Storm Clouds Gathering, But Will They Clear In Brussels?
Oct 21st, 2014 by 'holic
Well, those who traveled to Brussels by air today must have been cursing the weather gods. As I write their day hasn’t improved a great deal since returning to terra firma as thunderstorms rumble around the city. Back at home the storms gathering in the atmosphere and on the internet are gathering pace.
With Wojciech Szczesny ruled out by suspension Arsene confirmed today that his back-up, David Ospina, had aggravated a thigh injury in his first appearance for the club and would be out for two to three months. Emiliano Martinez, as he is now known, will don the gloves in the Constant Vanden Stock Stadium. I saw Emiliano under his previous alter ego, Damian, concede five in a League Cup tie on a crazy night at the Mad Stad when we hit seven.
There is some better news in the shape of Calum Chambers returning after his suspension. That means an interesting decision for Arsene whether to play him instead of Nacho Monreal in the centre of the defence or put him in for the ‘not much but still’ less-experienced Hector Bellerin at right-back. Mikel Arteta has traveled and may be in line for a recall at the expense of Mathieu Flamini. Photographs of training showed both Aaron Ramsey and Theo Walcott are again involved but surely they will grace the bench at best?
The hosts will have been boosted by their victory in this evening’s U-19 match, a seven goal thriller. Surely though they will be less than confident following their 0-3 beating by Dortmund in their previous home match in the group. This folllowed a 1-1 draw away to Galatasaray on matchday one which gave both sides their only point to date.
Anderlecht’s manager, Besnik Hasi, has warned his team not to be fooled by Arsenal’s injury list prior to the critical third match in the group.
“We are a very young, talented team and will get better with these type of games… for us it will be a mistake if we are thinking because Arsenal are missing some players, and have not been at their top level in their competition, that they will not be difficult opponents tomorrow. Arsenal have dropped some points in their own championship and are less confident at the moment, but we have to be realistic and focus on ourselves, to keep the ball because we will be playing against a top team in Europe.”
His opposite number celebrates his 65th birthday on matchday three and will be hoping that his charges are ready to secure a victory. Arsene is already under pressure after Chelsea have taken an eleven points advantage in the opening weeks of the Premier League. Progress to the knock-out phase of the Champions League is expected but preferably as group winners. Anything less than a win here would be a severe blow to that possibility.
The ‘holic pound is persuaded that we have enough in the squad to get the result we need to keep the pressure on Dortmund, three points ahead of us already. I know I thought the same against Hull at the weekend, and I am hoping that disappointment will have focused minds on a much-needed improvement on Wednesday night. I’m having the 14/1 on offer against a 1-3 away win if you shop around.
Here’s hoping the 1100 or so lucky traveling Gooners who snapped up our measly allocation will get better weather, and a decent performance to cheer.
Don’t Forget Your Campo Retro Classic Arsenal Shirt Discount.
Don’t forget, during the month of October you can get a generous 20% off a classic Campo Retro legend shirt by entering the code GH20 at the checkout. Click here to check out the range and order your favourite.
Have a great Wednesday, ‘holics.
124 Responses to “Storm Clouds Gathering, But Will They Clear In Brussels?”
Take any win tomorrow.
UTA
You and me both, Dr z. Hope all is well. You down for Burnley?
Me too.
Up in the air at the moment H – not given up but negotiations tense and delicate. 😉
Cheers Holic.
You managed to resist the 6-0 then. Your loss- it’s practically in the bag already.
*waves at pig backstroking majestically between a couple of clouds*
Wrong night GSD 🙂
Good preview, H. 3-1 to us will do me nicely.
N.B. You might want to mention I am now the official proof reader for the blog 🙂
And then edit my 1st comment on this thread 😀 .
No way Cent. You are my official proof reader 🙂
I’m in need of help …
Sad day in the TTG household with the funeral of my mother-in- law so I’ve scarcely thought about this game. My hope is that we can snatch a win of any kind.
The Ospina news is another sickener of a type we are seeing on a daily basis it seems. The suspicious among us may feel we signed an injured player and then didn’t rehabilitate him properly but I couldn’t possibly comment but it’s a sad and poor start for the lad.
Let’s hope we can get some of our stars on the pitch soon for an extended period
We win 2moro…nd den the weekend headache starts again. Oh Arsenal! Why yu do this to us?.
Sorry to hear that Ttg. Our condolences for your loss. Recall the good times as much as possible.
Huddart not Macey said to be on the bench as Martinez’s back-up. Bit of a surprise, no? Or is Macey another injury?
Condolences, ttg. Thoughts with you and your family.
Arsenal FC physio job interview:
Ivan; so son your hear for the job of head physio at Arsenal FC.
A great honour for you if you were so lucky to get this job.
Do you have a shirt with a collar on it son ?
Grad student; yes sir – why ?
Ivan; well son, one of your main jobs here at Arsenal FC as head physio is to talk into a walkie talkie thingy which we need to strap to your shirt collar.
We handle all the medical stuff behind closed doors.
Grad student; But what do I say into the walkie talky thingy sir ?
Ivan; just read these words son each time you go on the field and leave the rest to us and smile at your mum on the way off the field.
Grad student reads the lines; another one gone AW. 3 weeks to 3 months.
Ivan; very clear and precise reading son well done, your hired.
Nice one, Holic.
Put me down for any win too.
Commiserations, ttg.
The injury news gets more, er, surprising.
Some amazing stuff on TV about repairing the spinal chord tonight.
@ttg, best wishes to you and yours. May her soul rest in peace.
Hoping for a win v Anderlecht, UEFA referees excepting!
Condolences for your sad news TTG – lots of good memories for you and your wife to help you through it.
Sad to hear, Ttg, she was needed on the bench to back up Emiliano tomorrow… But seriously, my commiserations.
Öskar
Thoughts with you and yours, Ttg!
Haha and Cheers, H!
Condolences Ttg.
Let’s get the season going Gunners.
Looking forward to tomorrow’s game. I have a feeling we will be really up for it. Good luck to the lad between the sticks, has anyone ever seen him play? I just hope he doesn’t have much to do. Or rather, I don’t expect him to have much to do except applaud our goals. I’ve completely lost track of who is still fit but assume we have enough strike-power to beat Anderlecht who are currently top of their league having played 11 games unbeaten so far. Oh. But it is only Belgium.
Three points please, anyway will do.
Öskar
Thanks to everyone for your commiserations. Yesterday provided a bit of human perspective. They are some very decent people in this bar and you are much appreciated.
ttg, my commiserations.
Oskar, Martinez played in the Emirates Cup this season and did well. Now that is of course a completely different kettle of fish to a proper game, but for what it’s worth he looked assured and quite strong then.
I’ll take any win tonight but will be very disappointed with anything less than three points.
Thanks ‘Holic for the (as always) sensible and informative preview. And condolences ttg.
Trev – yes, that is exciting news – who’d have thought the breakthrough would come by transplanting cells from the smell brain! And was that a spellcheck curse, or are you hinting at some new injury treatment based on playing music to players’ spines?
Nice preview, H’. I’ll take a 3-1 win with delight. Any kind of win will be very welcome frankly.
Condolences ttg.
@ttg
Sorry to hear that mate, hope the family are coming through OK.
Re: Martinez – there was some buzz around him a couple of seasons back, and I seem to recall seeing the phrase “Better prospect than Chesney” tossed about.
Then we actually got to see him keep sticks during that mad league cup game in Reading, and the bubble was rather burst: he was bloody awful that night, although in fairness so were most of those who started.
I’m guessing he’s a talent, but there’s a question as to how quickly he can assert himself at the top level: Chesney never struggled for self confidence and has never looked remotely intimidated (quite the opposite, at times), while Fabianski was a textbook example of a player who apparently killed it in training but couldn’t translate it to the big stage.
Will be interesting to see how the young man does this evening.
Fascinating stuff over on Arseblog in yesterday’s post. Seems like Stan Kroenke’s Colorado Rapids team are suffering from similar problems to us, namely lack of sufficient action in the transfer window and defensive shortages as a result. Eerily familiar stuff, with fans blaming KSE…
Have a read:
http://arseblog.com/2014/10/pre-anderlecht-waffle-kse-losing-friends-rapidly/
*fails to paste URL as a link, doesn’t understand his own technological incompetence*
Ok so I managed it but not sure how!
Weather has been dicey up their in Brussels i believe so i hope the travelling contingent is safe and sound.
Yday’s games throwed up tennis scorelines and the one that grabbed the headlines was the bayern demolition of Roma. Arjen Robben destroyed Cashley and that bayern team yday looked a machine an absolute machine. Chelshit winning was but expected with hazard having a blinder. City continue to flounder and the latest piece of crap news on Mirror today say city want Mesut to replace yaya in jan, what a joke.
Arsenal will need a win tonight more as a morale booster, the mood is at its lowest ebb and a win and hopefully a big win could be the right boost needed going into the saturday must win sunderland game.
With chelsea playing united over the weekend, a win against sunderland and falcao creating his athletico madrid magic days against chelsea, the league table will present a better reading.
Well first things first, an injury free 2-0 please to the Gunners.
P.S- Happy Birthday Boss, 65 and counting and zillions of memories. Arsene Wenger we are indebted to you for making our club better and that no one can deny.
Condolences to your family TTG
Hard to know how Wenger’s going to select the side tonight. I think he’ll have more than one eye on the Sunderland game, and apart from Sanchez and Welbeck – he’s hardly got any of his front 6 in ‘must pick’ form. I fancy he’ll rotate a tad, reasonably confident that what ever team he puts out, should stand a good chance of getting a result against Anderlecht.
My prediction for the first XI is: Martinez; Chambers, Mertesacker, Monreal, Gibbs; Arteta, Rosicky, Cazorla; Campbell, Welbeck, Sanchez.
I’ve a hunch he’ll bring Chambers back in for Bellerin, preferring the balance Monreal provides as left-sided centre-half. He may save a Chambers-Per CB partnership for Sunderland when we’re more likely to come under an aerial bombardment. I think Wilshere and the Ox may be benched/rested, Ramsey will get more minutes as a sub with a view to starting him on Saturday, and we may just see a first proper start (Lge Cup excepted) for Campbell. But then again, I could be wrong…
Arsologist – heh!
Yes, an unspotted autofill. 🙁
Happy birthday Arsene Wenger. Let’s see the Arsenal lads give him
a proper tribute this time. Condolences Tty. Emiliano to wipe away memories of his previous name and of the mad stad performance in one swoop. Who was that Viviano fella again? 🙂
Trev and Arsologist.
Maybe music could help sooth back injuries.
Provided it is played off a Spinal Tape.
*gets patchwork pterodactyl skins that are used for a coat*
Ttg, Wishing that many acts of kindness, come your way, to help your family through such a sad time. When you are up to it, perhaps you can share with us, her nick name (for a proper toast). And a lighthearted story centered around her. What did she think, about her son in law’s passion for the Arsenal? (smiles) xx ♥
UTA!
‘Holics, as you were.
TTG – my condolences.
GO WIN, Arsenal.
Cheers H!
Many condolences to TTG and family. “Love is very fruitful, both of honey and gall.”
Thanks for all your splendid words of support.
What a splendid and kind group this bar houses. Let’s hope we are drinking happy toasts this evening.
Abb- her name was Olive, I was her favourite and best looking son in law ( there are others) and she was very supportive of my obsession with the Gooners. Much more so than her daughter!
Update on the ‘holic pound. Bet Victor going 16/1 on Arsenal to win 3-1.
Good evening Ttg, Esso, Bath, Lonestar, Abb, GSD, bt8, Trev.
Let’s hope we enjoy this.
Gunners line-up,
Martinez, Chambers, Mertesacker, Monreal, Gibbs, Flamini, Sanchez, Wilshere, Ramsey, Cazorla, Welbeck.
Belated condolences ttg. I hope things get better for you.
COYG
Some news for Doctor Z.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-29727632
And that’s just fucking excellent!
Now come on Arsenal and make this a really special day!
My sincerest condolences TTG.
Will do with my regular link to streams for those in need. http://www.wiziwig.tv/broadcast.php?matchid=281393&part=sports
and come on you Gunners!
TTG My condolences on this sad news!
Now come on Arsenal!
come on, ‘holic pound.
condolences, ttg. mothers-in-law can be very special.
COME ON YOU GOONERS.
anyone know anything about ryan huddart, our backup goalie?
an alexis special?
sadly, no.
Evening all,
wakey wakey Santi. Tighten it up you cheeky chappy.
Excellent news indeed, Esso.
Hope cba is looking in.
Nothing beats hearing a good rendition of B Jesus said Paddy being sung loud and proud,long time since I’ve heard that from the comfort of my sofa – Must be a good mix of old school lads out on that trip 🙂
Now get the 3 points,
Up The Arse !!
Hey everyone.
Ttg, Thank you for that xx So enjoyed it as well. Olive, here’s to you, lovely Lady. Raises glass and looks to the heavens. xx
Boring match
We are not great to watch are we?
If the pound is to come in I will need Alexis to score all four goals 🙁
Cheers, Guv. Just able to start watching. Thanks for the streams, Eandy.
C’mon boyos. Let’s get this party started.
Wilshire passing consistently well to anderlechdt
bellerin at rb, calum at cb, nacho out, please. aaron has been well nigh invisible. rozza and ox on for aaron and jack. please.
Our lads need to pay back Arsene’s faith in them. No better time, then now! C’mon the Arsenal, please.
Really??
FUCK…always…
annnnnd, right on time.
Worst arsenal side ever
Wenger finished
I will see myself out
oh no …
Come back mode must kick in!
Ok. So now the ‘Holicpound is on.
[I hope]
this is the most depressing arsenal team i’ve seen, even with alexis in it. their guy was wide open for the header.
don’t let that door hit ya, freddy. ever? really?
Now you want to make changes??
we are just standing there, walking around, waiting for someone else to do the job. and anderlecht’s doing it.
Utterly appalling performance so far. This side are performing way below par and we are so short of defenders and players with defensive instincts
Same team that Dortmund beat 3:0. You got to be kidding me.
when does tielemens get a yellow for repeat offenses, i wonder.
Hey scruz, .Ryan is 17 yr old, blond and 6’3″ tall. He adores Jens 😉 And he’s on our bench xx
Bring in rosicky, and take out Wilshere.
what the fuck are they doing..I am usually on the sunny side of things but this performance is utterly appaling
This is dross. Appalling defensively, non-existent in midfield.
Godawful defending there!
Is Spursday night football on the way?
easy, abb… 🙂
Terrible performance nothing to add
hehe scruz 😉
Come on Poldi on!
And that’s quite enough of that…back to work.
Are we scousers in disguise?
C’mon lads, have some pride about yourselves…
We are hanging on by a thread! WTF is going on?
i love this team. i mean, i love the players, i love the shirt, i love the coach.
but this is fucking painful to watch.
Did Podolski run a marathon or something before coming on?
Anderlecht really??
Get in there Giibsy
Yet another relief goal
The Gibberman, saves us yet again!
GET IN!
Get in there Giibsy
Yet another relief goal
Come on now in it!
gibbs!
ATTENTION HOLIC – Did you see this story today? Amazing news.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-29727632
Jesus! Needed that!
Get another please!
five minutes for one more.
come ONNNN.
Get in Poldi come on!!!
Holic pound back on!
About time.
GET IN!!!
Like that!
Smash and grab par excellence!
Oh, Poldi, thank you son, really ♥
you got to be kidding me!!:D:D
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
lu lu lu lukas podolski…
will wonders never cease. the holic pound?
or is it just pass them to death now.
god, i love this game. from stunned depression to joyous jumpiness in a flat half minute.
okay..this is epitome of winning when playing badly
Never in doubt — at least from the 89th minute.
lol, ned.
Come back mode did kick in! Hugs all around, and what a swell group here today. Delighted to see all you holics!
turning point of the season (here’s hoping)
We were horrible…..good for Podolski and Gibbs
Eandy, I couldn’t have said it any better. Horrible display, three pts.
Alexis Sanchez… ’nuff said.
😀
Erm I’m not even going to try and sum up my emotions after that ! Fuck me that has got to be one of the most disjointed,effort lacking, clueless, tippy tappy in it’s worst form 89 minutes I’ve seen from an Arsenal side in my lifetime and I watched some shit 🙂 And then they somehow pull it out the bag with a cracker and a smasher. Football hey it’s a funny old game.
Up The Arse. 🙂
If the comments from Arsene and Jack in the pre-match about how our performances until now haven’t matched the points were rather mystifying, they now proved themselves to be quite prescient. 🙂
Except for Alexis just an awful performance. Rambo and Santi had a few moments but both missed chances they should score.
Flamini and Jack had two of the worst performances of this season. And the way a few counter-attacks made us look so clueless and panicky is really concerning. Maybe return of Arteta and at last his ability to rotate position and organize a bit better would help. And if TR7 is fit enough hopefully in the weekend he will get a chance to start.
Would like to see more of Campbell and Poldi in the coming matches, one is always committed and making the correct decision and another will get us a few goals.
WOW.
3 points. Nothing else worth saying.
Unless you are Paul Merson, of course, who I imagine will be brimming with insight. How did he ever get that gig?
‘Holic, we all love you, but if the lads had added one on top of 1-2 to secure your wager, would have demanded that you instantly donate that to your favorite charity (i.e., not management) !
Three points, great. But oh the work that needs to be done!
BTW, good finish from both Gibbo — who had a very poor match overall — and Poldi.
But we really need to get the defensive shape, organization and counter-attack vulnerabilities shorted if we want to make progress compared to our last season’s achievements.
Thank you for finding some pride, boys. But serious questions still need answering.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Well that performance certainly didn’t match the points, Dr F.