing.
We tend to switch off and be conservative, and then try and reboot once we happen to concede – which this time occurred at 70th minute. No wonder it does not fucking work, does it?
Apart from Bellerin, I’m very happy with the attitude and quality of our back 5. Can’t say the same for the rest of the team unfortunately.
NBN
Watford are transitionally a top four team because of who they have played. City beat them 6-0! I’ve just watched them play and they aren’t a very good team!
Note to the Arsenal board: if you ever get around to looking for a successor to AW, you would do well to venture across the fence in Colney that separates the Watford and Gunners training facilities to have a word with senor Silva.
DapperDan@113: It’s certainly not me. But if I can see it, you’d think those whose day job it is could do so, too.
TTG@117: It was said tongue in cheek.
Nothing much changes, however, I’m past being surprised.
This is it nowadays.
Played well for periods, didn’t take our chances to wrap things up (lack of hunger? When was the last time we scored 6?), and we faded once again.
Not really a pen but ho hum.
And then a goalmouth scramble with inevitable ricochets lead to our downfall.
Maybe a 2 match ban will follow if it was deemed a dive, but a bit like last year with Costa getting Gabriel sent off and then retrospectively done himself, it doesn’t change the result or the loss of points.
It gets harder to justify spending approx £100 a match to follow them these days.
Another pint of apathy please barman 🙂
I’ve not seen any of today’s game having been at work all day. I’ve just settled down to watch motd. I’ve just watched Citeh absolutely destroy Stoke. At times they reminded me of the Invincibles. Their second goal playing out from the back was great to watch. De Bruyne was just incredible.
And to think there were people here who didn’t rate Pep???
Not looking forward to our game but sometimes you have to go through these things to come out stronger.
Same old same old … none of our best strikers start and Wenger tries to hang on desperately at 1-1 instead of sending on a goal-scorer to win the game. When did Arsenal sink to this?
Frankly I gave up when I saw the starting line-up. Just surprised it took the hornets so long to sting us. And for that we can thank a bit part player who can still show how it’s done when called on. A proper pro, Per.
Is it really only Cynic and I who want 4 at the back and proper strikers upfront? How much longer do we have to suffer a total lack of cohesion in defence while Danny and Iwobi run around in circles looking industrious but getting nowhere? Did either of them even attempt a shot?
If Alexis is leaving, as seems certain, why aren’t we running him into the ground playing him in every game while we have him? He loves showing off, and can be relied on to at least be trying for 90 minutes. In fact hasn’t he always been totally pissed off when asked to rest? So where was he??
Chris,
Same old for years and for years to come, I don’t sense any change coming forth any time soon.
Don’t get me wrong please anyone in fact, I don’t want us to spend big on all the stars, but we all know deep down that Chelski will pick it next week and we will still have to bite our nails come next weekend but in fact we could have had a game in our pockets.
This is exactly it! This is exactly why we, you and I come here week in week out to express our deep thoughts on Arsenal staff? I bet most of you do it right here on this blog like I do?
Every year we come back to the same plots to the same mistakes and same old again. For myself if I get lazy everyone gets lazy at my house and my household. So it comes from the top! Don’t get hungry just play as it was a training session! Certainly they do well in training and for most part, I would have the same outlook on things as Wenger, however when it comes to show it games, it’s a different ball game!
We have a weak team, there are no leaders in there, we have players that the manager has exposed to so much in the past that they don’t understand what role they play in the team any more. To me it seems like a lost cause. We are toothless
TERS
Our intensity is like that since 2004!
We will simply not kill the game like we use too! We are a different breed at the moment in time.
Just watched the highlights. All a bit too average really.
The stats said we had 8 shots on target. As always we just need to be more clinical.
From the brief highlights I thought we looked disjointed again. With the exception of Per, we have no leaders. The penalty was a soft decision but we would have wanted it up the other end. Their second was a shambles. How you can just leave 2 players unmarked on the edge of the box just waiting to hit one is just amateurish in the extreme.
Another poor day at the office.
Chris
I said I don’t give a flying toss if he has traveled or got disappointed, this guy lives on football and winning yesterday would have made it at least more bearable!
@ Steve T
Another day? Or yet another year after year in the season?
Arthur. We have been in slow decline for years. We are now paying the price.
You don’t hear much about the happy train anymore do you? It’s been coming for years. Just a shame that it wasn’t dealt with when it should have been.
MarktheSpark@120: The answer to your question is October 19, 2016 against PFC Ludogorets Razgrad in the Champions League (6-0). The last time in the league was December 29, 2012, a 7-3 win over Newcastle. That season we also put seven past Reading and six past Coventry in the League Cup and six past Southampton in the league.
Chris. You don’t think Lacazette is one of our best strikers then?
The thrill is gone. I don’t like to say it but that is an absolute fact.
He might be, Steve, but too early to be sure.
Our top 4 strikers last season were Alexis, Theo, OG and Ozil. How we can start none of them, instead relying on perrenial scoring failures Danny and Iwobi is the mystery. No wonder we have to hang on for a draw against opposition we should canter past. And end up losing.
Arsenal used to play the best attacking football. Now we have a manager in his dotage who is afraid of losing.
Chris. Theo and Özil aren’t Strikers. Never have been and never will be. Alexis has been away on international duty and not even in the squad. Why? No idea. But as he’s been our best player for some time and if he was available to play then I’m sure he would have.
Lacazette, our mega bucks signing started up front. He was replaced by OG. Ozil has been out injured. Theo is too lightweight, doesn’t work hard enough and is simply not good enough to play behind the main striker. Iwobi is a kid and still learning. Danny is poor in front of goal and not a player I rate. If Özil, Ramsey or Sanchez was available then he doesn’t start. With only Ozil in the squad then Danny is probably the only option. The sad fact is that he was probably picked on Work rate.
Troy Deeney of all people… but does any of this sound like rubbish? Not to me it doesn’t.
Well, I’m not going to be one to tell Mr Wenger about himself, but there’s a reason they lost and it wasn’t because of one penalty.
“It’s having a bit of cojones. Whenever I play against Arsenal, I’ll go up and think ‘let me whack the first one and see who wants it’.
“I came on today and jumped up with Mertesacker – I didn’t even have to jump, actually. I nodded it down, the crowd got up – ‘yeah we’ve got somebody who can win it’ – and they all just backed off.
“For me as a player, I just think ‘happy days’. That’s my strength – if you’re going to let me do my strength against you, you’re going to have a tough afternoon.”
It sounds Bollocks to me Cynic. It sounds like a very average player re hashing words that have been said hundreds of times before. If he was that good and that effective then he would have started and not made tonsit on the bench for over an hour.
I’ve not done the sums but Chris has a sort of point about using Sanchez. If you are insisting on keeping him and Ozil play them don’t leave them out having waved goodbye to about £60 million on them in the summer.
Best thing that could happen is to swap them both with Draxler and Coman in the winter window . Theo could be swapped for Van Dijk before he runs his contract out. Easy this management game?
TTG
Great game plan from your behalf, what makes you think we will sing anyone?
This is the Arsenal we are talking about here??????
We don’t spend money on trash!??
End game are we as deluded as the players? As the manager of this once profound with history football club?
I don’t think I need to answer that question…. Decline for years Steve T knows his shit………
Hold on..when was the last time we made up points on opposition when we had the chance to move up in the league?
We’ve had the same debate endlessly, Steve. I’d always play Theo ahead of Danny and simply don’t understand why AW would rush the latter back into the side after injury (only for him to go off injured). I don’t agree Theo is as lightweight as you and others insist. Last season he showed a willingness to get stuck in that surprised many, and anyway the fact he scores regularly outweighs such criticisms even if true. In fact he scores at a faster rate in goals per minute played than just about everyone, Sanchez included (Ned?). Leaving his firepower rusting on the bench is a nonsense, imo. And all because he spoke out of turn when it comes down to it.
But we can agree to disagree, right Steve? 🙂
Ned #130 … that season when we put 7 past Newcastle and Reading and 6 past Coventry and Southampton … who was our leading goal scorer that season? (as if I don’t already know).
Same season we also put 5 past Spurs (always worth a mention), Reading (again) and the Hammers.
Nice one Ned @ #130 😀
Now, see, back in 2012, although the signs of the slow fall from grace were there, we still had the odd upbeat moment (like coming back against Reading to score 7) to make us still believe (during matches I mean) that yes, come on lads, we can still do this.
These days, that has gone.
I’ve actually got to the point where I don’t really feel the pain anymore. Just a shrug and “oh well” is about the sum of it now.
And I agree with Chris, Theo would have been in my starting 11 yesterday instead of DW.
Another thing. Anyone else agree? Just it seems to me that whilst we might now be spending £40 mill + on players now and again, (Lacazette I’m talking about now), at the start they seem Oooh, yes, he looks good, but now, he seems to have blended into the background like all the others. Like the lifeblood has been drained out of him.
And Ozil? FFS, even Bendtner would have scored that yesterday! lol 🙂
Chris. Theo sadly is a one trick pony. He has been tried in various positions and failed. He got his wish to play centrally and just looked a fish out of water. Theo I would suggest is a right winger. Unfortunately, in the current system that we are persisting with Theo does not really fit in. He certainly isn’t suited to a wing back roll. He also does not fit the Central role.
If we played a 442 then I would agree with you when I say that I would prefer to see Theo start on the right ahead of Danny. But his limitations mean that he is struggling to find a position in a 352.
You can quote as many stats as you want Chris but to get the true picture of what Theo is about you need to see him in the flesh. You will not get the true picture from a TV screen. Not a criticism, just an observation. You may want to listen to those who have pitched up week in, week out to watch him play to really find out what he is about.
For the record I don’t rate Danny. I would also rather see us go back to playing 4 at the back. Who knows? If we do then Theo might actually get a run out?
I feel the same way about Iwobi as I did about Alex Song. We won’t win anything with him in the first team.
Chris@139 and others: Welbeck has scored 58 goals in 261 games (all competitions, 16,166 minutes played), which is a goal every four and a half games or 279 minutes played , which doesn’t seem a high strike rate for a striker. Theo’s comparative numbers are 112 goals in 411 games and 24,158 minutes played, or a goal every 216 minutes played. Sanchez’s are 145 goals in 435 games and 30,254 minutes played, or a goal every 209 minutes.
Chris@140: You must be a lawyer. They never ask a question they don’t know the answer to.
Top 10 scorers, 2012-13 season:
Theo: 21 all competitions; 14 league
OG: 17; 11
Poldi: 16; 11
Santi: 12; 12
Gervinho: 7; 5
Arteta: 6; 6
Koscielny: 4; 2
Mertesacker: 3; 3
Own goals: 3: 3
Rosicky: 3; 2
Ned. In 2012/13, did we ever play a 352 formation???
A hard write after a hard day. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>