Squeaky Bum Time Starts Here
Feb 20th, 2019 by 'holic
Hello all, apologies for not being around much of late. The regulars know why and I thank you for your understanding. Enough of that. Have unexpectedly reached the first pivotal day in the Arsenal season.
Think about it. A draw tomorrow will cost us one of the two opportunities we have to clinch a Champions League berth next season. It’s an early evening kick-off which will thin the crowd out rather more than any growing apathy among the fan base. It’s a big evening for The Arsenal, it’s a big evening for Unai Emery, and hopefully a big night for Mesut Ozil, of whom the manager has said ahead of the game,
“He’s working very well this week and I asked him in our conversation to be consistent, to be available for training. I said that when you can train with us consistently you can help us with your best performance in the games.”
Petr Cech should retain his place in goal and will Unai put his faith in a back four to create room for an Ozil recall? Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Shkodran Mustafi, Laurent Koscielny, and Nacho Monreal can do a job for us with support from a pairing of Matteo Guendouzi and Granit Xhaka at the base of midfield. A trio of creative midfielders could provide the ammunition for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the absence of the suspended Alexandre Lacazette. What about Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Mesut Ozil, and Alex Iwobi?
We know from last week that Skavysh is the most likely to create the opportunities for Serbian striker Milic. Deploying Torreira and Iwobi as cover beside and in front of Monreal may nullify that threat. Everything crossed here.
The ‘holic pound
This will be a nervous evening if we do not get our attacks in behind what is sure to be numbers in defence. A two goal margin is required and I am lured in by the 11/2 on offer for the bookies favourite, 2-0 to The Arsenal.
Enough for one night. I am away to for prescribed rest and relaxation.
Have a good one, ‘holics.
33 Responses to “Squeaky Bum Time Starts Here”
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Evening H
Trust you are making good progress in your recovery.
Let’s hope our Boys can make good progress against Bate.
Interesting stat,you have to go back to 1995 for the last time we failed to score in both legs of a European Cup game.
If we cannot beat this team of part timers on our own patch,we don’t deserve to progress.
As an add on to your quote from Unai re Mesut,he quite clearly referenced his constant sickness and ” injuries ”
Which reinforces Unai’s concept of training with the same intensity and commitment as you would on Match day,and you will be on the Team sheet.
Clearly Mesut hasn’t got the message yet.
As a professional footballer,i cannot believe that he wants to sit on the bench or not be in the squad at all.
It really is a head scratcher for me.
Anyway let’s get Bate done,and then concentrate on 2 mus twin league games at home to the Saints and Bournemouth.
‘holic
i really value talking here
grateful you are filtering
I’m fuckin livid
and
when i started saying
months and months ago
people who never were
have become
anti-english
you were fair
.
.
but
between me you and the Etc and so ons
if this thing pans out
the way it appears to be headed
it could get VERY messy
.
and I’m fuckin worried
and
if an oul tart like me is worried
walk up and down the street ordinary people really should be fuckin shiteing themselves
‘Holic, rest easy and take your time in recuperating. When I was much younger pneumonia laid me up for five weeks in hospital so we well know how awful it can be.
TTG, agreed on Gnabry. Now watching Juve’s keeper make a fabulous two finger save onto the crossbar against Atleti. And to think that Arsenal realized all of £15M from the sale of both Chezza and Gnabry, which provided less than half of what was paid to get Mustafi.
Keep taking the tablets Holic and wash them down with a little medicinal malt! Thanks for the preview. I had assumed Sokratis might return in a four . I shudder watching Cech nowadays a shadow of the keeper he was in the role Emery has assigned him .
As we remarked in the aftermath of that debacle last week we will miss Lacazette. I would be bold
This would be my team
Cech ( reluctantly)
AMN Sokratis Koscielny Kolasinac
Ramsey Xhaka
Aubameyang Ozil Iwobi
Nketiah
Subs – Leno Guendouzi Monreal Mkhitaryan Torreira Saka Suarez
My default prediction is 2-0 to the Arsenal but I think if we score early we can increase that to 3-0 with Eddie getting a brace!
COYG !
I’m going to have to pass on the “I told you so” because I didn’t, but when I do, you can bet I’ll be reminding you, but big time.
Meanwhile, I’m keeping everything crossed real tight for tomorrow.
COYG
PS All the very best ‘Holic; drink on the bar for you and a chitty for two more when the quack signs you off.
‘Holic – sorry to hear that you’ve been unwell. Take it easy and wishing you all the very best for a speedy recovery.
I hope tomorrow passes stress-free for you,’Holic. We get an early goal, are ahead on aggregate before the half, and then add three in the second half to wrap it up at a canter. 14s available to an optimist.
Fine preview thanks guvnor.
Mostly agree with that team
though I think UE won’t start
Ozil. Hopefully, we go with 4
at the back and get 3 goals up
in the first 30 minutes. We can
and should stick 5 past Bate at
home, nerves be damned.
Fine preview Guvna. I hope your recovery is progressing well.
I have no idea what team Emery will start nor what formation he will instruct them to play but I do expect an expensively assembled and well rewarded group of professional footballers playing in one of the most competitive leagues in the world to beat, and beat well, a rag tag bunch of part-timers (?) from somewhere east of Krakow on our own patch.
Just remember Winterslag. Do your job.
Morning all.
Take care Holic, make sure you are fully recovered before venturing out. Arsenal will always be here in one form or another !
Am still undecided whether to make the trip to the Ems tonight, awaiting a call from Gooner Malcolm who is similarly undecided. The prospect of another dire performance with Bate parking the bus and our ineffectual side trying to break them down to score at least 2 goals is not appealing.
Can I refer you to Jonathan Liew of the Independent, article on Arsenal of yesterday. It sums up how I feel about our beloved club .
Thanks for referring Liew’s article, Delia. Good read.
https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/stan-kroenke-arsenal-bate-jonathan-liew-a8788241.html
The Liew article is very well written and touches on the essential awfulness of the limbo we are finding ourselves in . I’d only argue with one thing but it’s quite a big thing. KSE efficient ? Arsenal have wasted so much money it’s ridiculous , if that’s efficiency it takes a very different form from my definition of the word.
The Gazidis era overseen by KSE has junked at least £200m by not controlling contract negotiations properly or setting up the ridiculous deal for Ozil. That is what January was about. It wasn’t that mean old Stan wouldn’t stump up. It was that even if he’d stumped up £100m as a late Christmas present ( suspend disbelief please!) we couldn’t have spent it because the club had mismanaged its finances so poorly. Stan still sees his profits emerging and aren’t we pleased about that , but we can’t reflect the efficiency in terms of the budget for players.
It’s a completely different point from Stan failing to do an Abramovich in the early days of Chelsea , its more a case of trying to compete with a similar size competitor in Liverpool who have outperformed us totally in managing their finances. Their record profits coming after spending gazillions on Van Dijk, Allison, Keita et al shame the useless Ivan and the useless board and the useless and very inefficient KSE.
The result is that fans with the loyalty and enthusiasm of Delia and friends feel like they do. It’s a crying shame
Well played, Holic !
Hope your 11/2 comes in and you can buy some more ‘medicine’ ?
Take care of that troublesome chess and don’t worry about Cech mate !
TTG , Delia,
I share your pain. Condensed my own thoughts into this a couple of days ago –
I’ve said for a long time that there is no clue, no word and no action from Kroenke as to what he wants Arsenal, and ultimately his involvement in the club, to achieve.
Either there was no money to buy anyone in January or the club has been so mismanaged that we couldn’t add anyone to the wage bill without breaking FFP or Premier League rules.
We have some terrible players who literally don’t know what they are doing, and some very good players who don’t appear to know what they’re supposed to be doing either.
We apparently pay like Manchester City, buy like West Brom and play like Southend.
We have a strategy of possession football but too often struggle to put three passes together.
We have two elite strikers and two excellent creative midfielders who are not allowed to play, thus rendering our elite strikers more or less redundant.
We are, depending on the opposition, a 3-5-2 team, or a 4-4-2 team, or an occasional 4-5-1 team. Quite what exactly that depends on though is anyone’s guess.
The team that looked spirited, aggressive and at times quite brilliant against Tottenham at the Emirates in a tremendous 4-2 win, has disappeared down the tunnel with Mesut Özil and an at last very in form Aaron Ramsey.
We seem to be a ship adrift, and no-one even knows if the captain is looking for the rudder.
Maybe it will all change tonight …. ??
Hello cba,
whilst I agree there are still a lot of people here pushing for Brexit regardless of the consequences of the Union I am convinced in my heart that a significant majority now are not, hence the clamour for a peoples vote.
This entire Government has been spectacularly incompetent from the moment the pigs head fucker called a referendum (not binding) that he expected to win to silence the Tory far right, or Torykip, if you will.
The most unfortunate thing is that their incompetence has been matched by what should be the opposition party.
We know this ends very badly for everyone, but the establishment who will clean up when share prices and currencies crash.
I do feel for the plight of you and yours, but there is bugger all we can do about it because we are all in the shit.
Thanks all for your good wishes again.
As you can see I am not in the best of spirits. Last anti-biotic tomorrow. I have mastered the fever it seems. Now to deal with the aftermath.
Cech
Licht, Mus, Kos, Nacho
Guendouzi, Xhaka
Mkhi, Ozil, Iwobi
Auba
Bench
Leno, Sokratis, Kola, Torreira,
Ramsey, Suarez, Nketiah
Not the team I’d have picked but
anyway more than good enough
That team should easily beat BATE, but that lineup is heavily weighted on the below average side.
Just the luck we needed. OG.
How’s it looking just found a stream…
Bullet header from Mustafi! 2-0 (2-1).
Similar pattern as the last game, ATG, but we look a bit more creative and lot more purposeful. But our defence still keeps the contest alive.
Goal from Mus and goal line
clearance from Licht.
I wouldn’t have picked either
tonight 🙂
KSN,
Thanks for the update seen the goal and nothing else 2:0 with an own goal sounds like we pushed them a little but nothing significant.
Watching the game from the Sofa, Gooner Malcolm decided to go to the Ems.
Much better display at a good tempo from both teams on a proper football pitch. Most of our attacks coming from both flanks and we should kill the game off early in the second half. Better crowd than I expected but haven’t seen numbers in the upper tiers.
COYR
Looks like Hleb coming on
3-0 Papa
Sokratis makes it 3-0 with a good header.
Lichsteiner’s best game for us so far.
Job done. But very dull second half. I thought Iwobi did well, as did both full backs. Got to say I wasn’t that impressed with Ozil. Still. In the next round.
Through to the last 16 round and now to the draw of teams tomorrow.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>