Gunners to Kick-Start Their Season Against Wilshere’s West Ham?
Aug 24th, 2018 by 'holic
Huge apologies to all for the lack of a post or two this week. That wasn’t the intention but WiFi is a hit and miss affair in Cornwall, and miss is invariably the winner. Luckily, although at times today it seemed a distant prospect, I am back in time for the reunion with Jack Wilshere. A rare Saturday 3pm kick-off is very welcome indeed.
Catching up with the Unai Emery interviews pre-match it is relatively clear he will retain a very flexible and fluid 4-2-3-1 going into the match. It is doubtful that his goalkeeper and back four will change, but ahead of them the make up of the midfield and attack is very much a question of the unknown.
Popular opinion would probably see Lucas Torreira and Matteo Guendouzi starting in the shielding roles. That would have the effect of pushing Aaron Ramsey into a fight for two wide berths with Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Alex Iwobi, and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang unless he is to replace Mesut Ozil as the number ten. Of course if Aubameyang is played wide on the left there will be an opportunity for Alexandre Lacazette to lead the line and the attraction of having two proven goalscorers on the pitch is obvious.
That also discounts Granit Xhaka and Mohamed Elneny. That may be a good problem for Unai to have, but it also will test his powers of retaining strong bonds in the squad.
West Ham also arrive with a new head coach, the familiar Manuel Pellegrini. Like us they have also suffered two defeats so far, 0-4 at Liverpool, and 1-2 at home to Bournemouth last week. They have Reid, Lanzini, and Carroll ruled out by injury, but new signing Felipe Anderson will provide a speedy test for Hector Bellerin who is looking for form.
It will be strange watching Jack in the Hammers away strip and although we will be hoping he doesn’t produce the customary goal against his former employers there will surely be a raucous welcome for our old boy. Yes Jack, we know what you think of Tottenham!
The ‘holic pound
I have to believe the team who fought back so impressively at Stamford Bridge last week will have enough to kick start a run of matches that will do much to determine our title chances this season. I am drawn like a moth to the flame of a 3-1 home win at 10/1. West Ham have beaten us just once in 22 outings and it would be a major upset if that changed to anything other than once in 23 after tomorrow.
I will see some of you in the usual places and let’s hope that afterwards we will be raising our glasses to the first three points of the Unai Emery era.
Have a great one, ‘holics.
67 Responses to “Gunners to Kick-Start Their Season Against Wilshere’s West Ham?”
COME ON
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkkuY-ywl9E
ARSENAL!
I like the sound of that 3-1 and three points on the slate. I like the sound of catching up. I like the sound of Zico in the house. I like the sound of Steve T’s money being taken at the bar. I like the sound of Bath’s knife cutting through pasta and a fine red rolling around inside. I’m hoping to hear them all tomorrow.
I am buoyed by your optimism Holic and Thankyou for your preview.
I have two matches to watch tomorrow. Mrs TTG and I will be watching our eldest grandson make his debut for West Kent Colts tomorrow and then minus her I will heading off to North London for what I have to believe will be a significant step forward. I’d like Guendouzi and Torreira to start and I wouldn’t be too surprised to see Ozil benched tomorrow and I don’t expect Lacazette to start. Iwobi deserves to stay in and we might see Mkhitaryan and Iwobi flank Ramsey with Aubameyang upfront .West Ham are currently struggling and I hope those struggles continue as we win 2-0. I also hope Jack realises that he is still highly regarded by Gooners everywhere.
COYG
West Ham u23 lost to Arsenal u23 by 2-3. Hope for 3 points tomorrow against them in the premier league.
Hoping he drops Ozil but not expecting it. He asked for more from him before last week’s game and actually got less, so dropping him is warranted
As for the rest, Torreira has to come in for Xhaka and after that I care not a jot.
Three points essential tomorrow, just to stop clots like Powell spouting balls.
Evening H
Impeccable timing,back home from the outer reaches of our green and pleasant land,in time for our home derby with a Hammers squad,that like ours,is having to try and get used to a new Manager and his methods.
After 90 mins tomorrow at least one of us,if not both,will have registered their first points of the new season.
Cannot see the Hammers being very attack minded,they will be looking to keep as many behind the ball as possible and try and nick a point.
So early goals from us should bring them out to play and give us more space to work in.
Let’s hope the supporters get fully behind the team,and cheer the boys home to a confidence boosting victory.
Impressive win by the under 23’s away at the Hammers 3 -2.
Eddie man of the match with 2 goals,and another excellent Captains performance in midfield by Julio Plequezuelo.
Reiss Nelson and ESM also played.
I think those mentioned above,will get plenty of game time in the League Cup and the Europa league group stages this season,and with Freddie in charge,if they are prepared to listen and learn,they will get plenty of help and guidance in furthering their undoubted potential into eventual elevation to the first team down the track.
I’m really looking forward to tomorrow and countryman junior (junior hah, he’s 6’3”) and I will be in our usual perch. Our season starts here. I’m sure LJW will get a hero’s welcome and I wish him well. But time for a statement and a real run lads.
Thanks for the preview Guv.
Have a great day all.
Welcome back to Flappy and Perez
but I guess lots of eyes will be on
Jack. He & Guendouzi may be a
good tussle if both play.
I would like a clean sheet and a goal
for Auba along the way. 3-0 will do
nicely.
In the absence of LJW I would like to point out tha Tottenham are shit.
Wet Spam being shit prime.
Fine preview Guvna. I’ll be happy with that 3-1 win you predict.
What a delight to have a Saturday 3pm kick-off! We had better savour it as we may not get many more this season.
This morning there are rumours that Mesut won’t be playing due to illness. That’ll make the selection of Rambo at number 10 somewhat less fraught for Unai. Poor Mesut does seem to succumb to illness rather a lot for a young man.
Go win, Arsenal.
Yet another attack of “dropsy” for Ozil?
On the Happy Train currently, somewhere Yorkshirey…..
3 zip.
UTA. 😎
Looks like Ozil’s absence is confirmed with another convenient illness that stops him getting dropped.
What a spoofer this bloke is. The worst supposedly big player we’ve ever had IMO. Heart the size of a gnat’s bollock.
Fine preview, ‘Holic. Showing up for the games is what matters.
3-1 would do nicely and 3-0 even better, but three points a must.
Nice preview.
3 points and a performance very much the order of the day I would suggest. Need to get the wheels in motion.
For those heading to the game, enjoy. Here’s hoping the post match shenanigans are in celebration and high spirits.
These Wolves are playing Man City much better than we did. Good game plan from them.
True enough, Wolves have done
well 1st half. I hope they keep it
up and nick a late winner.
Obviously I want us to win , can’t second guess a team from Mr Emery yet no pattern to work from.
Been watching the Wolves v MC nothing new but what a cynical side MC are , but nothing is said .
A historical tid-bit for today’s game:
Our first home league game against WHU was in September 1923, a 4-1 win with inside-right Stan Earle scoring a brace. Earle was an amateur, but good enough to win two full England caps. He only turned out four times for The Arsenal while still playing for Clapton in the Isthmian League. He scored three goals in those four games, but couldn’t establish himself in the side. He moved to West Ham in 1924-25, where he played for eight seasons as a professional.
Earle was also indirectly involved in one of the FA’s many shameful acts over the years. He was called up to the England team for the Home Internationals match against Ireland in 1925 as the reserve to replace Plymouth Argyle’s inside-forward, Jack Leslie, whose own call-up was withdrawn through a polite note from the FA saying they hadn’t realised they had selected ‘a man of colour’. Leslie was born in East London to a Jamaican father. Had he played, he would have become the first black player to be capped for England more than half a century before Viv Anderson.
funny goal for Wolves 🙂
forearmed it home 🙂
That enjoyment didn’t last long
-shitty equaliser from a free kick
after a blatant Sterling dive.
Same XI as last week except
Ramsey for Ozil.
City drop points against Wolves who played really well. This season will be really tough even against the so called lesser teams.
Surprised to see Ozil dropped and Xhaka retained. COYG.
love to see socratis give arnautovic a little of that back today, for debuchy.
U R E D S !!!
Bellerin is havig a torrid time today
Just awful awful awful
Well we look weak all over the pitch it was coming
Iwobi and Bellerin just not good enough
We are down a goal already. Poor defending and terrible passing.
Get in Monteal at last!!!!
Monreal!!!! High time we scored. 1-1.
*Monreal that is ?
We are making West Ham attack look good! Lot of work to be done and worryingly we don’t look organised.
Bellerin apart from the assist is just awful
Jesus we look really bad at the back really bad
That could easily have been a straight red for Diop on Aubameyang. Studs right into shin, no attempt on ball.
Any other side would have put this match to bed vs the Arsenal by now. Complete defensive disorganization.
Come on Arsenal!!!!
We look clueless it’s painful to watch
An own goal will do not sure how we managed it but it will do!
This is really, really shit. Totally inept, clueless football
But i will take a jammy win
First ‘Holic £ strike of the season !
Cue the comments that Danny didn’t mean to stick that one in the back of the net. COYG.
Three points, the ‘Holic pound landed and the defence at sixes and sevens for much of the first half, so some semblance of normal service resumed.
Great finish at the end but this was hard work.
We won ugly which is great.
We gave away the first goal, which
is not great at all in the PL.
Congrats on the 3-1 guvvy.
Nice to see Danny score and nice to
see a defender get forward and
score so some positives to take away.
To be honest just relieved we won!!!!
Just back from the game. We looked a distinctly mid-table outfit and are extremely flattered by the score. Unai has a major job on his hands here. However I’m delighted the final score yields a tidy sum for the Guvna.
Something must be done with this horrendous defence
PRONTO
Next is Cardiff and they did not score a single goal in three games.
guess what?
they will…eventually
And guess when?
?
Our defence did not look this bad when Wenger was in charge and our attack was a lot more potent under him. All in all we have regressed under the new management, both in defence and attack. We will finish in the top six but I wouldn’t be surprised if we didn’t. All our earlier shortcomings (poor passing, getting caught out while defending high up etc) have magnified and Unai needs to rectify them fast. Win today is a big relief.
I have just returned from the game. The consensus around me and on the tube and train was that we were very iffy today but driving back on the motorway I heard Alvin Martin tell us that it was a wonderful game and Arsenal showed signs of quality .
It wasn’t and we didn’t.
At the moment we are an unstructured mess. The defence is able to concede from anywhere, Cech is so far past his sell-by date it’s embarrassing. In midfield we crave the discipline of Torreira but prefer Xhaka ( who wasn’t bad today) and Guendouzi who is bright and hard-working but makes loads of mistakes.
We looked loads better when Lacazette came on, in fact all three subs improved the side but I’m not confident today was progress. There are lots of problems and the side is struggling to interpret what Emery wants them to do
And if they fuck up another goal kick by passing it from side to side across the area I will go bananas. It’s a ridiculous way to approach football. It ends with a panicked clearance from Cech which goes long and wonky. We could have done that easily straightaway.
As for Jack today he was very underwhelming but I’d swap Fabianski for Cech in a heartbeat.
Ooooospina first choice under Ancelotti but third for Emery.
funny game, football.
“And guess when?”
written in the stars
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdZOSMixP3k
Some interesting comments above from those who have witnessed the game first hand. It could be a long and testing road ahead. I would say that Emery will need at least two seasons to sort this out. It may well be a case of taking a few steps back before we start taking strides forward. That said, 3 points is 3 points and it at least given us a platform with which to build on.
TTG. You would swap Cech for the Flapstet? I wouldn’t even swap a toaster for the Flapster. If Cech isn’t good enough then there is a £20 million new recruit warming the bench who may need a run out at some stage.
SSY.
Top top shout with The Spitfires. Great band.
Right you are, Steve
Paddy is struggling in Nice. One point after three games and looks like
Titi is getting his first job at Bordeaux.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJpTW68-HKQ
Steve,
I definitely believe the Flapster is a much improved goalkeeper and is considerably better than Cech is now. As evidence having made a terrific save from Mustafi’s very good header he made a brilliant save to tip Ramsey’s low drive through a crowd of players around the post.
Contrast that with the West Ham goal from a similar position. Cech never got near it.
I’m assured that Ozil refused to play today. Personally I find that hard to believe That’s breach of contract and the club is fed up with his regular bursts of ill-health and fragile temperament.
If Unai wants to kick him up the arse he has my approval to do so. Being paid a ridiculously inflated salary doesn’t make you undroppable especially when you have been useless in the first two matches.
Getting ready for holiday today after a very busy and fraught week, so was a bit miffed to miss everything about the game apart from some of the commentary on Player.
Miffed, that is, until I started to read comments on the game here and elsewhere. It seems my time was well spent elsewhere and we fairly stank the place out at The Emirates.
Still, a grubby 3-1 win is still a win and that was very badly needed today.
Congratulations, Holic –
no doubt the win sweetened what seems to have been a pretty terrible performance. 🙂
ESPN Brazil apparently reported that Ozil refused to play after being told he’d be on the bench, which was denied by Emery.
However, I find his claim that he told Ozil to come and watch if he felt better, that Ozil turned up before the game and went home again, somewhat hard to believe.
I hope we find another club mug enough to take him on and that he has played his last game for us. I thought Hleb was bad but Ozil makes him look like a lion.
After a night’s sleep, well sleeping it
off anyway, I’m prepared to take the
3 points and move on.
I think we’d best be prepared to get
used to the harum scarum defending
for next few months.
And, at the risk of incurring Ahab’s wrath,
I’d also say we missed the coughy white whale
yesterday.
No matter how bad Sicknote the Whale has been previously and how long ago his last half decent game for us was, the opinion is always floated (see what I did there? 🙂 ) that somehow, because we played badly, we “missed him”.
As if we’d been pulling up trees with him in the team
Let us ignore the fact that we were shambolic defensively, and that working hard in defence is not exactly what he is known for. We “missed him”
We missed him like the world misses smallpox.
🙂
reasonableish mael has harpooned
my opinion!
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>