Red Star And Festive Jumpers For Dogs
Nov 1st, 2017 by 'holic
The return fixture against Red Star Belgrade is the latest test of what has become known as our cup team. Arsene Wenger confirmed he will again rotate his team for Thursday night’s fixture with one eye most definitely on Sunday’s trip to the Emptihad. The manager was full of praise for both of his teams ahead of the match.
“I must say I am pleased with the quality of our performances in every single competition. It’s very difficult to make a change. They all want competition. They all deserve competition because of their quality. If you look at the number of minutes played by all of these players since the start of the season, many of them are in very competitive shape, what should be an advantage for the rest of the season.”
So strong has the squad eleven been that we will qualify for the knockout phase with another win on match day four, and with Bate Borisov playing in Cologne we might even secure first place with two matches to spare. It would be dangerous to disregard the opposition however. It took a spectacular late goal from Olivier Giroud to pip them in Belgrade and Arsenal’s win in Belgrade was their first in three meetings with Red Star, who drew 1-1 on their trip to Highbury in 1978.
Backed by a fanatical travelling support, the visitors will look to counter-attack as they did a fortnight ago for the first hour or so. Former Ajax youngster Donald impressed in midfield. Krsticic and Srnic looked the most likely scorers on the night. However they did appear to fade as the second-half played out so we should not panic if the game is goal-less going into the second-half. Patience on and off the pitch could be important.
Jack Wilshere would boost his manager’s claims for him to earn an England recall if he is as dominant in this match as the first meeting. He will have the opportunity to create chances for Olivier Giroud and Theo Walcott to start with, but it will be interesting to see if we can find twenty minutes or so for Eddie Nketiah to show how he would cope in a European environment.
The ‘holic pound
Having warned of the possible need to approach the early stages with care and caution I’m thinking we could see a Wilshere-inspired opening goal in the first-half, with a couple more to follow as the visitors tire. The pound finally came good at the weekend on a 9/1 shot, and 3-0 to the Arsenal is also available at nines on Thursday. I’m having a little bit of a punt on that.
Save The Children – As Marvin Gaye Once Implored Us
Image courtesy of Arsenal FC
A rough rule of thumb I operate by is that I don’t ‘do’ Christmas displays until November. The stores that had all their festive offerings on display in October did not get a look-in from me.
Thankfully the Arsenal seem to operate on a similar basis and waited until November to release the news of their support for Save the Children’s Christmas Jumper Day on Friday 15 December. The Arsenal Foundation has been supporting Save the Children as its global partner since 2011 and has raised more than £2m to support the charity’s life-saving work.
The Arsenal Christmas Jumpers are available from ArsenalDirect.com and from the club’s three superstores while stocks last in sizes for men, women, children and, yes, dogs (really). The latter would appear to be desperate attempt to persuade Alexis to sign a new contract. To think Yaya Toure got upset about a cake.
89 The Film
A reminder that if you would like a copy of 89, the story of that incredible May evening at Anfield, you can buy one from Amazon. The link is in the sidebar >. Thank you.
52 Responses to “Red Star And Festive Jumpers For Dogs”
Up The Arse!
😀
Amazing news from Wembley.
That is a seriously good result for the Totts!
Tomorrow isn’t getting my juices flowing although I’m 5000 mikes away.
2-0 is my default suggestion
Not that amazing TTG
Madrid have been pants for weeks,and they both have a mortgage on their group.
The other 2 teams are not in the hunt.
Best result was City winning at Napoli 4 -2 with some of their best on the bench.
We will have to play with some serious Cojones up there on Sunday if we are to avoid a flogging.
Napoli, Dortmund and Athletico in the Europa League! What joy!
Stop that now, TTG! ?
The big European tie in North London is tomorrow night. ?
Thanks for the preview Guvnor.
I’m expecting a more open game
and a 3-2 win as I fear they will
catch us on the break fairly easily
given our makeshift back 3.
Good results for the English clubs
in the CL again. Barcelona vs PSG
final would be my guess though
form in October / November doesn’t
matter much come April / May.
Jumpers for dogs? Mad Max’s face was a picture reading that, ‘holic, definitely a bad idea for a Christmas gift … as you will see when his annual Christmas card hits your in-box. 🙂
A Theo hat-trick should settle tomorrow’s match.
@2,
Yes, fantastic win, but it surely has cost them their manager. Madrid like to reinvent, and once they end this year with no major trophies – as it seems likely – I fully expect Perez to sign their manager up, after tonight.
I’ll eat my hat if he doesn’t!
@ the sweeper,
City started with pretty much their best eleven tonight. De Bryne, Sane, Aguero, all there. Sturridge was preferred to Silva.
I had not seen them play this season, but I saw the full Napoli match tonight. Remember those first 20 minutes we suffered against Barcelona, in that 2-2 draw at the Emirates in 2010? They were served much the same by Napoli for the first 30 minutes, during which they conceded. Napoli passed, moved, switched play, pressed, retained possession, pinged the ball from one side of the pitch to the other and seemed able to open them up at will. City were overwhelmed, static, all back in the defensive third. I honestly couldn’t see them getting anything from this match.
On the 30th minute, Napoli suddenly lose their left back to injury. No backup in the bench, therefore had to bring a right-back and readjust their system. After that, they didn’t settle for the rest of the half. In the confusion, they took the foot of the pedal. Within 4 minutes City had equalised, and took the lead just before half time.
Napoli showed up much more balanced in the beginning of the 2nd half. They slowly built up their game, earning a penalty for their equaliser at the 60th minute. Then Callejon wasted a glorious one-to-one chance with the keeper and, on the break, City had their third. Game over.
On the evidence of the first 30 minutes tonight, City are definitely beatable in my eyes. We have the talent to put them to the sword, as Napoli did for part of the game tonight, but do we have the desire and cojones to keep it up for 90 minutes?
I wouldn’t bet (my hat) on it!
@ TERS… I couldn’t have said it any better. The one thing in our favor is hopefully they will be a little bit tired. We should be well rested. I still wont bet on us beating them. They are a well drilled team, and to think that they were willing to add Alexis to all that fire power. Boy oh boy, God help us.
TERS
A very good post and your prediction re Poch is very likely to come to fruition . Similarly Alli will have done himself no harm and Kane must attract attention especially if he has a good World Cup. The Totts are not good payers and we all know the sacrifices building a stadium require. Will history repeat itself or will Poch do a Wenger? ?
What view will Daniel Levy take?
One of my biggest regrets is that the Invincibles didn’t win the CL in 2004. They deserved it and it was winnable. Could an English side win it? Citeh must have a chance but it helps their rivals if the English sides stay in the CL for a long time. Our Cup team has given the first team a decent respite so far.
TERS, didn’t get to watch City, but that must have been truly impressive if Pep had to start off with Sturridge over Silva ?. He must have wanted to have the two Silvas and particularly Jesus fresh for Sunday.
TERS@9: Pochettino will be much in demand (and rightly). He is said to be in the frame for the PSG job. Alli, Kane and others are also on a lot of shopping lists, all of which will test Spurs’ wage structure.
You analysis of Citeh is spot on.
9 analysis
not the first time ye’ve done that
is it ?
But let’s not forget Manchester City’s true level is Division 3.
15 analysis
first time ye’ve done that
is it ?
SAG, I wouldn’t bet on them beating us either!
We have the quality – it only depends on which Arsenal turns up on the day. Hopefully we’ll be well rested, though that depends on how tonight’s match pans out.
TTG and NBN, thank you. I honestly don’t think many managers are capable to turn down the likes of RM, or even PSG nowadays. If he does do a Wenger, then at least we’ll know we’ve secured worthy opponents in North London for a while, for a change!
I’m not particularly concerned with respect to the future of their players to be honest – they’ve had good ones before in Bale, Modric, etc. They lacked a competent manager, and now they have Poch – a proper miracle worker if there’s one, as was evident from his Southampton days.
cba, it wasn’t my intention to overdo it. 🙂 My point was that the result flattered them a bit. A well-organised, disciplined Arsenal side can get a result at Citeh.
17
over egging wasn’t my point
my point was
it was such an easy succinct read
you have to have done that before
and
please (the fuck)
keep doing it
.
.
.
or don’t ?
but in the future
keep it brief
.
.
.
.
.
?
(in the last 6 months i have not bitten anybody’s nose off)
.
.
.
ZERO !!!!!!!
is the thanks i get
.
.
*points at Scotland*
😀
Sorry mate.
I’ll bring forth the “being a foreigner” defense.
Though I’ve spent a decade of my life in the UK, seems I can still misread!
May I be the first to congratulate cba on going 6 months without eating a huge man nose.
A big very well done from me.
yer top ten gooners here
.
i misread nothing
howdy steve ?
La verdad es un poco complicado
and if ye do you’ll clean it up yerself
Hey ? hey ? cba
Eddie ready?
.
.
.
had a strange few days
.
none of yer fuckin business what
but
DESPERATE STRANGE
.
fuckin shite
Good evening cba.
I hope all is well with you and yours.
No se si es una buena idea
eye heart eight ball
Only just got in so not seen any of the first half.
It would appear that I’ve not missed a great deal.
(le johnny foreigner)
If anybody was wondering those two Spanish sentences were among the most commonly posted ones on social media.
stev e
all is shite annd
in 15 shades of turmoil
but i love you asking
cos i know you care
*armpit farts*
The BBC chap who id posting comments on the game doesn’t make it sound too lively, Steve
well
therein lies yer difficulty
i never post with me id
i just super ego and see who’s scratching
.
i will behave dave ?
c’mon alan
admit yer secondary
Scratching?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF-RNAedKA8
don’t worry 8ball
my less than subtle
is not aimed at you
it’s the fuckin !!!!!
What a annoying game to watch!
i didn’t see it Arthur
i listened to it
homemade yer swally and Jameson fuelled
.
.
.
trevs sterling work
on me neck
CHAMPION !
.
my neck is fuckin tight as a fuckin drum
just now
.
.
.
so
WHATEVER he charges
it won’t spell ineptitude
.
there’s no “i”
HALF TON
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
At home we should be beating teams like this, team is not organised well enough yet again OG and Theo biggest disappointments. Youngesters showed more than senior players.
We are a long way from anything decent with this squad.