What The Papers Say, Or Don’t
Nov 12th, 2014 by 'holic
You could be forgiven that the only topic of conversation in Arsenal circles this week concerns the supporters undeniably split opinions on Arsene Wenger’s immediate future. Given that his immediate, and probably medium term future, is remaining in situ I thought I would scour the sports pages for other Arsenal news. Yes, even the speculation I normally avoid like the plague.
First port of call has to be the Guardian, providers of the most sane football coverage for a number of years now. What do I find today. Nothing. Although if you didn’t read Amy Lawrence’s piece yesterday on the mutual grumblings of the disaffected at both North London clubs I suggest you rectify that now. I’ts a rather interesting comparison, hinting at the comfort to be found in the misfortune of others right now, and that is not exclusively them, as a number of Manchester United and Liverpool supporters will surely testify.
Over at the Telegraph Jeremy Wilson runs with Lukas Podolski’s desire to seek clarification of his future with Arsene Wenger. This is hardly surprise news. Lukas has struggled to make the left wing role his own since signing and the arrival of Alexis Sanchez has seen him slip a place further down the pecking order. We have a wealth of attacking riches and although Poldi is a class finisher he probably suffers more than most from the fact that we don’t have the defensive depth that would allow us the luxury of selecting him regularly, purely for his attacking qualities.
Jim van Wijk over at the Standard covers an AS Chile interview with the man of the moment, Alexis Sanchez. One paragraph sticks out. I know there is an expectation for players now to feed the press with positive lines, but the standout Gunner so far this season is even more bullish than you might imagine.
“I tell you seriously: I like what I see so much that I have repeated myself many times, that if we have the required winning mentality, if we are positive and try to win every single game, I know we can win any competition.”
The Express not surprisingly pinch a story from the Times (and no, I don’t go behind their paywall) with a tale of Tomas Rosicky’s disenchantment. Reading the interview, even out of context, I don’t get the inference the sub-editor has in headlining the piece.
I looked at the Mail, and decided enough was enough. They have a muckspreading style far better suited to background noise to the Archers.
And if you really want to hear discussion of the topical issues then tomorrow night I will be recording my first, and probably last, appearance on the A Bergkamp Wonderland @AFCPodcast. No pressure, I am only following in the footsteps of Perry Groves, and if you didn’t hear him last week then check it out here.
I wonder if Arsene’s future will crop up?
82 Responses to “What The Papers Say, Or Don’t”
Nice one Maestro.
I’ll be tuning in.
The best Arsecasts are always the ones whose opinions you value!
First and last appearance on that Podcast?
Chucked out for bad behaviour?
When you getting to vent on the Tuesday Club then?
Not A list, me, Dr Z 😉
Hope all is well? It’s been too long my friend.
Good article that Amy Lawrence piece. And to Manu match, I hope Wenger has some kind of help for Chambers, because Di Maria will eat him alive.
All ok at this end, H.
Bean counters at work have been making trips to London difficult so far this season.,
Hoping that improves in the New Year – to coincide with a surge to the top of the league!
Actually SAG, Di Maria is subject to a lot of media shit here too for his poor form of late. 😉
Stoke at home has been moved to my birthday Sunday, Z. Just saying like. 😉
Does Di Maria eat anything, alive or otherwise?
He makes a skeleton look fat.
Nice distractions, H. Most welcome.
I see Qatar have been totally exonerated and the FA are in the dock. You really couldn’t make it up. It’s clearly medieval justice at FIFA these days. Will they cut off a few heads?
I’m all for that, sir. 🙂
Did anyone mention Bould in the last drinks round? If so I missed it. There’s a reason he sits next to AW in the Citroën seats, isn’t there? Something to do with defence?
I’m sure it’s convenient for the ‘Wenger aaht’ brigade to paint AW as a latter day Napoleon responsible for everything Arsenal – not only scouting, transfers, team selection and tactics, but also the injury crisis, lost and drawn matches and every poor cross by the fullbacks, not to mention mowing the grass, the cost of pies, sweeping up match day detritus and the state of the weather. But surely there are others to point the bone at occasionally?
I get the impression a number of holics have only known Arsenal in recent times and simply view the club as hopelessly in decline over the last decade compared to the golden era that preceded it. All I can say is stick around and get a more balanced view over, say, 50 years before drawing definitive conclusions. And as far as fundamentally changing the management structure of the club is concerned, be careful what you wish for.
Öskar
I have to say that the Guardian is a paper I’m extremely unlikely to read save for the physio waiting room where I turn to the Sports pages. Excellent coverage and less agenda- driven than say the Mail who just revel in anyone’s misery particularly if it is Arsenal’s! It is an odious rag with no redeeming virtues. If you read a daily newspaper you can only get serious treatments of the game from the broadsheets . Most of them write English with proper grammar and paragraphs and the odd top- quality writer. But the tabloids write garbage which is either fundamentally untrue or which appeared on the net three years ago
The miscomfort of others. Hmm.
Never thought of that angle. 😉
To coin a word. Discomfort maybe?
Thanks maestro for an interesting news round-up and particularly for the link to the Amy Lawrence article. I get the sense that part of the Arsenal fans’ discomfort is connected to last season’s genuine title challenge put up by Liverpool at the same time when our seemingly genuine title challenge faded away at just the critical moment.
Then after our hopes were revived by our (narrow) FA Cup win and several excellent signings over the summer, we are not playing anywhere near expectations. Significantly I think, this comes at the same time as Southampton have so far mounted a genuine title challenge of their own for a small fraction of the money we spent. Who is to criticize even the New Zealanders among us for asking “Southampton Who?”
Good post Holic it’s nice to have a distraction 🙂
Some of our players should give this a go as well!
http://www.arsenal.com/itunes/arsenal-legends-nigel-winterburn
The downside of having stories to tell, Dr F (previous drinks) is that you have to grow old to acquire a decent store of them. And then you will inevitably end up with your daughter saying, ‘Dad, not that one AGAIN’ cos you will forget who you have told them to.
Apropos jazz I was lucky to live (to be a late teen, early adult anyway) in a time when some of the greats were in their prime and actively touring Europe.
It’s interesting how that came about. At the time America was in the throes of its black civil rights struggle and this, among other things, was reflecting badly on America’s reputation around the world. Someone had the bright idea of organising concert tours of mostly African-American jazz musos as goodwill ambassadors to the world.
Sounds like a plan, but a bit hypocritical, the idea of promoting black people as symbols of US ‘democracy’ at a time when America was quite violently racist. But that’s what happened. ff to all corners of the world went America’s finest black jazzmen plus a smattering of white, all waving the Star Spangled Banner and doing their best to win hearts and minds during the Cold War. The Jazz Ambassadors programme, as it was called, was essentially a US State Department Cold War initiative.
The musos found it all quite amusing, since most of them had been touring overseas for years, and they’d often found it not only more lucrative than playing in America but the audiences were usually far friendlier than those back home where many were still opposed to blacks and whites even sharing the same stage. Among those I can remember seeing in the late ’50s / early ’60s were Dizzy, Earl Hines, Coleman Hawkins, Louis, Oscar Peterson, Goodman, Ellington, Basie, Ella, Rollins, Coltrane, Stitt, Miles Davis, Thelonius Monk, Brubeck, Harry Edison, Buck Clayton, Joe Williams, Muddy Waters and others I forget right now.
Although I had a rock n roll club at the time I probably saw at least as much jazz either in concerts or at Ronnie’s. They were the days indeed. I don’t expect to see their like again.
Öskar
Oskar, I think you raise a very important point about the Arsenal fan base @ 12.
The Arsenal fans on here, including myself, who suggest it may be time for a change at the top, I suspect you are correct, that they are more than likely basing that opinion on the record of success or lack of success in the last 10 years.
However, the assumption by those still clearly supporting wenger, that those arsenal fans who dont agree, somehow dont like wenger or have only been supporters for the last 10 years, so dont know any better, is a very big assumption to make and most likely an incorrect assumption.
Even if they are newer supporters of the last 10 years only, what is so wrong with that, they are still great arsenal supporters are they not.
i.e. – the same as you and I, all supporting the same club and simply wanting our tam and club to be successful on the pitch against other teams ?
The loyal and long serving participating Arsenal posters in the last drinks, including myself, who suggest it may be time for a change, are arsenal fans who all have clearly stated they have a big respect for Arsene and what he has done for the club and his historical success.
But there in lies the disappointment, frustration and disenchantment for a growing number of Arsenal fans, it is all historical success.
It is not personal malice, dislike or disloyalty towards Arsene himself, it is simply our footballing record over the last 10 years is not good enough for a lot of fans and they would simply like to see a change.
It is not unreasonable or unfair for football fans to want current success, is it.
OTD
I don’t think it fair to say that fans who have not been supporting the club for 50 years have not got the right to speak their minds and ask questions, it’s a bit detrimental to say the least.
Some are passionate more than others, some are wiser than others, some know better how to counter disappointment and some don’t. Some are older and some are younger but they are all Arsenal fans.
I think everyone here just wants one thing for Arsenal and that is to go forward.
well said ATG @20. here, here…. a drink on the bar for you sir.
And Especially to the going forward part.
We all recognise how great our past teams were.
We all acknowledge how great our club has been in the past
We all understand what an important contribution Arsene made to that successful past.
It is 2014 and some of us would like to see that same previous passion and winning mentality in this decade, at least.
Even Alexis Sanchez himself stated very clearly in the headline article from Holic in the previous drinks ;
“if we get a winning mentality”and ‘if’ we are hungry to win every match” we can beat anyone.
the important word in that piece was the ” if “.
It clearly shows that Alexis doesn’t believes this team doesn’t have those football basic now.
Which leads to the question, with the most experienced, successful and long serving manager in the league, why doesn’t this team have it right now.
What is going on within the team, that we dont have the basic winning mentality, hunger and strategy to eek out the all important 1 nil wins, away and at home, against top 4 and bottom 4 alike, that does win you matches and titles.
That is the hard part to fathom in all this, Arsene knows how to do this stuff, he invented most of it, so why aren’t we able to perform and execute the basic football stuff…
“I don’t think it fair to say that fans who have not been supporting the club for 50 years have not got the right to speak their minds and ask questions” ATG (#20)
Nor do I, ATG, nor did I say that. I suggested that sticking around for 50 years might give a more balanced view, meaning of the various eras/cycles the club goes through.
aussie … you say “We all recognise how great our past teams were.”, but do you? It’s not like we’ve had great long periods of domination in the past. In fact we’ve only had two really successful eras in our entire history – one back in the ’30s under Chapman, and one, by far the best one, under Wenger prior to the oil sheiks and Russian mafia distorting the status quo out of all quo. The past decade, which you deem a failed one is arguably our third best period ever, considering we have never finished lower than 4th in England’s top division in any year of it. No other club can boast that, nor will you find any decade in Arsenal’s history to match it, apart from Wenger’s best years.
Which is why I say beware of what you wish for.
Öskar
I don’t disagree that we’re not performing nearly as well as we should be. But that is mostly explained by the chronic disruptions caused by injuries, not just in general but to key players in AW’s system. With a limited squad compared to one or two clubs above us (not the 16 below us necessarily) we quickly become unbalanced both in quality and positional cover, and the lack of cohesion quickly becomes obvious.
That doesn’t fully explain losing to clubs like Swansea, but losing, or failing to win as in all the draws we’ve had lately, becomes a disease which affects morale etc etc until it becomes more a psychological problem than a footballing one. So, get some key players back, fit and raring to go – Özil, Walcott, Giroud and Debuchy for example – and inspire the likes of Rambo, Santi and Danny to up their game to its potential, and I have little doubt we will kick on in the second half of this season. I certainly don’t see anyone but the chavs and $iteh giving us competition for the CL places at least.
Of course if it’s your ambition to win the CL, dream on. I don’t see winning the Premiership as out of reach, next season say, but the CL would need a huge change of luck in the injury stakes and more new blood than we are likely to have until the stadium debt has been paid off.
Long term though, the sky is the limit. Providing we don’t panic and change everything for change’s sake.
Öskar
Otd: You rarely go wrong following the advice given on the cover of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
From the last drinks, one ‘holic made the point that Kos became a better player after Mertesacker arrived. Undoubtedly the two are more than the sum of their parts. Is that happenstance or does AW deserve credit for creating the pairing?
Your money sentence above, ‘Holic, was the one about AW staying in situ in the medium term. He has a contract that he will honour and which I doubt the club will break. I suspect it will be his last contract, and in that sense we are approaching the end of an era. Meanwhile, I will absorb a lesson from the monks at Castle Ned and adopt a Zen-like state of acceptance over the next couple of seasons, believing that if they want to come to Arsenal the titles and trophies will come.
We need a little patience.. for our players to get back from injury and to attain a certain understanding with our new additions.
Maybe my previous observations about a lack of desire and hunger could be because of a lack of understanding and cohesion among the players. Give it a little time.
Can’t be too mad about a team that has Ozil and Alexis, we can only get better 🙂
Who’s a happy Ferret?! : http://i.imgur.com/jpAjV19.gifv
Cheers Holic! And mucho cheers to you and The Neighbour for Yanited game surprise! Clued the youngster in last night as could n’t keep the secret anymore. Huge excitement!
Small point of general info. Not constantly calling for Le Boss’ head, does not make one a ‘Wenger supporter’.
I’m an Arsenal supporter. End of.
I like a double negative, me.
Oskar, I gues we all have varying levels of what we define as success and failures in our lives and Football is certainly no different.
Let’s hope Arsene can find a way to get this squad to fel and click into top gear soon and no new injuries in the interlull
Having said all that, still think we could do well with a proper DM, in fact am demanding for one! : http://i.imgur.com/z3NMd4q.gif
😀
The difference, Esso,
is that your double negative finished up meaning what it was supposed to. 😉
Oskar, Aussie, ATG. Interesting thought on the demographics of the fanbase. In fact I’d been sitting here thinking it was mainly us grumpy old men who’d lost the rag, especially after seeing poor ol’ Claude on Youtube losing the rag at the Liberty Stadium with your man with the white head-phones who was barely out of nappies ! Also, when I’m at the stadium I have to say it’s the older guys who have been rasping most venomously at Le boss, Bendtner, Denilson, Rambo or whoever. I don’t think you can generalize at all on it, now that I think about it. Maybe the esteemed Proprietor of this bar should be asking for age ID before people are allowed a jar and an opinion ! Take Dr F, he’s been following the team since 2000 (very well I’m certain) but I’ve been pro-Wenger for 16 year so that’s longer than him ! I have to say I’ve also detected perhaps a few diehard fans of Le Boss being a little bit wide of the mark in their view of our history in the last 24 hrs, as I’ve already said (repeating yourself comes with old age too, endlessly). We are the best, oldest (almost), proudest club in the land and our perennial presence in the top league for 5 years short of a century is remarkable testament to that. You can’t simply say we had two successful periods, one under Chapman and one under Wenger (In fact that Chapman Golden era would have been a lot longer but for WW2). More to the point, I’m not ‘avin’ it that the glorious acheivements of the 70s and 80s are air-brushed out and nor would Holics on both sides of the current “discussion” (sorry Guv, I know you’re moving the crowd along). For me the 1970 Fairs Cup win was a game-changer and ushered in the next 40 + years. It was followed immediately by the Glorious 71 Double as a new mind-set and dynamic took hold. 79 was amazing (FA Cup TV coverage lasted ALL DAY back then, from 9 am onwards and you daren’t miss a moment, black and white or not). 1989 and MT, Nick Hormby and all that, come on, only two good eras ! The other thing about that era was that even in the leaner years we had amazing players and characters like Chippy Brady, Charlie Nicholas and Malcom MacDonald. “Boring, boring Arsenal” came in during the late 80s but it was beautiful and thrilling in it’s tactical execution. I’m afraid we’re a different type of boring now. Boringly predictable. Give me George Graham’s purple patch any day. Anyway, he had to walk eventually and even the non-achieving Bruce Rioch got the chop straight after an ok 5th I think (“ok” if you think 4th or 5th is ok for our great club). COYG.
Top contributions overnight Oskar. You’re on a roll, mate. A large malt of your choice is on the bar.
The papers have had their say and so have we all about the team and the boss.
The best part was the chilean superstar’s interview, clearly the lad has his feet firmly on the ground. I agree totally to the part of he and Danny being a terrific combo, i do not know why a lot feel Danny hasnt be as good as made out to be. For me he has been excellent, the runs, the link up and most importantly the work rate. I will play him every week without hesitation even when Giroud comes back.
Arsene out tirade continues and i am bored of it, He will not leave, board wont sack him, end of the story.
I believe this is a good team not great but good, even good teams once they jell can go on to achieve great things, this season is too nascent to finalize the outcome. A fit and more so a hungry Kos,Giroud and Mesut along with the one man who we have missed the most- Debuchy, we do have a team which can last the full distance.
How shocking it is that, with us desperate for defenders or a DM in January, all I’m seeing in the speculative transfer columns is how we’re going to sign this striker or that winger.
It’s like being a bloody Mormon with 20 wives and still signing up to match.com ffs.
Great post above SC.
Good to keep the stats ledger on a level playing field for both sides of the discussion.
Vinay and Holic are of course right, wenger ain’t goin anywhere anyways. He has the entire club shit scared and is in total control of everything.
I don’t think steve bould has even muttered a word on the bench the entire season yet.
Ah well as joe said last night, let’s see what year 18 of the same plan has in store for us.
Spot on Cynic. Betrays those sources for the peddlers of utter garbage and hit hounds that wise men tell us they are.
I think they are probably spot on in the type of player we’ll buy, if not the actual names, which says it all.
Afternoon Chaps,
I know you are not allowed to plug websites etc on here but just wanted to say to anyone interested I brought one of those East Stand Hand Crafted Replicas (Think Arseblog linked it a while ago) for the Old Mans xmas present and must say well chuffed with the quality etc ! Defo a good buy if anyone was thinking of getting one !
Up The Arse !
Great post SC!
A choice of your favourite is on the bar!
Oskar
To be honest with you I’m not convinced with your 50 year suggestion theory, it’s not like I’m going anywhere right? Perhaps with luck and health I shall reach 50 years too! Who knows. 🙂
Back in training …
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20141113/pictures-giroud-back-in-training
And we would need him soon.
In the interest of “who did what and how badly they behaved” at FIFA let’s see the full report. When the head of the investigation says the partial report “contains numerous materially incomplete and erroneous representations” exactly how much can we know that they are hiding??
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/30037729
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20141113/pictures-giroud-back-in-training
DF ha ha got ahead of me mate!
Ozil is recognized for his charity work, and so is Lehmann.
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20141113/mesut-ozil-receives-honourary-prize
[On receiving the award, Ozil said: “Making the donation was a foregone conclusion as far as I was concerned. I wanted to make a lasting mark in the World Cup country of Brazil, and this is something which I think we managed to achieve with the operations on these children. I am proud to have received this Honorary Prize from Laureus. It’s a very special feeling to be included on the list of previous winners. However, I don’t just consider this to be merely a prize but also see it as an incentive for me to engage in further social commitment.”
]
Hats off Mesut.
Ah.. Theo back and with Giroud on the way… coming along nicely : http://i.imgur.com/7XXiG4e.gif?1
Oskar – some top doggery above. The music post was good too.
Oskar @ 18: Great memories from you. 🙂
Yes, I love the bebop era and the early days of modal improvisations a la Miles. And you are absolutely spot on about the Jazz musicians having a lasting career, impression and longevity in Europe. Artists like Carmen McRae or Dexter Gordon found Europe to be much more supportive.
And you are right about the ubiquitous racism in US at that time. Miles in his autobiography has some very candid stories to tell about some of his experiences. And told with very candid expressions as well. 🙂
However I don’t think much of Europe was intrinsically any different. France which was the European epicenter of Jazz (rather, Paris) at that time was rigorously racist, but it is just that the Artists and intellectuals were always appreciated for their genius and moving mostly within those circles they could avoid the prejudices that were everyday occurrences back at home.
I am sure you love Bertrand Tavernier’s movie ‘Round Midnight about those times …
ATG @ 43: 🙂
I think a team with Kos, Debuchy, Alexis and Giroud will have a never-say-die attitude and backbone that we are clearly missing.
I would like to add TR7 to that list but evidently he is not going to get much of a chance this season.
ATG, DrF ; Four warriors alright. Giroud could be simply epic coming on after Welbz has pulled a defence hither and tither. Deboosh did look quite hard and good too even I, Sagna-lover, must admit. Kos…well, he may be completely facked long-term, thats the issue innit. Here’s hoping they’re all imminent returnees before the window and not “like new signings” after it. It’s funny, some of the positivity in here can be a bit infectious, which is very fine indeed. Cheers ATG, owe u a sherbet.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/arsenals-mesut-ozil-confirms-hell-4621141
Arsenal midfielder Mesut Ozil has revealed that he faces another seven weeks on the sidelines because of his knee injury.
——-
And it looks like Poldi needs games or his intl’ career is in jeopardy so he’ll be looking to leave too.
ARGHHHH!
🙁
Hi All
Reading the previous posts in the drinks did take sometime. Some cracking points made and some very good arguements.
Some pro AW some against but all for Arsenal and that is the main constant. Aw will go and we will still be here supporting our club long after Aw leaves *when he decides*
What AW has done is mind blowing for AFC and yet as in sales you are only as good as your last deal/sale/win, in football terms win !!
It was a eye opener to see just how shocked or not in this case with the last 2 performances. It has turned into thats Arsenal they always throw it away and this is not a recent turn of advents. We picked up the FA cup after going 2-0 down and showed spirit and desire. Quick question where has that desire gone ? I think Alexis sucked it all up on the first day of training leaving him as the only one who wants to win somthing. Sadly after sucking up all the desire from the team it has left the rest of the players with no fight.
That is a totally stupid statement, yet it seems true !
What has happened ?
What has changed ?
Where has thier fight gone ?
Why are there so many more mistakes than last year ?
Answers on a postcard to : Arsenal F.C C/O AW
Could use contextual translation help from Dutch speaking ‘holics, yes, that would be you, H2H, but this seems to hint at Vlaar moving to the Ems or the Old Toilet next summer (or it could just be a bit of agent talking up his boy).
http://www.vi.nl/nieuws/patstelling-tussen-vlaar-en-villa-ron-is-ambitieus.htm
I think I’d still prefer Basle’s Schar. We are also looking at Marseilles’ Camerounian N’Koulou and Athletico Bilbao’s France U-21 CB Aymeric Laporte, apparently.
Talking of France U-21s. Sanogo is captaining them today against Italy’s U-20s.
This is a link from the Stillman Column on Arseblog. It makes interesting reading.
http://arsereview.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/its-all-about-money-money-money.html
Joe,
Thanks for the Arsereview article. It’s well- written and argued but only tells part of the story. We don’t have to have a squad of this size, we don’t have to leave key positions unfilled and we don’t have to be so poor at dealing with corners at both ends of the pitch. Certainly our profligacy is one issue but shots on goal don’t always equate with chances. I think he suggests because we aren’t as rich as Citeh or Chelsea we won’t be as strong defensively. We could be a lot better defensively if we did the basics right.
As you know Im a Wenger fan but I think this article cuts him too much slack . But his conclusion is still right in that we need to be very careful before jettisoning him as we need to find someone who can compete better against the two richest clubs. That is a salutary warning and has been the case for years it’s just that this season I think Wenger could have done better in terms of filling the holes in the squad and maybe sorting out the issues relating to our constant injuries.
It’s good to see a reasoned analysis even if I don’t think it goes far enough.
It’s good you’re coming over for the United game and I hope you enjoy your first glimpse of Sanchez in the flesh . He’s a very special player
Schar would be good, Ned, but I’d still prefer Hummels. Or even Raph Varane who appears to be on the outer at RM for some reason. Same age as as Schar, full French international and taller. When I’ve seen him he’s impressed, quick, calm and very tidy. And under £20m according to the gossip.
Öskar
Agreed that Varane would be a brilliant acquisition Oskar, though I fear his alleged close relationship with Mourinho might make Chelski (assuming they’re interested) a more likely destination IF Real do decide to sell him.
As for Hummels – again, would be superb, though I’d like us to give Dortmund a right good pummelling in the upcoming fixture, to convince him that we are substantial club and a good option for him.
I’d certainly like to see some kind of CB reinforcement this January, even if Kos has regained full fitness by then, and as I’ve said before, I’d have no real problem with Wenger jettisoning a top-class defender in and letting Per and Kos worry about their status as untouchable first-choice CBs….
It’s the Per side of the CD partnership I question, Gregoire. He has some great qualities, but also lacks pace and is barely able to get off the ground when he jumps. Hummels and Kos would be my first choice. The former also likes to get forward on occasions which is okay in moderation and also suggests he remembers his earlier days playing DM, cover that would be very useful in the squad.
Öskar
Every shot at goal represents a chance in the mind of the shooter, Ttg, and as good a measure as any that I know. You can also add in any number of occasions when players decline to shoot when they might, but that only makes the profligacy worse. I’ve been arguing for years that we simply don’t convert enough of the chances we create, and that is the main reason we end up dropping points we shouldn’t.
And why of course we should have signed a proper striker some time in the past several seasons. I do give OG a pass mark as a CF, very useful on his day, but he’s no Ronaldo, Messi, Suarez, Ibrahimovic or please insert your favourites here. Few are of course, but I believe we could get closer than trying to convert wingers like Danny or hope that Campbell, a youngster who played one good game in the WC, could miraculously channel DB10. I am of course ecstatic that winger Alexis has shown the goal-scoring touch of TH14, and Theo is still potentially the best striker in the squad, but a specialist No9 could solve a lot of problems.
Öskar
In this post Halloween and post Girls Scouts cookie selling season the pressing question seems to come down to a choice between thin mints and Reese’s peanut butter cups to go along with my evening dram o’ whisky.
I’m sure Moyes will be thinking about similar questions at Real Sociedad. 🙂
There is nothing like sticking by your guns. Especially if your organization’s very name is threatened by unforeseen circumstances. 😉
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/29991354
I see Moyes is already making excuses for his next failure, claiming La Liga is more competitive than the Premiership.
Öskar
Oh dear.
http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9859634.ece/alternates/w620/Sanchez1.jpg
Otd: I like Varane a lot, but I thought he recently signed a long-term contract extension at Real (though we all know they aren’t worth the paper they are written on these days). Even at £20 million he would be good value. I suspect Mourinho, also a great admirer, would be in for him, too, if he is available. Hummels would likely cost half as much again as Varane, but probably would be money well spent regardless. If we got either of them, I assume it would be on the promise of being first-choice. Which one of Per and Kos would they complement better? Kos’s Achilles may make the choice moot, of course.
Cynic@62: Oh dear, oh very dear.
Anyone know anything about Grzegorz Krychowiak, 24-year-old Polish (never would have guessed!) DM we are apparently looking at? Plays for Seville and has 22 caps for Poland.
NBN @ 65: A few drinks back I had asked our Polish drinkers in this bar about how the name should be pronounced. The resident Czech Eandy, out of Slavic camaraderie, kindly had explained how difficult it would be and how close we can get. So yes, I know a lot about how his name should be pronounced. 🙂
Oh, last time we got a defensive minded player from Sevilla it didn’t turn out that well, so maybe second time its a charm. 🙂
But seriously I don’t follow La Liga that much anymore, but looking at his stats, he already has 4 MOTM in this season’s La Liga. That’s impressive, DM type of players don’t get too many MOTM awards in La Liga.
Excellent from Tim Stillman, as always
http://arseblog.com/2014/11/familiar-faces-in-unfamiliar-places/
DF & NBN
The closest I could help here would be “Creehowviak” I had help from my English collegue as well 🙂
If you want a full Polish pronunciation:
https://translate.google.co.uk/#auto/en/Grzegorz%20Krychowiak
Grzegorz is definitely a promising player beside Lewandowski, Piszczek and Błaszczykowski (try to prounance) however I’m not sure how he would fit into EPL. If anyone fancies taking a glimpse at him Poland is playing their Euro qualifier at 17:00 UK time.
ATG: You got all the Polish names spot on, then of all the words to misspell, it was ‘pronounce’!
Krychowiak would certainly be a welcome addition to the squad. I’ve seen a bit of Sevilla this season and he’s looked decent, and he was a major factor in Poland’s 2-0 win over Germany.
Anyone know anything about this Polish player ?
Maybe Arthur can help with pronounciation ?
Dysiun Szczaykenwak ……..
Trev who the hell is that ? 🙂
Trev @ 72, you love an international vacuum like this don’t you ?
Gregoire
Google did’t highlight “pronounce” he he
He certainly was and one other guy was outstanding in that game and guess what he’s a CB, Kamil Glik plays for Torino in Italy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwXeLP5e804
I heard he’s a brilliant sweeper Arthur ……. ?
Really good at cleaning up at the back. 😉
Trev
Are you sure he’s a footballer? 🙂
Ttg,
If you going to be about for the Manu game you should consider dropping into the Toliie and putting a few faces to the names you see at the bar (if you haven’t done so already)? They’re a smashing bunch of people and very welcoming.
What’s the record for maximum number of goals scored by a player across all competitions in any tier of English football?
Afobe already has sixteen between league, league cup and FA cup. If he continues in this rate he might get to 50 total.
Hope he stays injury free. If even one of him and Chuba makes it for us — that is, live up to the promises — we will have the striking department well covered for the next few years.
A digression in the absence of any substantial Arsenal news.
There is a fairly brutally frank interview with Bernie Ecclestone in Campaign Asia, which may be accessed online. It is about F1, brands, marketing and money but one could replace F1 by any other sport that is popular today and the comments are equally applicable. It is a compelling read, even though some comments will offend some readers, as it gives an insight the organisation and marketing of sport today. It is a position that is not welcomed by many but it is the reality that we have to live with.
One of hours has written. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
And Krychowiak scores second for Poland 😉