Gunners Must Not Take Wolves Lightly
Nov 10th, 2018 by 'holic
After three draws in four matches The Arsenal have an opportunity to return to winning ways and raise the spirits after the ankle injury sustained by Danny Welbeck when Wolves arrive for Sunday’s late kick-off.
Stephan Lichsteiner is also ruled out but to be fair I think Unai Emery’s preferred starting eleven will start the match. Bernd Leno should keep goal behind Hector Bellerin, any two from Skhodran Mustafi, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, or Rob Holding, plus Sead Kolasinac.
Granit Xhaka and Lucas Torreira will probably start behind a front four of Alex Iwobi, Mesut Ozil, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, and Alexandre Lacazette. Eddie Nketiah will surely be promoted to the bench in the unfortunate Welbeck’s place.
The visitors have had mixed fortunes on their return to the top flight but made a solid start to the campaign. They lost just one of their first eight matches and are one of only two sides to have taken points off Manchester City in a 1-1 draw. They secured another point by the same scoreline at Old Trafford against City’s neighbours.
They have lost three in a row since then but showed great determination to all but recover from three goals down against the Middlesex Nomads last week. It is important we do not underestimate Portuguese inspired Wanderers who sit comfortably in 11th place in the Premier League.
The ‘holic pound
Arsenal are unbeaten in their last 19 league and cup games against Wolves but this looks to be the visitors best squad in many a year. They spent in the region of £100m in the close season. Having said that if we show them respect and play with the vigour and confidence we saw against Liverpool we should get three valuable points.
I have been tempted by the offer of 8/1 against a 2-0 home win. The side owe a result to Danny Welbeck as he awaits a prognosis on what is clearly a very bad ankle injury.
I may see some of you after the match tomorrow for hopefully a review of another impressive performance.
Have a good one, ‘holics.
66 Responses to “Gunners Must Not Take Wolves Lightly”
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Drink!
Love you H!
and love Danny as well. Proper boy.
Esso! Top boy right there.
Timely and shipshape report on a big game for the Arsenal who must make no mistake of that. Cheers, Mr. H.
6 for nelson
!
One for cba;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IH4Mqqelc4E
Thursday night was the worst game I’ve seen all season. I always hate it when there’s a long delay after an injury and the players look visibly upset. Get well soon Danny.
But we go again tomorrow with almost the first choice XI. Looking forward to meeting your friend Bella ‘holic, who is taking my son’s seat. I’ll be in the Tolly before the game from about 3.30 so if anyone’s around be nice to say Hi.
Come on you Gunners!!!
Sentiment spot on there, Guv’nor. Take Wolves seriously but take all three points off them.
For any who missed my match-day trivia in the previous drinks (probably most as it barely cleared the chevrons), our first top-flight goal was scored against Wolves, by Charlie Satterthwaite on September 24, 1904 in the old First Division at the Manor Ground.
Mollie Sugden
Fine preview H.
A second Portuguese team in 4 days? Who’d a thunk it!
Hope to catch you after the game, sir.
Countryman, I may make the Tollie pre-match but how will I recognise you? A red carnation behind your right ear?
I won’t be there tomorrow. I will be beside Mrs TTG’s bedside. She is in hospital until at least Wednesday awaiting a scan. The centre of excellence in cardiac treatment in Kent doesn’t have its own scanner. Scandalous !
I wish all drinkers who will be there tomorrow a great afternoon. I think Holic is on the money with 2-0. I’m a bit off the pace with Arsenal news but delighted to see Emery suggest that he will give Nketiah the chance to step in for the unfortunate Danny. Eddie will not disappoint he is an excellent young striker.
Fingers still crossed for Mrs TTG. All the best to you both.
Best of luck to Mrs TTG.
That does seem a bit shocking to me
about the scanner, Kent is hardly rural.
But I have been out of the country
for 20 odd years so what do I know.
Thanks for the preview Guv.
I’m thinking 4-1 would do nicely
as Wolves generally score and we
generally concede.
I hope Eddie will get a chance too.
Danny has played at least a part
in 14/17 games this season, generally
wide. He’s not great but can do a job
wide, which I think Eddie can’t, and
that’s where we may miss the option.
Not sure if we were thinking of getting
a wide player in January already but
the decision is more pressing now.
Personally I’d leave Nelson where he
is at the moment and buy but then of
course if we think of player development
for next season we may have one too
many next year. Overall, given that
Ramsey and probably Danny will be
gone next season I think it’s better to
buy an attacker in January if we can.
I must admit I wasn’t bothered
when we let Gnabry leave but
fair play to him, he started for
Bayern against Dortmund and set-up
the first goal.
They haven’t started the season well
and got beat by Dortmund but Bayern
had some class players on the bench
and Gnabry is doing well to get in
that team.
I don’t think we had any choice on
letting him go so no regrets, I was
just thinking of useful wide players
we could recruit and he may be one
that got away.
Reid got two and I’d loved to have got
him years ago but I guess that boat
has sailed now.
Personally if I was Stan I’d bid the
ranch on Salah and pay him the 3
or 400k a week. Up front with Auba
and Laca they’d win us the league,
Sadly, I’m not Stan (or maybe Stan
isn’t me?) and I think that will never
happen.
TG@12: Hope all goes well with the scan. The absence of what I would imagine in basic equipment for a ‘centre of excellence in cardiac treatment’ is indeed scandalous.
I don’t like gold shirts and I never liked Derek Dougan so I hope we crush them.
3-0 to the good guys. Laca hat trick.
UTA.
They did have Alan Sunderland but offset by Kenny Hibbit.
Perhaps 4-0 to the good guys so that Iwobi can have one.
UTA.
They also had Peter Knowles, brother of Cyril of Scum song fame. He was a stylish player but gave it all just as he was establishing himself up for Jehovah.
Wolves are no pushovers. They are well organised, technically very good and with Adams Traore’s pace are a very good counter attacking side. We have got into a drawing mode and need to win to keep apace for a top four spot and that will happen only if we take the Wolves seriously and produce our best. I would take a 2-1 happily.
I don’t think our match is being televised live which is disappointing.
Come ooooon!
PUnk roCk!
No surprises in our starting line-up but Guendouzi is on the bench and could be important. I am with ksn on the 2-1 prediction and praythat it or better comes in. COYRRG.
i’ll stick with 4-1 – up and at ‘em
you Red!!!!
Granit??????????????
How on earth did we concede so early in the game? My stream died so I missed it!
Ball watching like my sons team on Saturday morning
Your son’s team are never as bad as that, Arthur. Surely.
And at least they don’t have Xhaka.
iBTM
They certainly don’t have Xhaka and usually wake up after conceding one 😉
All the praise after the Pool game probably convinced them that they had to just appear on field to blow away the Wolves. Hope the manager wakes them up for the second half.
Painful to watch this really w are huffing and puffing with no end product and the ref is starting to annoy me now.
Xhaka should be off by now, he is sloppy all night and the way he opted to backpass in front of our goal on wolves last chance is terrible…
I thinks it’s one of those days
Laca hits the post. Wolves are slowing the game down and now Adama Traore comes on and his pace will test our slow back line.
I would have Xhaka off (and not Iwobi) for Guendouzi. Chaka is having a stinker.
YEEEAAAHhhhh!
Watching the Manchester derby because our game is not being shown but the TV sez we equalized. What gives
Get in Mkhi!!!!
LENO!
I am listening to the commentary on Arsenal Player, Bt8.
Wolves hit the bar in the final minute. We get away with a draw.
For future reference. hesgoal.com is a very good location for streams.
Very disappointed with this display they looked lethargic and yet again Xhaka steals the show with his lack of intelligence. Why does Unai put up with this is beyond me.
To be honest our two attackers had a bad game as well, Ozil was absent as well.
It’s certainly two points dropped especially at home!
Two more points dropped, that too at home. Our fourth draw, which is relegation form.☹
Agree, Arthur. Unimpressive performance. Second half was the better of the two and Bellerin and Auba had great chances to score before Mkhi finally did.
Wolves played well with a lot of heart and desire to win 50:50 balls (a characteristic that few of our players possess.
Just to add to my rant….
Not sure where was the team that played against Liverpool it seems to me that we have gone back to the same under Wenger we put in a shift against the top six teams then drop our performances against lesser teams.
I know we haven’t lost for quite some time but to me this is not progress.
A very welcome international break
The team seemed to have underestimated Wolves and the energy we saw against Liverpool was completely missing tonight. Wolves did well to put men behind the ball but the criminal thing in a game of this nature is the goal conceded with a bad mistake by Xhaka. He was very good against Liverpool but once again had his lapse in concentration tonight. More worrying though was the lack of innovation and injection of pace from us almost until the 75 minute mark. Wolves were really poor in the second half (baring the two late counter attack chances) and kept giving the ball back sloppily to us. We had so much of the ball but did very little with it which would worry Emery.
There is a structural issue with the team which is the right hand side. Neither Iwobi nor Aubameyang can play well there. It blunts the effectiveness of Bellerin in an attacking sense. It becomes an even bigger problem when Monreal is not playing because we are already weak on the left hand side and to have nobody combining well with Bellerin means the width is missing from our game. Until we sign any wide attacking player preferably for our right wing, Mkhitaryan seems our best bet to start in the wide right position. Either him or Ramsey who has played there before and done a decent job but Mkhitaryan does use the width better than Ramsey who seems to cut inside and drift centrally most of the time. Mkhitaryan also combines very well with Bellerin and therefore must start until we sign a new player. Mkhitaryan got criticised in some quarters after the Liverpool game but he was taking risks in that game by trying to play some really early balls which resulted in some passes going astray. He was switched on defensively too and generally had a good game. He also seems to be the kind of player who needs a run of games to find his rhythm. Another thing to be looked at would be to not start both Auba and Laca together in away games against big teams. Iwobi and Mkhi starting together on either wing would give us better control over possession, and Auba coming on as a substitute could then make real impact.
The international break perhaps comes at the right time because the team seemed to be losing some of the momentum in recent weeks. The break might just be the right tonic to freshen things up for what will be a crucial period immediately after when we play our direct top four rivals in the league – Spurs and Man Utd.
finally – a long term solution on the goal
love leno love
KrautrocK!
Just back from the game. We were hopelessly lethargic in the first half and I don’t think we had a shot on target before HT. Xhaka should be tarred and feathered for that error. He never recovered and was a shadow of the player v Liverpool. Wolves’ time wasting after their goal was frustrating but the failure of the referee to deal with it apart from walking their subbed players half way to the touch line was a disgrace and a taste of things to come.
I was surprised that Iwobi was subbed at HT. He was by no means the worst on the field (that accolade goes to Kolasinac by a country mile above even Xhaka who was quite shit) and looked the most likely to create something from one of his mazy dribbles. In fact Gwen added some good ball recycling and penetrative passing.
Frankly Wolves were worth their HT lead and as we toiled without end product for a further 25-30 minutes, I did reckeon they were going home with all three points. However, much like a Wenger team 15-20 mins before the end we suddenly acquired some urgency and were unlucky not to score before Mkhi’s lucky punt into the goal.
The sooner Monreal returns the better and we need to find someone who can play wide right.
Disappointing fare. Onwards.
Just seen Desi’s drink @48. Spot on, sir.
There is a structural issue with the team which is the right hand side.
What we really need is a pacy winger capable of scoring 20 goals a year 😉
pacy debra winger?
F*ck it
feel good after a draw cause it was
The Birth of a Keeper
Bernd will never forget this game
all alone, battered and bruised
Sorry bath, I didn’t see your post until I got home a few minutes ago. I did get to the Tolly but not until 3.40 and I was meeting ‘holic’s friend Jacky (who was taking my spare) at 4. Hopefully another time, I’d like that.
I thought it was an exciting, open game that we always looked slightly second best in. I agree with Torreira and Leno being men of the match. I think designers analysis is excellent. We just haven’t looked the same team since Nacho popped his hammy. Definitely a fluky equaliser and I was shitting bricks every time Traore broke towards our goal.
Be grateful for the point say I. Pray for Nacho’s return and that Torreira doesn’t get crocked playing for Uraguay.
Bournemouth away next. Time to break this run of draws.
Prophetic headline, or what? Just got home so it will again be a Monday night reflection on the day’s events.
The scoreline was about right. Wolves are very organised and efficient. We really weren’t at the races, the outstanding Leno and Torreira apart.
The referee was something else. Something has to happen about the PGMOL. This cannot go on.
not jay fuck*ng leno
but bernd COS bloody MIC
leno
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIu0e9JKkBE
If Liverpoo was a step forward, that performance
was 2 steps back. So frustrating.
Not sure why Iwobi was hooked at half time – it
could have been anyone based on the first half
display. Nothing to add to Bath@50 – hopeless
and lethargic sums it up well.
boo hooo
o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81c1L8SrXcU
(nothing to add)
but hoo boo
ooo
is something else
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNYcviXK4rg
Desi’gner, your @48 gives the impression that your analysis was based on watching the match live. How did you manage that as it was not on TV in India. Your take was spot on.
For me, Monreal’s absence has been the major problem as he together with Bellerin stretch opposing defenses and create scoring chances. Not surprising we have had only one decent result against Leicester after Monreal’s last game against Fulham. Kolasinac is just not good enough and Xhaka is a luxury we cannot afford. Yesterday, he should have been subbed for Guendouzi instead of Iwobi. We took off one of the guys who appeared to cause their defence some uncertainty.
Nothing seems to have changed since Wenger’s time as our game still depends on which Arsenal turns up. Unai is yet to make a change in that regard. Having played well against Liverpool they thought they had to just appear on the field to win. This Wolves team drew against City, Manure and narrowly lost to Spurs because one of their goal’s was wrongly given offside. I foresee the same problem against Bournemouth.
We have seen the sort of pace Adama Traore has and I would have loved to have him in our team. He was available on the cheap after Midlesborough were relegated last year but Wenger did not see his potential.
If we were poor midweek, we were appalling Sunday. I really like Granit but think he just is too casual and we cannot continue to have him make mistakes every game, he needs to be dropped. Kola is not a defender and enough said about mustafi, I am sorry he is the worst defender I have seen in recent memory, squillaci included.
Work in progress and all that is fine but i really wonder what has changed? i see us play the same way, the personnel is the same and apart from playing out from the back, there is no visible change. I am not complaining about Unai, i like him but there is no visible change. When things come off it is pretty as a picture and when it does not, we look pedestrian. The lack of urgency is so obvious to see, the players are just not able to translate what Unai wants them to do.
2 weeks off and then cherries away, a place where we have been badly exposed last few times, can the script change this time? time and urgency will tell.
Just popped by and amazed to see mass negativity above. Is this 2017/18 not 18/19 or what !?? Unlike this manager (who wouldn’t dream of making excuses) I’m going to trot out a couple of points that I didn’t really read above, bar the mentions of Monreal. 1/ The squad had 7 games in 20 days. I think Holding played all of all 7 (open to correction on that). I’m tired just thinking about that many matches. 2/ Our defence has been decimated during the period with the following injured during or throughout ; Monreal, Sokratis, Bellerin, Kolasinic, Koscielny, Mavropanos, Maitland-Niles, Lichsteiner. Check your first team squad, that left us with 3 defenders ; Jenkinson (oh yippee), Holding and Mustafi. I do concur on Xhaka and I daresay UE is seriously considering a Torreira-Guendouzi axis….but not yet. The 2 young lads are the future and are destined to be the next Viera/Petit, of that I have absolutely no doubt. Keep the faith. COYG.
apols…holding rested v blackpool.
Watching some Arsenal Classics that I “taped” from BT Sport in August. Pat Jennings is wearing red umbro trackie bottoms. I want a pair of red umbro trackie bottoms, retro style.
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