Guest Post, Banana Skin Avoided
Jan 14th, 2014 by 'holic
My thanks to our very own TaBS for stepping into the breach with a report on last night’s win. I hope you enjoy it as much as I.
And breathe! Arsenal duly matched the efforts of their closest challengers at the weekend and returned to the top of the Premiership with a 2-1 victory at Villa Park that was simultaneously both convincing and needlessly heart-stopping in it’s finale.
With the need for all three points paramount, Arsene Wenger restored Giroud, Schez and Ozil to the starting line up, with Serge Gnabry’s youthful dynamism perhaps surprisingly preferred on the right to the more experienced Rosicky. Villa lined up with Agbonlahor and Benteke up front with nine others.
For the second game running, Arsenal benefited from an opposing manager betraying his tactical naivety as Villa lined up in an unfamiliar and utterly unconvincing 5-3-2 to hand Arsenal midfield supremacy from the off.
The first ten minutes of the game set the tone for the rest of the half. It took less than a minute for Elahmdi to leave his mark on Jack Wilshere in a crude assault that rendered his Manager’s pre-match protestations that his team would approach the game in a relaxed manner somewhat meaningless. Jack got up, dusted himself down, and played his part thereafter in a 5 man midfield that had almost exclusive possession of the ball as Villa retreated ever deeper. Attack against defence. Twice in the first ten minutes Sagna, afforded space and time by our midfield dominance, was able to whip in dangerous crosses from the right, from which Oliver Giroud might have done better.
A lengthy delay (surely a Baker should be better equipped to take a blow to the loaf?) engendered concerns that the change of formation forced upon Paul Lambert and the delay itself might interrupt Arsenal’s cohesion, and though Elahmadi stole a march on our midfield soon after the restart and shot over when well placed, it proved to be Villa’s only real clear sight of goal in the half.
Normal service was soon restored, and it was no real surprise when the goal arrived just after the half hour. Ozil, flitting in and out of the game with his usual mix of casual insouciance and instinctive genius, delivered a pass of exquisite beauty to Monreal. two touches later and we were one up,the full back’s excellent cross swept in by Jack, his shot’s aim rather better than his connection. Simple, fast and beautiful.
A mere 17 seconds later, the joy was doubled. Possession was won deep in Villa’s half, and goalscorer turned provider as Jack picked out Giroud. The centre-forward’s much under-rated first touch brought the ball down with a minimum of fuss, whilst his second buried the ball with clinical precision. 2-0 to The Arsenal and ready for a hatful.
For the remaining twenty minutes of the half Arsenal were as dominant as I can remember. If anything, it was too easy, and there were minor signs of complacency as we tried to walk the ball into the net when simpler options were available. Still, nothing to worry about. Half time arrived with us two goals to the good and though we had not put the game to bed with a third, Villa had posed so little threat that it was only the most pessimistic that saw any problems ahead. For my part I was already counting my money with the little 4-0 betting slip in my pocket.
Not sure if our half time cuppas were laced with anything, but we simply could not get going in the second half. Fluency was replaced by uncertainty, and both possession and territorial advantage was ceded. Villa huffed and puffed, but such was the sterility of their play, I never felt that a comeback was really on. Schez had only had to make two fairly routine saves for all their endeavour, and it seemed that the game would amble to an inevitable conclusion and an unthreatened three points.
This is Arsenal though. No point making it easy if other more nerve-wracking options are available. Santi duly had a brain freeze moment and recklessly exposed his centre-halves by giving away possession with a needlessly ambitious ball. Per’s anger at his colleague was there for all to see as the hitherto disinterested Benteke gratefully nodded in the resultant cross to accept his chance.
With Villa galvanised by an unlikely lifeline, we faced a familiar last fifteen minutes in which the prospect of losing points in a game in which we had been utterly dominant suddenly became an all too real possibility. In the last minute Villa’s moment arrived. Benteke, suddenly looking rather more like the player of last season, got the jump on our defenders and will be disappointed that his header could only find the grateful arms of our Pole in the goal. Villa’s moment had passed, and though a further six minutes injury time were played, it was seen out with a minimum of fuss. Three points. Job done.
As ‘holic’s preview pointed out, much water has passed under the bridge since Villa sent the Emirates into meltdown with an opening day smash and grab. First impressions can however be misleading. Five months on, we sit top of the league against all expectations. We are in this. Enjoy the ride.
270 Responses to “Guest Post, Banana Skin Avoided”
Ah, got cut off in the last session…
—————-
First things first: I don’t think it’s the least bit strange that Poldi hasn’t played in the last two games. Yes, he was very good v West Ham, but much less so v Cardiff. Then it was the Tottenham game in which we were forced to make an early sub when Vermalen got a knock to his knee, and then efter subbing Flamini on for Jack (a very logical sub to shore up the midfield) and I am quite sure the idea was to bring Poldi on but then Arteta had to come off so Özil was really the only option we had in that situation. Yesterday was pretty much the same, we had to sub both Monreal and Rosicky because of injuries and while you could argue that we could have put Poldi on out left and moved Cazorla into the middle it was just as understandable that Arsene wanted to give the Ox some time on the pitch. It is also possible that Arsene wanted a pair of fresh legs in the middle instead of a more tired Cazorla.
And Poldi shaking his head can mean many things, it could of course mean he was pissed off that he wasn’t subbed on but it can just as well mean “fucking hell, how did the ref not give a red card for that elbow?” or “I can’t believe this, how many injuries are we going to have?” or something else completely. Maybe someone in the stands said someting to him and he just went “what a wanker” to himself.
Arsegonian also makes a good point about perhaps not wanting to risk playing Poldi and Giroud at the same time while Bendtner is out.
As for the rest of the game, a very good first half and a slightly less good second half. We became a bit too cautious, I don’t mind us playing to close out the game but we dropped a bit too deep last night. We will have to hope that we learn from this. Having said that, though, let us also not forget that Villa had noting to lose and threw everything forward and did actually play quite well for part of the half. We should still have done better, mind, but we did get the three points and getting these more ugly wins is something we have become a lot better at in the past year or so.
In my eyes Villa should have had two red cards. El Ahmadi should have seen his second yellow for the shirt pull on Gnabry (or was it Jack?) and like many have said before me Agbonlahor should have walked for the elbow on Rosicky. When you see the replay from the camera that was in about the same angle as the ref was it’s clear that it’s a very deliberate elbow and that is a red card every day of the week. Swarbrick should have seen that, in my opinion.
Right, need to go do this “work” thing now and then read the report by the Daily Mail media whore when I get the time 🙂
In !!! 😉
Nice job, TaBS. I am enjoying the ride.
🙁 Have to read the report later.
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=joy+ride+roxette&sm=1
Europa league for me.
top post tabs. good summary.
3 points. done and dusted. minimum fuss indeed.
Some poor tackles and elbows on our players as usual.
Great write up tabs.
Lars – true re: Poldi. I think the proof of the pudding will be vs Fulham, when I’d expect him to see at least some action.
Next three league games very winnable. Need to be taking 9 points from those and then we should hopefully find ourselves headed into a sticky looking month with a bit of leeway.
Weirdly, of the three it’s Palace at home that gives me cause for concern. Fulham can’t defend and Saints are in a poor run of form and will come at us. Palace will come to ours for a point, and will deploy the dark arts to get one. I know this Arsenal side are different gear, but in previous seasons this is the one we’d slip up in – right before the tough games, putting pressure on.
Putting aside those bleak thoughts, great to be staring at the run in and dreaming of glory. I fancy us to win something here, be it the league or the FA Cup. We have the quality. We have the guts. We just need a tiny bit of luck and a respite from the endless injuries.
COYG
Top report TABS! Always enjoying them from you!
You could say tricky ending but three points is three points. We won the game fair and square, not like the Chavs getting a last ditch penalty!
Come on Arsenal!
Hope Rosicky and Nacho are ok! Fingers crossed fellas!
Great post tabs!
When I grow up I want to write just like you. 😀
Nervy stuff at the end but the players got the job done, so hats off to them. Hoping Tomas and Nacho are okay though…
Repost from last drinks:
——————————
Agree about that elbow on Rosicky. The tell-tale sign is that if it was accidental, the offending player usually goes back to the player being treated and apologises. La Whore steered well clear. And how the ref could go over and wave play on when it was clearly a head injury is beyond me. Apart from that, I thought Swarbrick had a reasonably good game – missed Vlaar wrestling OG to the ground in the box but I guess you can’t get ‘em all right.
Disagree with some comments on Özil giving the ball away and not giving the killer pass. I would like to see the stats but Mesut struck me as his usual tidy self. A couple of ambitious long passes went astray but if you never try them … And the pass inside the full-back into Nacho’s run opened up the whole defence – that was a killer pass. A CB had to come across to challenge Nacho, OG’s dummy took out the second CB and Jack moved into the gap.
I thought we were fine up to 2-0. Jack, Santi and Mesut were swapping positions all the time behind Ollie and we were comfortable at the back. But there’s something that gets into this team – I’ve called it arrogance before, Dr Faustus said hubris – whatever, it’s like they think it’s easy and take their foot off the gas. When you’ve got your opponent on the ropes, that’s the time to move in and smash the living daylights out of him, not to step back and let him get get his breath back while you admire the damage you’ve done so far. It concerns me that we don’t finish opponents off. All credit to Villa for their comeback, but they shouldn’t have been allowed the chance. That’s the big difference between City and us.
Disagree about Benteke looking disinterested – he deserved a goal. He gave Per and Kos more to think about than any other single forward I’ve seen this season. I don’t think he’s an Arsenal player. He’s a “big, strong boy” but Ollie does that job for us with more finesse. But Benteke certainly had a good second half and my heart was in my mouth the last 20 minutes. All it needed was a ball to fall right for them and that was 2 points gone. Fortunately, our tenacious duo, aided by another all-action display from Flamini, made sure it didn’t happen. I thought Matty was very disciplined yesterday, covering, cajoling, intercepting, harrying and making himself available while still patrolling that space in front of the back line. Still prefer Arteta because Mikel has more forward momentum but good to have the Flamster around.
From the photo I seen of TR it definitely looks like broken nose. So I guess he is out of the Fulham game. Still, not that much of a concern as Nacho, if the prognosis of the break confirm, he could be well out for month and half, or two.
Which would be really big blow (Gibbsy has been superb this season but it is a worry to have no cover to him).
Agreed about Poldi, he has to start against Fulham in my opinion, if he does not, there is going to be more behind whole thing than lack of fitness and match sharpness.
I understand why he did not feature against AVL, with Rosicky injured we needed some pace on right flank so thats why Ox was introduced. I presume that should Rosicky stay on, Poldi would be brought on instead of Santi, as he has good understanding with Gibbs who was already playing.
Arsene obviously rates him and is expecting him to deliver (as you would expect from a player who is on reportedly 107k pounds per week), he will get time to prove himself in upcoming games, I am sure of that.
Great Report Tabs – just as I saw it.
A word on Poldi:
The public utterances of late about Arsene saying that he was one of the greatest finishers he’s ever seen is absolutely true and a conclusion I think most fans would concur with. Next game Poldi finds himself subbed. I think reading between the lines, the statement served as a public gauntlet being thrown down to Poldi. While his finishing is not in doubt, his work ethic is. Quite frankly, for a player of his talent not to be making this team or the German National team, is a poor reflection on his abilities. Put another way, if Poldi can slot home 17 goals in his first season in England with one foot up on the couch smoking a cigar, could you imagine what he could achieve, for example, if he put a fraction of the effort Giroud (a player of less technical ability) puts in on a week to week basis? His recent performance when he started as the central striker demonstrates this gap even further. We may give out about Giroud at times and some of the chances he spurns, but there is no other player in this squad (Rambo excepted) that consistently puts in a solid shift week in week out for the greater good of the team. And y’know something, I love to see that effort being rightfully rewarded and questions being asked of players because it wasn’t so long ago when some players thought that wearing the jersey was their natural right and not something that had to be earned and worn with pride. Maybe in the past Wenger was too dependent on some players but now that the commercial situation has changed, there are more options, higher expectations, healthy competition and the manager is demanding more. Fandabidozi..!
Joe knows about Ollie. He’s a titan and it’s good to see him getting among the goals again.
Textbook away performance. Go 2 goals up and do enough to close out the game. More of the same please.
I think the word that arsene likes to use for Ozil is – efficient…..
yes, efficient…..
A very apt description of a world class player who gets around the park with minimum fuss, doing his job and does not need to remind everyone he has done his job.
He simply provides killer passes for others to execute the finishing touches and ends up in free spaces others don’t even see.
@12: Joe, I think that would probably explain the reluctance to play Podolski. If he is being slack, it would confirm what some people in Germany said about him being lazy when he signed for us. But then again, they said disparaging things about Mertesacker and Özil too so who knows.
If that’s the problem, lets hope he does indeed take a page out of Giroud’s book! We’re going to need a motivated Poldi swinging his hammer over the course of the season.
Fine summary tabs.
Class, control and then when required as a result of a foolish individual error, strength.
Poldi would have been the wrong sub at that point. Ox and HFB much more likely to hold the ball.
Hope Monreal’s injury is just bruising. TR7 will bounce back.
Big 3 points. Now for Fulham.
COYRs.
Minor signs of complacency?
Villa are shite. Thankfully.
We dodged a bullet with a sloppy performance after going into a 2 goal lead.
Hope someone read the riot act.
See you Saturday.
Nice report, TaBS, you have your way with words.
I got the impression after the second goal, that we thought we had done enough, complacency set in, which led to casual play in the second half and the nail biting final 20mins.
As has been said by many, this is the Arsenal and nothing is straight forward when you can do things the hard way. It’s about time we took a leaf out of City and Liverpool’s books that when you have your opponents on the run you take advantage and finish them off, it’s not that the goal difference is to our advantage!
I thought LJW had his best game of the season and the defence held firm under the final assault. We missed Feo’s outlet when long balls were punted out of the defence. The HFB ( I love him to bits ) isn’t a sprinter and an opportunity to make the game save was missed.
While 3 points was all we required, two more injuries were not and both Nacho and TR7 may be missing for a while, let’s hope for the best.
I suppose we will have to suffer this type of performance away from home for the rest of the season. Let’s put Fulham to the sword on Saturday, my nerves need a break.
As always COYRs
FWIW, I actually think we had more control over the game last night, even in the later stages, than Liverpool had vs Stoke.
Slender leads make for nervous supporters, but one of the benefits of having a top notch defence is you’re able to see these games out. Helter-skelter, you attack/we attack encounters reflect well on you when you win them, but they’re less predictable and eventually you’ll be caught out.
Defences win titles.
Thanks for the kind ones all.
Dr Z – “minor signs of complacency” referred to the end of the first half. I didn’t see it as any more than that at the time, and was pretty content at ht. Agree that we were poor in the second half.
Agree with Lars and Joe on Poldi. Feel that Poldi’s reaction to not getting on is being overplayed. Firstly, I would be disappointed if his reaction at not getting on was anything other than disappointment and secondly he would almost certainly have got some game time (and had probably been promised same) until events conspired against him with the injuries to Monreal and Rosicky and the Villa goal. Reckon he would have got on had we made the game safe with an early third goal. As it was, with Villa getting back into it, Rosicky was the obvious go to guy to steady the ship. It was also noticeable that when Gnabry came off, Ozil went wide with Tomas central. When Rosicky was criminally done by Agbonlahor, Ox was a far more like for like replacement and also played centrally. Don’t think Poldi can have a problem with that. Wouldn’t be at all surprised to see both Poldi and the Ox start on Saturday.
@ tabs
At two nil up I was really hoping for a third goal so that we could haul Ollie off and give Poldi some game time. I’m fairly certain that’s what he’d have done if we could have grabbed another.
Would love to see Podolski and the Ox line up at the weekend, and maybe a little rest for Santi ahead of a challenging schedule.
Do we know how long Arteta is out for?
N7 – Agree completely that Poldi would have come on (though perhaps for Gnabry) had we made the game safe. Wouldn’t be surprised to see Santi and Serge make way at the weekend for Poldi and the Ox.
No idea on Arteta. Calf injury I think so hopefully only minor.
tabs, great work with the report. Not very surprisingly, you and I share the same view of things.
N7@7: agree about Poldi, if he doesn’t get on the pitch for that one (barring of course enforced subs which is, sadly, always a far too large probability with our team) then I too will join those wondering what’s going on.
But I absolutely do not understand where this idea that Poldi isn’t pulling his weight or is lazy comes from. Almost every time he’s on the pitch he’s one of the most hard-working players you’ll see. One of the reasons he was subbed so often last season is because he ran himself into the ground.
N7@21: agree 100% about Stoke v Liverpool. Even after the fifth Liverpool goal Stoke hit the post and had a corner headed towards their own goal by Sakho that forced Mignolet into a reflex save so it could easily have been 5-5. Both Stoke and Liverpool defended appallingly bad at times and while Suarez scored a really good goal to make it 4-2 they were gifted the first two and were given a very soft penalty for their third so I think a bit too much has been made of their performance. And if there is one thing I’d say must be a worry for them it is their sometimes very wobbly defending, but I guess as long as Suarez is on the pitch they’ll always have the attacking threat.
Cheers Lars.
Also agree with you on Liverpool, though I only saw the highlights. Far too much is being made of Smelly Bren’s revolution imo. Yes they’re better than they were when he took over (though that isn’t setting the bar too high), but basically they are where they are because Suarez has at times been unplayable. Good though he is, he’ll suffer a period where not everything is going in, and I fully expect them to drop off from where they are at the moment.
Elegantly turned piece, Tabs, as ever.
Arteta out with a calf injury, N7G, for an indeterminate period, but at least the notorious three weeks, I would guess. Nacho, who has a broken metatarsal, is a concerning absence. Will this mean Sagna playing there if anything happens to Gibbs?
Cheers Ned.
Sagna next in line I guess, or maybe Flamini.
Cheers Tabs, good write up. Think you’re a bit over the top in the criticism Zico.
NBN – where did you see that its confirmed break for Nacho? I surely hope it is not, also if it was broken he would be subbed straight off wouldnt he?
He was playing for a bit before subbed by Gibbs..so I hope that its really just a nasty stretch 🙁
You cant win and please all, we won, 3 points, top of the league and the only sour note, injury to Monreal, hope he is fine but i doubt.
People cribbing about Ozil need to take a hike, he is a player who changes games in a few moments and we are lucky he does it for us than against.
Per and Kos excellent again and so was Sagna including his usually poor crossing, which was far better yesterday.
Both the goal were terrific, the goal by Giroud if scored by say a suarez or aguero would have had headlines but its Giroud then its well ok.
It doesnt matter how we win, what matters is we win and we did so.
One thing though, i dont like Per admonishing everyone everytime, Santi usually never losses the ball, sadly he did so yesterday, it happens, reaction from Per though was over the top.
31 – Agree on OGs goal, fantastic control and superb finish. Disagree though on Pers reaction.
Santi usually never gives possesion away but yesterday he did it twice in dangerous position, for first time in first half when he misplaced the pass to Jack and Delph really should have hit the target at least. You would guess he would be more careful in pretty much same position from that moment on.
Dont get me wrong, he is magnificent player and I love him to bits, but rollicking from Per for being too casual with the ball in this position and this time of the match was pretty spot on.
Vinay @31, I agree with all that except your criticism of Per. He was entirely right to criticise Santi over his sloppiness. It’s great to see a defender who gets angry at losing a goal instead of shrugging his shoulders. It’s great to see a leader in the centre of the defence who will chew out a midfielder who makes a stupid mistake that is so costly. For years we have had players who didn’t seem to react adequately when under pressure. Strong reactions generate strong responses. You can bet Santi will think twice before he elects not to make the easy pass in such a position again. The place for risky passes is not halfway inside your own half. IMHO Per can continue chewing over the midfield when they need it.
I wasn’t that bad, was I ?
Yeah lovely stuff, this team knows how to grind out a victory and do enough to bring the points back to the Ems.
Couldn’t agree more with more or less all the above, but stand-out observation for me is from Vinay, OG’s goal was created by a sublime first touch to take it away from two defenders who were basically using him as a piece of furniture. Aguero scores that and you’re looking at spending the next 48 hours wiping journalistic jizz off your laptop, face and hands.
Massive, massive win, it’s consistency like that against the lesser lights that wins titles, not your ‘big four mini-league’ stats, as the papers would have you believe. Bring on the only proper team in west London.
Tabs, excellent write-up.
You’ll never make the Daily Mail though – looks like you actually watched the game.
Can’t think of another match report that will include the word ‘insouciance’. Marvellous ! 😉
Lars – agree with your @25 – again. 😉
Vinay,
One of the problems the side had over the last few years was that noone really took responsibility for sloppiness and avoidable mistakes. The last thing I want to see in our team is goals being scored against us unnecessarily and nobody seeming to care too much.
I can understand that Santi probably thought it was better to find a pass than simply lump the ball upfield again, but in a tight situation he was wrong. There’s nothing wrong with the skipper winding him up to be a bit more careful next time.
Porco, Vinay,
Agreed about Ollie’s first touch for his goal.
A trap on the instep of a ball coming over the top – Bergkampesque !
Cheers Esso.
Thanks Trev 🙂 At least Lars and I managed to avoid the Daily Fail photographers last night!
Have to agree with Bath and Eandy on Per’s reaction to their goal. Santi is fantastic but he erred badly and got told so in no uncertain terms. Nothing wrong with that imo – quite the opposite.
Agree though with Vinay’s observations on the Giroud goal, and feel a bit guilty I didn’t make more of it. Absolutely terrific goal.
Whoops, totally forgot. Top write-up Tabs! To quote Yoda, “A wonderful way with words you have.”
Ah Esso, you happy-clapper. 😉
I say it as I see it.
Haha cheers Porco. You still on your hols?
Crap report btw, media whore. 😛
Over the last few weeks – years – there has been much criticism of officials, the laws of the game and how to improve them. The thing that has probably caused most consternation is the offside law, but there is one thing that pisses me off far more and there was a great example of it last night.
The normally snidey Gobby Agbonlahor went about his business in a much more obvious way last night, leaping with a hammer like leading elbow into the face of Tomas Rosicky, breaking Tomas’ nose.
The referee then added the resulting six minutes of (treatment) added time back on for Villa at the end of the game, handing them the advantage in trying to equalise.
This is particularly goring when a visiting team to The Emirates wastes time from minute one, goes a goal behind, and then gets all tneir wasted time given back to them as they then go hell for leather to try and equalise.
The fourth official is largely unemployed on match days. He should be used to adjust added time accordingly.
Thank you Dr Z – expected nothing less 🙂
You’re buying on Saturday 😎
Always look forward to our very own Tabsloid journalist’s match report – tip top as normal. The only thing the red top hacks share with you is the occasional sup of an alcoholic beverage 😉
Most of the top teams found themselves under pressure in their away games at the weekend and therefore our final 20 mins under the cosh is not unique to us. What is frustrating is the apparent approach of the team whereby they seem to take their foot off the pedal when coasting in the lead allowing inferior opposition come back at us, rather than going for the jugular. Well Per can be excepted from the criticism as he obviously does not think that way by virtue of the bollocking he quite rightly gave Santi. The defence held out comfortably in the end, but as excellent as they are, a freak goal could have led to some bitter disappointment.
At the end of the day however, to be where we are after the despondency of the reverse fixture in August, it’s plain fcuking marvellous .
Trev – spot on re Agbonlahor. Premeditated and cowardly. Not sure about the injury time suggestion though. Would be open to all kinds of abuse and injury fakery if it was as adjusted according to who was the perpetrator.
Up – Cheers 🙂
Yep Tabs, I almost forgot I have like work and that? Then I woke up and realised SOMEONE has to keep Mrs Rosso and Rossette in new outfits and caviar! Flying back to reality tomorrow.
Vinay, in the previous drinks I mentioned that BFG’s very Adams-like outrage over the Santi error was a highlight of the match. Better to have your skipper do a Per windup (hope he hasn’t suffered rotator cuff damage) than a Gallas sitdown sulk any day of the week.
Great write-up tabs 🙂
My first thought during the game was that Rosicky had concussion and that alone from that challenge with the way he stayed down, so its sad to hear he might be out with a broken nose (from what our resident medical staff in the bar reckon) 🙁
Santi giving the ball away for their 2nd was disappointing as well, that added pressure was not needed for the team or my heart haha 😛 But as I’ve just said on Twitter, Per’s reaction is spot on, I’ve just watched the highlights and the easy pass for Santi to make is to Gibbs who can hook it upfield fairly sharpish. Could have lead to a clean sheet or a third goal, who knows, but Santi made the wrong decision and received a blasting for it. Top Notch from the Centurion Captain on the day.
Jack’s goal was awesome, stemming from Mesut’s killer weighted ball to Nacho and he turned provider with a great lofted ball to Giroud, who plucked it out of the air with serene grace. Jack played some great lofted balls all game, the one that sticks in the mind is the one crossfield to Gibbs who then passed for Giroud’s near-post goal attempt, JW10’s passing range seems to be returning to him (Y)
Now he just need to work on releasing the ball earlier and things will happen easier for him, I was enheartened to see him not reacting as easily as he would have in the relatively immediate past to challenges like the one he received from Elahmdi. Tempered aggression slowly released in the game is the way forward for him in my opinion, better that than exploding indignantly most of the time and letting the opponent know that they succesfully managed to get under your skin.
Enjoy the rest of your hols Porco! Do what you must 🙂
Arsene thinks — at least publicly says so — that the easing off after the goals scored were more out of caution and less complacency. I think there is some truth to that — over the last year or so our Arsenal has morphed into a slightly different team that relies on its defense to see out matches and implicitly trusts the defensive side of things more.
And probably the never ending series of injuries — all of that cannot really be bad luck, something is amiss in our ultra-scientific training/diet/medical supervision regimen — made the team a bit too cautious about going gung-ho when there is no need. Get a goal or better two up, play cautiously and see out the match is the new Arsenal way. And if the opposition attacks and opens up channels for counter-attacks then use those efficiently.
That said, there was just too much casualness in the goalmouth approach after the second goal and less of an urgency to score the third. Something minor in our collective game that I am sure we will be tweaking over the remainder of the season.
@ 44
I expected nothing less. 🙄
Top shelf tabs, me ol’ china.
Personaly I thought we switched off the moment the second went in, other then that, we saw the same game.
Big Heh @ Baker’s loaf.
Per well within his rights to give Santi a bollocking. True leadership qualities there. Stupid goal to give away and good to see that it hurt one of the players as much as it hurts us. Woj couldn’t of been too happy either, he was looking comfy for yet another clean sheet.
The Abominable Bog Whore is a massive cunny.
Villa Park has a piss poor athmosphere, the only time you heard their support, in the first hour, was when they booed our players for getting up after they’d had a lump kicked out of them by one of their cloggers. The magnificent traveling faithful however were in fine voice right from the go and did us all proud once again.
Not really surprising that their fans are so muted, the fare on offer from the home team is bland, weak and unadventurous. I don’t think zico’s assessment above was harsh at all, Villa were absolute pants, they have a pretty poor quality team, not helped by Lamberts wierd tactics. Who the hell starts with five across the back at home? Their midfield was virtualy non existant. The unfortunate knock out of Baker by Hot Shot Serge meant they had to revert to a 442 that they looked ill equiped to implement. The only reason they got into the game is because we let them due to our own lethargic attitude.
Unless ofcourse it was Lambert’s master plan to lull us into a false sense of security by being complete dross, but I find this highly unlikely as it would infere that the Villa boss actually had a plan.
Finally, a word to all the Football Manager Transfer Gurus out there, come on, don’t be shy, who among us was screaming for Arsene to break the bank, claiming that Benteke would be the answer to all our up front woes, come on, admit it, what a waste of money that would of been. 😉
Re: N7 Gooner @7. Hubris says Mike Dean will be assigned to our home match v. Palace. Mike Dean + Palace = perfect storm so be aware!!
BTW Great write up TABS even a hint of the Goonerholic style here and there I thought could be detected. 🙂
Well said Tabs. Well said.
Enjoy the ride all. Mid January and we are still top.
I agree with above that Liverpoo has a fun style to watch and with Suarez they have the runaway lead scorer but they are not title contenders this year. Way too sloppy and without Suarez they would be mid table.
Chelsea, City, Arsenal. That’s your 3 contenders.
Cheers all.
Not too bad by Lily’s standards;
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/25687213
Porco – Enjoy what’s left of your holiday.
Cheers Wind, and agree with you that Jack is showing signs that he is getting back to his best.
Dr Z – 🙂
Cheers H2H 🙂
8Ball -Too kind Sir, but some way to go to reach the heady heights of the Guv.
Cheers Norcal.
Diagram in Savage BBC article suggests Sagna got just as far forward as Cazorla. I guess stranger things have happened than the Beeb hiring a fact checker? Not saying they’re wrong of course. Bakary has been eating his Wheaties, apparently. 🙂
…. and NEVER again!
What i meant when i said Per’s reaction was not warranted was that he need not admonish everyoneeverytime in public(he can do it in the dressing room if need be), he shouldnt become the meanie in the group. I say this because for me the main reason this team is doing well is because of the camaraderie thats there between one and all. Add to the fact that players like Ozil and Santi are stars in their own right and do tend to have their egos which likes to be massaged at times, these are crucial times for us and at times a bit of toning down may help all. I am not defending santi here, he had a sloppy game and has been a pale shadow of his former self.
Per though is a delight when he does that, we do need that kind of an aggression but my only worry is it shouldnt make any of our players sulking deep down.
A sulking gallas sitting away from the team at St.Andrews is one of the lowest points of me supporting my beloved team from the last 17 years, i felt so sick that day.That day after what had happened, plus the enormity that we may have just blown the title and lost our beloved striker and then such a soft penalty and to top it all our captain reacting that way, shit.
Comment: Cough up! 😉
Haha Doc 🙂
Heh TS, nicely done 😉
Excellent report Tabs. I am in total agreement with your view of the game- unusual cos I am a stroppy blighter- except for one point. You refer to Giroud’s two touches. In fact he had three the second being a bounce off his left shin that put the ball in a perfect position for a fine finish.
I have vacillated about Giroud all season having given him pelters last season. He is a B- striker when we need someone who scores at least an A. He works incredibly hard, has a wonderful first touch and is a handful for defenders when we are attacking en masse. Set against this he is an erratic finisher and isolated from the rest of the team his chronic lack of pace is clearly exposed. I don’t think we will win the really tight games you get at the end of the season with him in the team on his own. Arsegonian may well be right that Poldi and Giroud may not be risked together until Bendtner is fit Bendtner’s fitness shouldn’t be even a concern. He is very much yesterday’s man- a stopgap who fundamentally lacks the quality to play for a really top side. We have done incredibly well to get this far with the squad we have talented though it undoubtedly is simply because we haven’t got the range of attacking options we need to win the title. I accept we may not get an A striker at this stage of the season and despite all the absolutely deserved plaudits for Wenger he mismanaged our striker pursuit in the summer. Higuain…Suarez….er Bendtner. Sorry that is a progression that doesn’t compute. If we were looking at that grade of striker we needed to get one and we need a better backup now before we are thrust into a vital game and have to watch the lumbering TGSTEL fail to deliver when we are so close to a real breakthrough.
On the plus side we defended well although the inconsistency of Santi gave away a needless goal. BFG and Koscielny are superb defenders and Flamini has come a marvellous job.
TTG.
Forgive me if I’m wrong, but is it really down to Wenger that we didn’t bring in a striker. I know he’s a very hands on kind of chap, but surely there are others that do the transfer nitty gritty?
Arsene obviously identified his targets, ie Suarez and Higuan, bids were made and the negotiating teams were dispatched, that they failed is hardly mismanagement on the part of Le Boss. Somebody fucked up though!!
H2H
Very fair point but there should not have been a fuck up over something so important whoever should have sorted it. Much as I admire Wenger he is a control freak so some of the blame must fall at his door. Usually Dick Law is the fall guy . We had a great outcome in some respects from our summer activity but I’m far from convinced it was coherently planned!
Peter Le Beau
Good news lads; my team won our five a side league tonight with a hard fought draw. Sealed the all important point with literally the final kick, direct from a lay up from centre.
I usually play centre back, but if Arsene is after someone on a hot streak for the weekend he only needs to ask. I’m not as handsome as Giroud, but I’m better looking than Bendtner.
Sign him up!
COYG
Cheers Ttg. Fair enough re Giroud’s touches, I knew I should have watched the ht highlights instead of popping outside for a cigarette 🙂 Actually I don’t think his second touch was all that fortuitous – kept his momentum going forward. A touch of luck maybe but then they all need that.
Whilst I agree with much of what you say (both pro and con) re OG I do think a B- is very harsh. Just my opinion. I’d have him at A- ie not top top drawer but nevertheless a very good, and crucially, improving player. Good enough to win us the title? I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have any doubts, but who knows. 21 games gone and we’re still top.
Ttg, TaBS knows on Giroud, and H2H knows re our last summer striker pursuit.
Hreh N7, bring your boots if you’re going…… You never know!? 🙂
Someone definetly dropped the ball TTG, I suppose we’ll never know all the ins and outs.
OG, the guy works his socks off, no doubt, when in the stadium you can see that he never stops, he’s everywhere even helping back in our own penalty area.
He isn’t the quickest though, sometimes he looks laboured, clumbsy even. He is capable of the sublime (he made a deft chip that was disallowed yesterday due to a team mate being offside, that no one has mentioned yet) but also of glaring misses.
I’m not sure if he’ll ever be, what you could call, a top class striker, but bloody hell, the guy busts a gut everytime he takes the field. He gives it his all and plays to the best of his abilities… What more can you really ask!?
Heh, Cent says I know, then I say we’ll probably never know. 🙂
H2H: the whistle had gone before he did that chip, it was Wilshere who was offside and received a pass so by the time the ball reached Giroud play was already stopped.
Thanks Lars, I knew it was offside, the whistle had cleary blown, but it was a deft chip non the less.
H2H @72, exactly! We will never know what really happened but we’re doing pretty well without the supposed world class striker so let’s stop dishing out blames everytime OG fails to score a hattrick and move on.
Sorry H2H, I thought you meant that the whistle blew as the ball was moving through the air. My bad! As you say it was a great little chip in any case.
Ta Windy. Been a holiday of top hole standard, not least of all because being in this time zone allows you to have Arsenal for breakfast!
Still, some things just ain’t London and I’m looking forward to stuff like English boozers, bloody brilliant public transport (don’t knock the Tube until you’ve taken that pathetic excuse for an underground ‘system’ they have in New York) and roads that don’t look like they were bombed because a succession of crooked, incompetent mayors has half-inched the maintenance fund (Bogota, not New York).
Rather late submitting congratulations on an excellent post tabs; apologies.
I read the above drinks with much interest, as I did the match report in the I. (That’s what the tabloid version of the Indy’s called, isn’t it?) A few points spring to mind:
I though we were a little lucky with both goals. I think LJW mis-hit his shot, and OG had three touches before his shot – a good one to bring the ball down, a ricochet off one leg and a bounce off his other shin. If he did that deliberately, then we truly have witnessed the second coming. That luck precisely offsets those occasions when the ball its the post and bounces out rather than in with the goalie beaten, and the times when a beautiful pass hits a divot and doesn’t go to the intended recipient. I am also fully aware of the skill showed by both players in getting in position in the first place and maintaining sufficient balance and concentration to take advantage of the lucky breaks. “Just saying, like.”
There is an easy-to-follow formula when writing a report on an Arsenal match for the “neutral” media. i) Make specific mention of the birthplace of the opponents English players. This will serve to remind readers that Arsenal’s manager and almost all their players are Johnny Foreigners. ii) Don’t make any reference to the place of birth of Arsenal’s players or their assistant manager. See previous point for reasons. iii) If Arsenal don’t score as many goals as they might, make reference to a propensity to “try to walk the ball into the net”. In case Arsenal score a wonderful goal, after a 35-pass move involving every player in the team and finishing with a tap-in from inside the 6-yard box, don’t call that “walking the ball into the net” as that may risk confusing your readers.
A number of things may happen over the rest of the season. Some of them would be bad for Arsenal, some would be bad for other leading teams. (The same applies to things that might go well.) We can all come up with reasons why it’s more likely to happen to Arsenal – over-reliance on Giroud; more exposure to injury than other teams; large population of black cats crossing the paths of players on their way to and from the Arsenal dressing room – but I suggest that is because we are more familiar with the minutiae of things that happen at Arsenal and that fans of the other leading clubs can come equally good reasons why they are more likely to suffer problems than anyone else. Basically, it comes down to your general outlook on life; if you have a pessimistic turn of mind, you’ll be convinced that everything will go tits up before the end of the season, if you take an optimistic view, you’ll hope that they don’t. No surprises there!
There is a general opinion that Arsenal won’t win anything this year. This is based upon the fact that Arsenal didn’t win anything last year, or the year before, or the year before that, or… This is, of course, nonsense. Arsenal may well not win anything this year, if that happens it will be because they weren’t good enough this year. That actually explains why they didn’t win anything last year, or the year before etc. The funny thing is that football is played on the pitch, on the day, rather than on paper, in the record books. This is discussed at length when optimists push reasons why we might win the league this year; curiously, it doesn’t see, to get as much of an airing when the pessimists come up with reasons why we won’t.
So, a rather long drink comes to an end. Congratulations and thanks for making it this far. As the name might suggest, I incline towards an optimistic view – Dennis knows why, it’s not normally my style at all. Maybe it’s the streak of contrariness in my nature – which Dennis knows is my normal style – or maybe it’s just that I’m heartily fed up with all the stuff that’s gone on and gone wrong over the past however many years.
COYG
N7 could be our wild card!
What is amusing is that in the pub before the Chelsea game I was stoutly defending Giroud against serious criticism from one of the blokes who I was with. Since then he has got important winners at Newcastle and Villa . I’m certainly not writing the lad off but the fluidity of our attack against Spurs convinced me we needed more speed through the middle. In the second half last night as we dropped deeper we looked highly unlikely to score. Giroud isn’t going to do much on the breakaway because he lacks speed and support and nobody seemed to be within forty yards of him after Gnabry went off.
So my conclusion is that we need a central striker with pace who could play instead off OG or with him in games where we are needing an extra injection of attacking quality. A good loan signing would suit me if we have bold plans in the summer. I think I might be describing Jermaine Defoe but in the feasible category are Morata ( but he lacks experience) Rodriguez at Southampton who wouldn’t be available on loan, Remy who is tied in to his Newcastle loan ( I think) and one guy who my QPR supporting friend mentioned to me last week after seeing him play – Jordan Rhodes. Scores goals but untried at this level. And do I think they are all better than TGSTEL- infinitely! N7 is better than him.
Bugger. I actually proof-read mine@78 before I hit ‘submit’, which explains the relative lack of typos. One did slip through, though.
The last-but-one paragraph should finish “This is discussed at length when optimists push reasons why we might win the league this year; curiously, it doesn’t seem to get as much of an airing when the pessimists come up with reasons why we won’t.”
Hey ho.
Cheers Pangloss. Nice post too.
Re: Pangloss @978: In my case, a rather short but optomistic drink comes to an end. 😉
Meant @78. Spellchecker should have caught it.
Or Spillchucker should have caught it but he is not programmed for that sort of thing. Fulham follies, anyone?
Very nice job TaBS … Thanks
If Arsenal do become League Champions would this be the worst Arsenal side ever to be crowned league champions
@79: Ttg, I saw your drink about Jordan Rhodes and was coming into the bar to find out whether your friend was having a laugh but then decided to check out the lad first.
Rhodes is a BEAST!
He does indeed have an impressive goalscoring record. Fast, strong and with good dribbling ability. Not sure if he could do it in the Prem but I had fun watching this clip
🙂
http://youtu.be/rZ4bYtDBA3U
In any case, he might be going to QPR soon it looks like, so not an option…
Excellent summary, tabs.
Count me as one of “only the most pessimistic that saw any problems ahead” after we went two up. As I said in the last drinks THAT is when I start worrying, cos I’ve had it up to here (indicates somewhere over Per’s head) with the inevitable switch to cruise mode which equally inevitably invites the opposition back into the game.
It’s not like I haven’t complained about this umpteen times before, only to have others claim they’re more than happy that we retreat into defensive mode and save energy for another time. What utter bollox. Luckily we have got away with it more often than not lately, but that guarantees nothing for the future.
And if we end up missing a place due to goal difference I will go mental. Er, more mental than usual anyway. The ‘I told you sos’ will be liberally spiced with invective…
Öskar
Pangloss … you’re quite right about the ‘neutral media’ and their predictions that Arsenal won’t win anything this year. What they also fail to mention is that 95 per cent* of the clubs in the FA’s four divisions won’t win anything either, but Arsenal always finish ahead of all but two or three of them. And hopefully all of them this year.
Öskar
* Best guess
A ‘worst Arsenal side’, N5 (#86) will still be way better than the ‘best side’ of most of the rest. Especially true of sides that play at WHL.
Öskar
Where would this Arsenal side rank amongst the 13 previous Arsenal league champions.
I say bottom, what say you Oskar.
I would say the greatest Arsenal team would probably be the 2002 team closely followed by the 1971 and 1930’s team.
The 1999 Arsenal team was probably the most exiting team to watch.
The 1999 Arsenal team was probably the most exciting team to watch.
Tabs and ‘holic cheers. Let me just say again: I frcocking love this bah-logue.
Agreed (lars @1, et al) that people are jumping to conclusions re: Podolski. The concerns about his frustration may be warranted or they may not, but what’s certain is it’s too soon to tell either way. Good chance we’ll see him start or at least play a part against Fulham and it’ll all have been a wash.
Arseblog had this up and it made good viewing. Nice to see Campbell coming along. I hadn’t seen much of him for a long time. Still just 21, improving as a finisher, and his final ball is equally impressively. Can’t head the ball very well, and still very left-footed. But he’ll be a good player, if not for us than for someone else.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Svb-vARDHs8
Couldn’t resist your setup, Otd,
95% of teams in the Premier League won’t win the title.
95.8% of teams in the Football League won’t win a title.
98.7% of teams that enter the Champions League won’t win it.
98.9% of teams that enter the League Cup won’t win the trophy.
99.9% of teams that enter the FA Cup won’t win the trophy.
Completely agreed Thundertiny @65 re: OG. You say
“I don’t think we will win the really tight games you get at the end of the season with him in the team on his own.”
Nail on head. In the recent games against City and Chelsea, Giroud missed clear chances that could’ve either (in Chelsea’s case) won us the game or at the very least (versus City) altered the narrative considerably. And you have to think an “A” striker, as you put it (ie a Suarez, Higuain, et al), would’ve buried at least a couple of those. And possibly made a couple more.
And as I look ahead to the tough slog awaiting us in February and March, I don’t doubt this Arsenal team can continue to gut out results against the Villas, Newcastles, and West Hams. We did it at the tail end of the last two seasons to finish up in the top 4, and we’ve kept it up throughout this campaign. But when push comes to shove, in games where chances are hard to come by and when one coolheaded finish makes all the difference, I’m not sure Giroud has proven he’s the man we want those chances falling to.
Even if we continue our current form in games we should be winning, it’s going to come down to our performances against the other top 6. Both City and Chelsea have improved since the beginning of the year. I don’t see either of them imploding and giving us any breathing space. We’ve GOT to keep winning these kinds of games, and then it’s all to play for in the big ones.
COYG
Oskar @88 – I agree the switch off mode is annoying at best and damn dangerous at worst.
I for the life of cant figure out why you would not go for the jugular of a team like villa and get the safe 3 rd goal, then you can choose to bring on subs and still attack without risking your 1st team players.
Agree villa are not that good, but why fucking risk the points when we are in such a commanding position.
You can still attack with safety by simply stopping bac and nacho/ Gibbs bombing forward.
Can anyone here remind me how many goals Suarez scored against the so call top teams? I am curious. Thanks.
Boom?
1999 Arsenal actually won sweet fuck all. However brilliant they were. And they only had real domestic competitor. Unlike now.
@ 97
I’m not so sure that it will be as simple as you make out.
There are probably 10 of the teams in the division who are not safe from relegation – as things get to the business end of the season, games against teams desperate to get out of trouble will be as difficult as those against Chelsea and City.
Wenger used to say that you could only afford to lose 3 games if you wanted to land the title – I think the title winners this season could lose a few more than that given how tight things are at the respective ends of the division.
tabs is right, we are in it!
Excellent report tabs! I agree with pretty much all of what you said.
Re: Poldi, I would like him to start the fulham game. If he doesn’t play any part in that game, I would start to think there is something wrong there
A (shorter) thought has occurred regarding our club’s perceived poor record with injuries:
Arsène Wenger has a known preference for quick players. At least from an engineering point of view, it seems plausible that quick players may be lighter than average, and this may be due to having thinner bones. Thinner bones would be more prone to breaks. Alternatively, lighter players would have less tissue and thus less “stuff” to cushion blows, and hence to be more prone to muscle injury.
Would one or two of the in-house medics be prepared to comment on this theory?
Thanks,
cOYG
Heh, lot of speculation about move for Draxler in January all of a sudden.
Bit torn about this, not exactly what we need (aka. striker) but signing of this magnitude could have sparking impact for the remainder of the season, as much as the Özil signing did for the first half.
Also one of the best prospects for long term.
So if we get him, great and I will be basking like basking basker from baskerville, but not buying the story yet.
Just read the arseblog gent’s weekly review which revives this “football is not played on a Friday evening” stuff. It’s played every other day of the week so why not Friday?
Remember this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jiBIdtUKhs
Pangloss-
Not sure that speed is the main factor in our injury plagued history.
Youthful and inexperienced legs and poor squad rotation is more likely the cause.
Fast runners do not have to be injury plagued when they have a properly managed training program including 3 key areas –
Shorter distance and time speed sessions
Longer slower sessions
Rest.
The last one being the key ingredient in any program – plenty of Rest.
Without recuperating muscle fibres, a repetitive type injury is only a matter of when.
The fatigue our team showed v city was a prime example of bodies and minds that have had enough.
More experienced players with more miles in their legs can handle these difficult periods better than youthful inexperienced bodies.
Too much too quick is the prime cause of fatigue/sports injuries.
Hence squad rotation at the top level is the key.
Very Mailesque Tabs. Well done sir.
Zico knows. I’m with you re sloppy.
If we are really resting Poldi because Bendtner is injured then we really do have problems.
Tabs, you getting an airing on Saturday? Do you know your way to the ground these days???? See you there.
😀
Draxler not happening.
From Geoff “the source”
“There might be interest in the summer but i’m hearing it won’t happen in January”
Lurky – I think that is spot on, it would not make any sense for him to move and for Schalke to let him go now.
World Cup year and apparent 45m release clause which starts in summer are one of the two reasons I dont think it will happen now…although I would not ever believe we sign Özil aswell…soo I will just wait and see.
Rumours are that Holtby is going to be let on loan from Sp*rs..back to Schalke…could theoretically allow the deal come through in Jan..but that is very, very long shot.
Although if that would happen it would be piss-myself-from-laughing funny that LWCs transfer activity would allow two world class talents to end up in Arsenal in one season 😀
Pangloss,
I’ve been working on a piece about injuries for some time. Unfortunately my own have somewhat taken over. Trying to work normally whilst having to limp carefully around the treatment room is pretty draining, and what with that and various doctor’s / surgeon’s appointments, I haven’t got round to finishing it.
I do think there are one or two factors that are peculiar to Arsenal. I’ll try to get the thing written over the next few days.
TS – sorry I missed your “61” yesterday. 🙂
Does anyone know if Holloway Rd Tube station is open both before and after games ?
Thinking of trying to get there for Fulham on Saturday as it’s a much more doable walk on crutches than Finsbury Park.
Eandy, Holtby will join them this January, but Draxler’s direct replacement Sidney Sam is joining them in the summer. At least that’s what seems logical to me.
No more of this non league football. Time for promotion. Check out the new site at http://www.arsegonian.com …. New post, new polls, same bullshit from me 😉 ….. And Thanks again Goonerholic for letting me spam your drinks.
Personally I won’t be disappointed if we don’t sign Draxler this January. Have a feeling that he will be a perfect player, but not what we need at the moment.
Still think that striker, fullback and big strong DM are priorities.
I would like to see Coleman, or even Santon from Newcastle who can play on both RB and LB.
Would like to see Wiliam Carvalho from Sporting or WBA’s Mulumbu as a DM cover.
Would like to see Suarez type striker, who is more creative and faster than Giroud.
Trev @113. Holloway Road is open before and after games. It closes roughly one hour before kick off and opens somewhere around one hour and a half to two hours afterwards. It’s designed for pre- and post-match Tollietime. Hope you can make it, mate. 🙂
Lots of rumours about Draxler being crocked for 3 months so unless we get a discount or the medical department are in need of more work, it’s not happening in January.
Trev,
Forgot to extend my good wishes in relation to your knee.
I hope you find a pain-free and liberating solution soon. Nothing worse than being in pain, especially in your job.
Heh bath, that would make typical Arsene signing tho.
We need fit striker and fast, we buy supremely talented midfielder who is able to play towards the end of the season…has Arsenal signing all over it 😀
On the more serious note, it would be a gamble and if the agreement of him joining in the summer can be done now, I would like us to leave it like that and look for other players who could strenghten us in the departments mentioned above.
Thanks Bath, and Joe.
Stories all over the net that Draxler is crocked with a ruptured tendon until March. I’d still take him right now …
Bath,
Was in the capital yesterday and bought some Scotch: some on your recommendation like the Highland Park (18); and others on the recommendation of the reliable Scottish chap who runs the shop like Caol Ila (Distillers Ed), Ben Riach (17 port finish) and Dailuaine (16). Not so sure if you’ve tasted these, but as ever, your thoughts on same would be greatly appreciated.
Arsegonian – the question is for how much…spending 37 mil pounds on player who cannot have immediate impact is, lets say, not ideal by any means.
Joe, I haven’t tasted any of these, bar, of course, the HP18 (which I prefer to their 25 and still think the best value under £100 per bottle).
I look forward to your thoughts on that cratur and am impressed with your rate of acquiring experience….if you haven’t already surpassed my own, somewhat conservative experience over many years then you soon will.
Slainte
Definitely not ideal but he’s a major long term investment. We might have enough to get it done without him.
Were we not going to spend 40 million plus on a player in the summer who would not be available for at least 6 weeks???
Just saying like.
Aussie@107: Interesting point. I never realised until now that my strategy of doing too little too slowly was so good for my health.
And it’s Arsenal,
Arsenal FC,
They’re by far the greatest squad of players with long term injuries
The world has ever seen.
Nah …. 🙁
I’m generally an optimistic person but I just can’t see us making any serious signings in this window, it just doesn’t add up for me. The only way I can see Arsene making any top-signing in this winter window is if the unusual happens and by unusual I mean a player like Suarez suddenly becoming available for like £40million, Athletico suddenly deciding that they want to derail their title charge and put Costa up for sale or if we sustain another long term injury(Nacho been out for 2 months is not even the kind of long term injury I mean).
If we were going to get a striker Bendtner would have been long gone by now, we all know Arsene doesn’t like hoarding players he doesn’t intend to use.
Cheers for the kind ones Arsegonian, Oskar, Harsha and Goonersterham.
Cheers SteveT, haha damned with faint praise 😉 See you Saturday mate.
@86 – 52-53 Arsenal title winning side lost 9 times with a points tally that would equate (with 3 points for a win) to 75 points, (and that from 42 games).In 37-38 Arsenal won the league with a total of 73 points having lost 11 times, so no is the short answer to your question.
Trev – Hope the knee is remedied soon mate. There always used to be a cab rank in Wells Terrace by the Bus depot at the opposite exit of Finsbury Park tube. Might be worth checking.
Just as I was beginning to believe all the noise about Draxler, he goes and gets injured.
Might not necessarily scupper a deal if Schalke decide to cash in now if they feel his input to the Summer (where they would lose him anyway) will be greatly reduced, and AW senses value. Would be serious dough to lay out on a player that’s injured, but depends on how serious the injury is I guess. If it’s fairly routine, even if the lay off is til March, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it still happen. I’d take him, injured or not.
Ned,
So pleased to learn from the latest disclosures from Castle Ned that I am investing somewhere near £3,000 per season in –
a 1.3% chance of witnessing the mighty Arsenal lifting the Champions League trophy;
a 0.1% chance of winning the FA Cup;
and the comparatively dead-cert victory in the Premier League, with a whopping 5% chance.
(5% that is, before financial doping of the other contenders is taken into consideration, which reduces are chances to 0.1% again)
Good job we never even consider that, eh ? 😉
well at least if we sign him he will have that mandatory spell in our injury ward behind him even before he starts playing.
My pretty much final opinion is that I will be glad if we sign him for reasonable amount of money now.
Trev, good luck with the trek to the Tollie, and I hope your knee sorts itself out sooner rather tyhan later.
I look forward to your mooted piece about injuries. I need to be convinced that we actually suffer more than other clubs. I’m considering monitoring the physio room (or whatever the website is called) long term to try to get some real figures – I don’t suppose the monks at Caslte Ned have these at thier fingertips already?
I can’t really believe that there is a single cause for our problems, like “The medical staff” are incompetent, hence my musings about second/third order effects above. As I say, I await a professional’s opinion with slightly bated breath.
COYG
Re: 107 and 128. Maybe I need an Aussie doctor then. 😉
Thanks Tabs,
I had wondered about a cab, but folks have been saying it would be impossible to get one back to Finsbury Park afterwards.
Unless you know better …….. ?
Would love to be able to make it. 😉
Trev, Sorry to hear about the condition of your knee but good luck hailing a cab to the big game. 🙂
http://www.clipartguide.com/_named_clipart_images/0511-1007-1217-4418_Cartoon_of_an_Office_Worker_Hailing_a_Taxi_clipart_image.jpg
Thanks 8ball,
I’ll stand like that in Hornsey Road and see what happens.
I may be sometime ……. 😉
Stories all over papers strongly linking us with Draxler…Really hope this will not turn into a case of one Gonzalo, with the deal done and dusted only for the said player to end up in Naples.
Mr. Wenger, please cough up the cash and lets have this kid….i hear he’s good…really good (from the papers i read) and i believe he can play and a false #9 (again from the papers am told)….I’ll take him any time, any day.
Can only imagine how his signature will galvanize the dressing room, and the fans!
They say he’s currently crocked and he’s off to Munich for treatment, I’ll still take him because if we don’t, someone else will grab him come summer!
COYR!!
Trev – Post-game I reckon your only option re a cab would be to book one beforehand.
Of all the players we are being linked with, I’ll bite your hand off for one Draxler!! Player for now and future
Sebastian Giovinco, anyone ?
Pint sized – check.
Plays up front on his own – check.
Plays on the wing – check.
Plays behind the main striker – check.
Plausible replacement for Theo until the summer – check.
26 year old Juventus striker – 6 month loan deal ?
Any ITKs heard anything ?
Cheers again, Tabs,
That was my thinking. A post match pick-up point could be tricky.
I’ll ask Wolfie. 😉
There has to be a way. 😉
Daily Mirror reporting that ‘privately’ – well it was! – AW believes he can turn Draxler into the next Robin van Persie.
Now why would he go and do that ?
Trev – Haha – Wolfie travels by diamond encrusted carriage 😉
As a pick up point, what about the driveway of the house right next door to the Tollie garden. Wouldn’t have thought it would be a problem if you’re there waiting for him.
Tabs, brilliant !
That ought to do it ! 🙂
Haha 🙂
Tabs, once this knee is done maybe we could all skip back to Finsbury Park together. 😉
Tabs, once this knee is done maybe we could all skip back to Finsbury Park with Wolfie. 😉
Doh !
Skipping in those Jimmy Choo’s?
Or are you just druming up business Trev? 😉
Afternoon all.
Haha, but of course 🙂
Afternoon H2H
Nothing he’s not used to, H2H. 😉
🙂
Trev@145: If Draxler is really crocked, he is already half-way there.
Pangloss: the monks at Castle Ned say that off the top of their heads Arsenal is, as you would expect, rarely out of the top four in the injury league table.
Skipping in high heels? Easy if you know how … 😉
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCMhvsSlzls
No bids for Draxler : http://espnfc.com/news/story/_/id/1681735/schalke-receive-no-offers-midfielder-draxler
Trev@134: as someone says in A League of Their Own, “It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great.”
So, this Dracula geezer is this windows must have shiny new toy.
There seems to be a lot of smoke, but it’s usually the rag journos who started the fire. I’m always pretty sceptical about these things and now that we are talking about a very young attacking midfielder who’s just signed a new contract and on top of that will be out until March and would cost about the same price as Ozil my Bullshitometre goes on tilt.
I could be wrong though.
H2H knows
Tabs. Not sure if jumping rope in high heels really counts but not bad. 🙂
A few thoughts on Draxler:
(i) he’s not out until March. He’s expected back in ten days;
(ii) even if he was out until March, I doubt it would stop Arsene – if you’re going to spend the better part of 40 million sheets you do it with a view to the medium to long term;
(iii) the more I think about it, the more dubious I am about the idea of a January signing, any January signing, having a material impact on the title race. The last two players I can recall having been signed at this time of year to win their clubs the title are Andy Cole (95) and Faustino Asprilla (96). Both clubs finished second; and
(iv) I think the paper talk about Draxler is just the journos catching up with the Twitter gossips and then, in turn, feeding each other. That’s not to say we won’t buy him this month, just that there’s no real sign that we’re more likely to do so than we were, say, a week ago.
My prediction remains: no signing this month, Draxler in June.
Trev,
If you’re headed for Holloway Road, just pray that the lifts ain’t fucked – those stairs and your knee could be an interesting combination.
I will be getting to Kings Cross circa 1pm so I will look out for you looking forlorn when I get off the Picadilly line train. 😉
Unless I go to FP and the Pins of course (to avoid the Tollie riff-raff) 😀
looks like our boy mesut is pretty good:
http://www.uefa.com/memberassociations/news/newsid=2042620.html
late to the party, but fine post tabs. pretty much how i saw it…i’m enjoying the ride between games, certainly, but the in-game ride was a bit sphincter-tightening.
trev, time to hire a segway. and clearly, one with cupholders.
During the last window we all wanted a striker, we all want one now too, but I feel realisticaly we missed our chance in the summer, whatever we get now will probably just be a bench warmer.
Harping back to those sunny days, we had two main targets, the second of which was ofcourse Mr Chompy MacBiggot, great striker that he is I won’t bore you with the reasons why I didn’t believe I wanted him at our beloved, not known for biting, club.
The first target we chased was Higuain, although we seemed to lose a bit of interest when it was belived that a 40 mill plus a quid bid would trigger a clause of such to bring in Alvin, non the less he was on our radar and for quite a while it seemed like it was a done deal. We all know how that ended.
Back to today and I continue to read that we need a world class striker like Suarez or Higuain, which has got me thinking. There’s no doubt that Hannibal has been doing the business for the bin dippers, he’s taken the PL by storm, I still think he’s an accident waiting to happen, but there’s no denying his goalscoring prowse.
But what about Higuain? Is he really world class?
I don’t watch nearly enough of the Serie A to garnish an opinion (behalf the opinion that the serie A is poo.) So I did a quick check around the net.
Since the begining of this campaign the worldie has notched up 13 goals and 8 assists for Napoli, not too shabby, but is it really that great?
Consider this;
Our HFB, in the same time period, has helped himself to 12 goals and 6 assists, albeit with a few more appearances, but in a much tougher league. (Serie A is pooh)
The point I’m trying (feabely) to make, is that perception can be misleading. Why is Higuan considered the bees knees yet OG not quite up to scratch when their stats are hardly alarmingly different?
Wenger must also have had his doubts otherwise he wouldn’t of shifted all his eggs into the bucktoothed basket, would he?
Do we romanticise potential signings above anything in the realm of their true worth? The endless youtube highlight reels with deft flicks and wonder passes, super slo mo fragements showing how this marvel of atheleticism gracefully glides past opponents as if he was on rails, perfectly balanced leaving all in his wake………… Briliant, he must be the real deal, right!? Sign him up!!! Unfortunatly, the next few minutes of that same action when said player stepped on the ball and fell flat on his face somehow never made it onto the compilation.
Remember Nuri Sahin, wasn’t he supposed to be the second coming? The be all and end all, the must have no matter what. Remember the stink made when we refused to pay that silly loan sum and L’poo pipped us to his temporary signature????
Now try to remember what an impact he had on the PL.
Joe @ 123
Schoolboy error.
I had a pint lined up with your name on it.
Do call again.
Kind Regards
The Feelgood Foundation. 😎
@H2H
Great point, well made.
The Higuain/Giroud comparison is an eye opener.
Fans and the media overrate the notion of signings players. Just scroll back to August and look at Spurs and their world beaters. If you spend £30m on an unknown you’re a genius. If you promote a young player of exactly the same ability from your youth team you’re senile and too cautious.
Yip, agree H2H.
Sahin is a very good example to illustrate the point.
Great post, H2H.
Another comparison is Negredo(9 EPL goals) and Giroud(9 EPL goals).
Rooney is also on 9 goals, Albeit in less appearances, just look at the list espnfc.com/stats/scorers/_/league/eng.1/barclays-premier-league?cc=5739
Here is the link espnfc.com/stats/scorers/_/league/eng.1/barclays-premier-league?cc=5739
H2H.
Signing Dracula?????? That’s all we need. Another striker that is shit with crosses????
I’ll get me coat.
😀
😆
http://espnfc.com/stats/scorers/_/league/eng.1/barclays-premier-league?cc=5739
There you go Cent. 😉
Interesting list(s), Walcott on both with just a handful of appearances, he will be missed. 🙁
Ramsey pretty high up on both of them too, hurry back Aaron.
====
Cheers gents.
I think people are missing the point re strikers. Ollie G is up with the best. The problem we have is that he is the only recognised quality centre forward we have. Poldi is not a number 9. Bendtner is well, quite simply Bendtner. Don’t pin your hopes on him. We have been trying to give him away for the last 2 years and there were no takers.
We do of course have goals elsewhere in the team but we can not solely rely on that. Theo will be a big miss and his goals will be hard to replace. We have been fortunate that Aaron has been so prolific. Let’s be honest, whilst many of us here sung his praises there isn’t one who though he would get the goals he has.
My opinion has always been that we missed a massive trick by not bringing Higuain in this summer. He would have been a great signing for us. But he would be a signing to compliment OG, not replace him. It’s okay quoting other strikers for comparison but look at who else plays in the same team. I would take Negrados 9 goals every day of the week if we could play him alongside the likes of Aguero???
We all know that we are short up front. We all know that we have placed a massive workload on to Ollie G’s shoulders. So far he has soldiered manfully. I just hope he can be managed to allow that to continue.
Steve.
I’m no way denying that we need another striker.
Not so sure anyone we bring in would be to play alongside OG though. Wouldn’t that mean a total change of tactics? Can’t imagine AW switching to a 442.
Matic in at the chavs. Does that mean Mata is available????
Negredo’s value is in making Aguero potent — 13 goals so far this season, one more than in the whole of 2012-13.
zico,
Barring any worsening between now and Saturday morning, I’m going with Tabs’ idea of the cab to and from The Tollie.
I thought there were lifts at Holloway Rd so better give that one a miss, cos if they ain’t working, I’m fooked.
Thanks H2H.
Steve, I don’t think anybody here is under any illusion that we have decent back-up to Giroud, the point I was trying to make with my comparison(s) is that while all those strikers are considered world class strikers Giroud is seen as just a mere workhorse yet somehow he manages to be scoring at the same rate as them whilst assisting more goals than some of them.
He doesn’t necessarily have to play alongside him. Not all the time anyway. It is an alternative. Another option. Someone to share the workload and to change the shape of the game tactically.
Villa is a prime example. At the end of the game we were just lumping it towards half way. OG has many attributes, but pace is not one of them. Put someone up front with pace who becomes a genuine outlet rather that see big balls just pumped back in again.
That’s all I’m saying. We are short of quality and options up front. Our shots on target figures are not great. I don’t remember the last time the opposition keeper was made to work his socks off. It doesn’t happen often enough.
For me we can get away with it against the lesser clubs but I think we could struggle against our rivals.
Apparently Tottenham want to erect a statue of Jermain Defoe outside White Hart Lane as he is preparing to leave them and join the MLS.
The Spuds Supporters Club said, “Well, why not ? We had one of Tom Huddlestone in the centre circle for 5 years !” 😉
I see H2H, got there first.
Ned, I humbly disagree, Negredo might have assisted a couple of Aguero’s goal(I’m not even sure he has assisted any for him) but he is not the reason Aguero is scoring more goals this season. I will rather say that City as a whole are creating better chances for Aguero and his finishing has improved just like Suarez and Ramsey improved theirs.
I’ll agree with that steve.
Walcott was a big miss against Villa.
At the time I personally thought bringing TR7 on was a mistake. Ox looked rusty too, which was to be expected, I still expected a little more from him though. We sat way too deep once the subs came on.
Ned, cent you are missing the point. He is a back up to Augero. An alternative. Let don’t have that in my opinion.
We don’t have that it should read.
it looks like the top tier of the Etihad Stadium has been shut for the night to try and squeeze the crowd into the remaining two and give a little more of a buzz about the place.
Tickets are available for just £15 for this one I believe.
Yeah, you’re a big club.
Trev really sorry to hear about your knee. I actually have a knee problem though not anywhere as serious as yours so I can sympathize. No rest for me as I have to keep hauling my ass to work everyday. The only saving grace is my father happens to be a doctor so I get all kinds of funky prescription pain killers 🙂 and I’m downing them like candy.
Launches one into the Man City end …
Sorry to hear about your knee, Arsegonian, I believe our in-house doctors will be glad to offer your dad a job in the quackery.
Ah f*ck City be cursed. 🙁
Thanks Cent, but mine is more from my own stupidity than anything else. I’m 42 and still try stuff like I’m 22. Middle age blows …
Launches another into the City penalty area. Pressure must be unrelenting.
Cheers, Arsegonian.
Sorry to hear about your own trouble.
As for your father, I’m afraid we ‘don’t want his sort’ around The Quackery – can’t have people in there who actually know what they’re doing.
We’re all ‘quacks’ in there you see – clue’s in the name, old chap.
In other news, UEFA named their team of the year and Mesut Özil is the only EPL player to make the team. Messi didn’t make the team …. Huh?
Might as well. 😉
Well in Trev. Upon the second Man City goal I shall revert to the argument that Man City will have too many games to contend with in the cups to have any chance of winning the league. 🙂
Man City is a bunch of mercenaries. They don’t have our unity. At least that’s what I keep telling myself.
Too many games 8ball and, don’t forget, a 0.1% chance of winning the thing. 😉
Without sounding tooooo pessimistic … We do play Bayern Munich. Our UCL adventure could be only 2 more matches. Not the worst thing ever if the league is top priority.
Just back-drinking: I thought the Dracula geezer played for Liverpool.
Thank you and goodnight.
My 203 was supposed to mean that Man Citeh have too many games.
Top post @168, H2H. I fully agree that Higuain is no better than HFB and certainly not a “top, top striker” worth £40m.
I believe that our failure to sign anyone at all other than Sanogo as back up in the summer or so far this window is due to Arsene wanting to sign someone better than HFB rather than just anyone – Sanogo was a gamble that so far as failed to provide back-up and TGSTEL is just anyone until proven otherwise. Ba would have been a more match-fit alternative to TGSTEL in August but I don’t believe that he is significantly better. Sanogo and TGSTEL should both be fit soon so I suspect the search for a “top, top striker” rather than a stop-gap continues.
It remains to be seen whether all the smoke about Draxler yields another signing now, for the medics to hone their skills upon or in the summer. If he does arrive we shall then see if the rumours that he is to be transformed into a striker are true.
Meanwhile we wait and hope.
H2H @ 168
Christ on a bike (forgive me if you’re religious), that is a humdinger of a post! Absolutely spot on comparison, and so true that the grass is always greener huh?
I’m heartily sick of two things in football: 1 is the above, Giroud is a Good Striker FFS, why are people obsessed with this idea that you have to notch a million goals every 3 matches (ok that may be a mild exaggeration), if you want to see a walking, expensive disappointment, I give you Francis “not fox in the box” Jeffers; 2, the term world class,
Por kno @208
Yeah I got it Trev … Was just having a moment of stream of consciousness 😉
Trev now you have me trying to figure out how I could have misinterpreed you the first time. Ah well, time for anothher drink. 😉
Missed a few consonants there speaking of interpretation or its variants …
Nothing to add.
Oh, except, Trev, you could always stay at the Tollie until the crowds have gone. There must be worse ways to spend an hour or two?
Öskar
Indeed, Oskar.
Can you be drunk in charge of a pair of crutches ? 😉
Yes great post H2H … I will admit that I was one who wanted Suarez. At the time I used Tony Adams spending time in prison as the example that people were over reacting to the on pitch antics of Suarez. However I posted that sometime in July well before Mesut was even a glimmer in our eyes. I fucking adore Mesut Özil and if you told me at the time that he was an option, I would have said fuck off to Suarez as well.
When you think of all the grief we went through to get Campbell in you would think that he would now be ready, no? Never gets a mention, and he’s ours…
Zico @ 169:
When I refer to “the Capital” – I mean Dublin of course! 🙂
I expect to be over for the Citeh game at the end of March and would be delighted to hook up over a few beers with your good self or any of the usual suspects if your about ?
Bath,
Still a student of Scotch Im afraid. I’ve a good friend who spent years working in Scotland and introduced me to Scotch some years ago. Unlike Irish whiskey, Scotch is a never ending voyage of exploration such is the diversity!
H2H,
Take the point about far away fields being greener when it comes to comparing other strikers with Giroud. Think that certainly rings true for strikers like Costa and Martinez who play a similar game and role to Ollie. However I feel Higuain and Suarez offer something differently in terms of pace and mobility.
In terms of comparing goals scored, well that can be deceiving too I feel. For example, Arsenal play a very attacking type of football and as such, any top striker is going to get chances with the likes of Ozil & co supplying the passes. So conversion rates and turnovers (unforced errors when players loose possession or put another way, the ability to retain possession and hold the ball) are also important. I always find that Giroud and Theo have a tendancy to miss quite a few chances in each game that they score in as well. Chances that they arguably, wouldn’t get too often against a top side. For example, Ade scored over 30 goals in one particular season with us, but he missed an absolute hat full as well. He never reached the same heights with any other club he played for because his conversion rate is poor. And I think thats what spurring the interest in a player like Draxler. His numbers (in terms of goals and assists) are nothing spectacular this season. But, as Tim pointed out on 7am Kickoff, his stats in relation to turnovers (12 in the whole of last season which is unreal) combined with his dribbling skills (2nd only behind Ribery) and the fact that he’s fast, tall, ambidextrous and only 20…….is startling in terms of what he could become.
I don’t think it was ever a choice between Özilla and Suarez, Arsegonian. And if it had been I can’t help feeling Suarez would have been a more useful addition to our strike force than Özil has been to our already well-stuffed midfield. A better solution would have been to snare both.
But I doubt Suarez ever wanted to come to the Ems. I believe he has his mind set on clubs he perceives as ‘bigger’. Özil, otoh, was smart enough to recognise where his career, and World Cup chances, are best served.
Öskar
Holic is right. Getting Campbell was incredibly tough, and controversial. But after all of that what a great centre half he was. A true warrior. Not sure he would solve the striker shortage though.
😀
Steve T … I think he means Joel Campbell
Arsegonian
Please note the little smiley face that finished it off…….
Never funny if you have to explain it.
😀
Lol once again I prove never post at work on a mobile
Is Wellington Silva still ours? Didn’t he score for us once, against Manure? Haven’t heard about him for years. I believe he had visa problems?
I doubt he’s the answer to anything, but just curious.
Öskar
@223 … He is indeed. But I’m pretty certain he’s never played a minute for us anywhere. He has been at 3 clubs in 3 seasons in Spain’s Segunda. Reportedly he has an attitude problem to boot.
http://www.football365.com/premier-league/9117492/Chadli-Wants-Spurs-Exit
Another one bites the dust.
A Spurs fan’s lament.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mg9R1dTqCYg
Checked out Yogi’s Warrior and it’s an excellent read as ever. If we announce the signings of Mertesacker, Sagna and Draxler together, assuming they are announced at all, it would indeed present quite a positive psychological impact.
http://www.aclfarsenal.co.uk
I’ll admit it, in life in general, I’m a kind of glass half empty kind of guy (hey, its easier, and I’m generally lazy 😉 ) but that doesn’t usually transfer over to things Arsenal related…
But here’s my dark, negative thought that I can’t bat away 🙁
We play Bayern Munich in the UCL Last 16, a two legged tie.
Manchester City play Barcelona, and Chelsea play Galatasaray.
(I decine to mention who Manchester United play for obvious *sniggers* reasons 😛 )
Each of these three fixtures is difficult for its own reason, Bayern are the current holders of the trophy, beating many great teams convincingly (and others, not so much 😉 ) to reach the final and win it; Barcelona are still one of the best teams in the world with a wealth of attacking talent including one of the best two players in the world, arguably the best and Galatasaray have Sneijder, but more importantly Didier Drogba.
Isn’t it more likely that out of us and the two oil clubs, the team that exits the Champions League first, will be the team to pull away from the other two and thus have a better position in the Premier League? This being after us and them have pulled away from the rest of the chasing pack. I remember the pain of May 2006 as much as any other Arsenal fan, and a manager as great as ours deserves to win it finally but even if we overcome Bayern Munich, as the ability is within us as a team to do so, we could just as easily draw someone just as difficult to defeat over two legs, i.e. Real Madrid, old favourites Barcelona or any of our domestic counterparts.
I never want the Arsenal to lose, the same way how I could never back a negative result against us even if I knew the result because in my heart of hearts, I always want Arsenal to win. Subsquently, I want us to go as far in the UCL as we conceivably can but the worst case scenario that comes to me at this time of night is us going out at the Semi Final stage of the competition, maybe valiantly and having acquitted ourselves well but going out nevertheless, and with mental fatigue (more dangerous than physical fatigue imo) and having lost players to injury as a result of the intensity of the tie, and this situation directly translating to us losing vital ground in the league to one of our title rivals, if not both. Vital ground that we can’t recover for ourselves against them for whatever reason. The league in which we’d rallied overselves together from the state we were in on the 1st day of this season to where we are up until this moment now. It would be the proverbial double whammy, and sickening at that.
Of course, at this stage we may still be on course to win the FA Cup and get the ‘haven’t won a trophy for x years’ monkey of our bag, but deep down I feel like a bigger monkey will jump on at pretty much the same time the previous lodger departs. Its call sign? ‘Arsenal haven won’t the premier league in x (would be 10 years at the time) years’. The media would bang on about the quality in our squad (Özil etc) and use it as ammunition to blast us with in this new campaign (yeah I’m biased and think the media’s against my club, which football fan isn’t? And Arsenal have more semi-tangible proof/evidence by comparison than most in recent years…)
Of course in England, winning the Champions League has the same status as winning the domestic league, but in my opinion its far harder to win the latter, in terms of the quality of the opposition you could potentially face as the competition progresses before you even factor in the corruptness of UEFA, having to travel across the continent for a game and various other reasons. Its more do or die on the day(s), you’ve got less leeway that in a league competition. Draw and lose a game in the domestic league at the top of the table, you fall back 5 points at worst. At best, you go 1 point ahead 🙂 Draw and lose a game in a Champions League two legged tie, and you’re out. In the end, you’ve got to beat the best to win the UCL most times, the quality is such these days that no one gets a relatively easy run to the final, but I’d rather we’d make like lightning and follow the path of least resistance towards ditching that negative perception about winning trophies by definitely winning what I perceive to be the easier trophies to win with our squad the way it is (precariously lightweight in the attacking department), the remaining domestic ones.
I’d love for us to do the treble, with everything going right or not going right towards that outcome, and if that happens then I doubt in my sheer jubliation that I would remember that I typed such a post at this time of night, a few months ago. But with pessimism, comes realism, and I, like most of us, would consider even one trophy gained by May an overwhelming success, especially when you look back at the 1st day of the season.
In summary, I’m not saying I want Arsenal to get knocked out of the Champions League, no bloody way in hell. I’m just trying to add some perspective on what our continued participation in the competition may entail for our domestic aspirations. (Think back to Chelsea finishing 6th after winning it, and consider the depth of the squad they had at the time, then transpose a similar cup run into a scenario with our current squad [I doubt we’ll sign anyone this window personally]). High risk, high gain indeed.
If you made it to the end of that dreary post, then have a drink on me, the master card is already behind the bar. What? My ‘MasterCard’? Haha no 🙂 , my cards of that persuasion are generally Visa, this ‘mastercard’ is a certain Swede’s… 😉
If I could see the unbridled positivity of abb on here more than recently, I probably wouldn’t have been so inclined to post that post (to be honest, I could have half finished a lab report in the time it took me to type that up X_X)
Miss you Nursie, hope all is well.
And with that, I’m going to hit the hay.
Sorry for the negativity people, I didn’t want to keep that inside of me so I had to expel it to the first place I could think of, a place of such unbridled positivity (usually 8) ) that it should be neutralised very effectively, how a base would do so to an acid.
Night all 🙂
Wind. Concentration and focus on the lab reports, and maybe an extra dose of unbridled enthusiasm could pull you through. 😉
Arsenal 7 Munich 0?
Of course I want Arsenal to win AND try to win every match. Realistically , Bayern will probably dump us out but if we pull off the miracle that just might give us the bounce in our steps on all fronts. I like your post wind but I’m not believer that less competitions means you’ll do better in the league. Less injuries yes, less games no. Liverpool has no Europe distraction and they’ve fallen off the pace. If and it’s a big IF we can keep the squad patched up we can win the league regardless. We have the best mixture of attack, defense and spirit and you can argue we haven’t even played our best football yet.
After having been away from the bar for awhile, and spending an inordinate amount of time back drinking (excellent drinks, by the way, from everyone around the bar), I just wanted to add one thought about OG.
I think one difference between OG and whatever flavor-of-the-month striker that we are certain to sign, is that OG spends most of the match playing with his back to the goal. Because of the way we play, trying to walk the ball into the goal and OG acting as the pivot, he doesn’t get a lot of opportunities to move forward with the ball at his feet in the box, without at least two defenders on his back. When he does get space, he generally takes a decent shot.
It seems if we can increase our width (how many times in the AV match was Nacho isolated on the left side of the pitch with no one in front of him to pass the ball), OG might have more space to turn and take a touch or two before hammering a shot (I think he can put as much pace on the ball as Poldi).
But these are details, because we are still top of the table!
COYG!
In the early years of the CL it was quite common for teams to win in successive years, Real winning the first five in the ’50s, Benfica and Inter did the double in the ’60s, Ajax and Bayern both completed three wins in a row in the ’70s, while Liverpool and even Notts Forest also won in successive years during the period.
However, since AC Milan won in both ’89 and ’90 no team, not even Barca in its prime, has managed to repeat its CL victory the following year. Which leads me to suppose that Bayern will likely go the same way … that someone will beat them this year, and that someone might as well be us. It’s not like we didn’t come close to doing so last time and we are stronger now.
Indeed I’d go so far as to say that winning the CL could be easier than winning the EPL. A knock-out competition always carries an element of luck which can run against even the best teams at the wrong moment, whereas luck has a lot less effect over the long haul of a points comp.
The trick, of course, in either competition is to keep winning and if we keep doing that, who knows? We could win both.
Joe – how silly of me!
You refer to Highland Park and the Capital and from that I somehow could not make the connection to Dublin 😉
Morning all,
Quiet and miserable start to the day.
Roll on Saturday.
Really tired over here.
Whoever shared that link about the new LWCs Lamela, Holtby, Defoe, Chadli etc trying to jump ship, bless! Made me chuckle 🙂
Wind, relax man. Whatever happens, happens. Enjoy the ride!
Win or lose this will be a season to remember
Holic, when you’ve spent the better part of a month on another continent, there’s something quite comforting about dreary, grey old Blighty!
Good to be back. Can’t wait till the visit of the only real football club in west London.
Wind, drink(s) duly accepted sunshine, it was a good read.
Zico,
I forgive you 🙂
The Irish can be flippant about geographical exactitude at times (unless it involves football or war), but when it comes to the classification of alcohol:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJyGxRC8i68
Just re-read the astounding fact of the Chavs finishing 6th after winning the CL. 6th, with their resources?? Wow, that is utterly pathetic, how very embarrassing.
Yeah Porco,
and I still kinda hate the fact they managed to win the CL that year. Bayern should really have done it, even if it meant LWCs in CL qualifier next year.
Imagine how pissed Abramovich would be with 6th place and no European football..how much money would he pump in transfers that summer and who would want to join them if they ended up that way?
We might end up with Hazard and Mata that summer instead of Chavs but its all what ifs now..and I am more than happy with the team we have in this very moment. Was just a quick thought about how small margins can decide fate of the club for next few seasons..
I for one want us to win the league and concentrate only on the league, losing to bayern will help than hamper this. Do we realistically have a chance to win the UCL even if we beat bayern??? hmm no, do we have a realistic chance to win the league, for fuck sake we are top of the table and we very well can stay there.
Till march we will find it very tough, if end of march we are say 2nd in the league, 3 points behind city, i am certain we will win the league, we have a far more easier run to the finish than those sheikh’s illegitimate sons.
Lastly Giroud is excellent and suits our play perfect, yet we need a support striker, for me easy answer, play poldi every game and he will be that or buy berbatov/pato.morata.
Vinay@243- I guess we have to disagree about chances of winning UCL should we beat Bayern.
Such progress could give team a lift not very different from the one the team got from victory in Allianz arena last year, albeit going out of the competition.
I can see where your logic comes from and agree to an extent, but if we knock Bayern out (and I think we are more than capable of that ..last year it was 3-3 in the end), can you imagine how influental that will be for players confidence?
They would fear no team we would get afterwards, caution and respect, yes..but not fear. You can see already from what our players said about getting Bayern in knock out stages…they are not afraid.
bt8b @ 231, heh 🙂
Arsegonian @ 232, thanks, I guess I should have considered the reverse argument, oh woe was my relative blinkerness…
CoR @ 238, maybe you’re right. I should go out more 😉
Porco @ 239, thanks mate, and congrats on your return to blighty 🙂
@ 241, and if Robben & Co hadn’t bottled it, they would’ve had nothing to show for such a shameful finish. The fallout would’ve been sweet…
Always a bad sign if we are not talking about the next game. Munich be cursed, it’s Fulham that needs our full concentration, focus, and other such psychic powers.
Joe @ 240
Can’t open your link because I’m at work but from your earlier post, I am plotting the co-ordinates for the City game.
Will probably need to sell my soul for a ticket……again 😎
Wind, what COR said!
Let’s just keep winning our matches irrespective of the competition or opponents and see where and what that lands us at the end of the season.
Nursie, what Wind said @229.
(Thinks: Might as well have my 2p worth)
What 8ball said @246
COYG
Agreed about focusing on Fulham and I am sure lads are aswell..same as I do.
Still have very fresh memory of the shambolic home game against them from last season and I think boys remember that aswell. Only pen I saw Mikel to miss.
On different news, strong rumours that we are on the brink of signing Ntep from …*dun dun duuun* Auxerre for 10m on five years deal…is this kid any good? I suppose Arsene would not shell out 10m for a player he does not believe in.
Fulham are pretty shite. Yes, they did beat Norwich 3-0 in the Cup replay on Tuesday but both teams were pants in that game. Just like on Monday it is all up to our boys to get the job done, if we have even a half-decent game we’ll win it. The challenge here is to stay focused and professional, not the quality of the opposition.
Still no updates on Monreal that I’ve seen. Not sure what to make of that, maybe they don’t know the extent of the injury yet but that seems a bit unlikely as it’s been almost three days now since the injury and any swelling should have subsided enough for scans to be made. I do fear that he’ll be out for quite a while in any case.
Thanks for the kind ones gents.
Come on Wind son, you struck me as more of a glass half full kind of chap.
Well said about Nursie, she has been missed.
Hope all is well with the guv’ too.
Bath. Not too sure if ol Demba Ba would of made that much a difference. I wasn’t too excited when it was muted that we were after him when he was still at the Toon, mainly because of his dodgy knees, which I envisioned would explode the moment he stood up after putting pen to paper on an Arsenal contract.
I wasn’t that worried about the loan link, because I knew that bitch Josie wouldn’t let one of his strike force join us. Besides Ba is finished, everybody knows that Stamford Bridge is the place strikers go to die. 😉
Vinay. I don’t really see the logic in your arguement that the CL would be harder to win then the league. You can scrape through the knockout stages of the CL with draws and even loses, ofcourse you have to win the final game or it was all for nothing.
However, every dropped point in the league though could be fatal, especialy this year with only two points seperating us and the FFF’s.
Ah, the Monreal update came in while I was typing – he is probably out for Saturday but on the whole it wasn’t at all as bad as was first feared. Good news that, but less good news is that Ramsey won’t be back until after the Coventry game. That means his injury isn’t healing as expected (remember that it was first said he had a chance to play against Villa) which is always a worry.
Lars.
Good news on Nacho.
On Aaron, maybe they are airing on the side of caution, which may not be such a bad thing, we all know the dangers of rushing players back in. We should be able to cope without him for the next few games.
Don’t get me wrong, I want him back asap.
Sounds like we need more horses in that new medical pla-centa. 🙁
Hope Arteta is going to be okay for the rest of the season and his injury wouldn’t turn into the kind of niggling problem that he used to suffer for long stretches in his Everton days.
Arsenal’s medical/fitness teams get a lot of stick but there are some success stories for them as well: no one mentions that for nearly 2 and a half season now they kept Mikel of notorious fragility very much injury free. Sure Arteta’s own work ethic and desire to play at the top level and competition for places contributed to that but to be fair to our medical team they should get some credit as well.
No one is ever indispensable but IMHO Per, Arteta, Kos, Giroud, Bac and TR7 are our least replaceable players, in that order. Flamini is a great choice to have and can be very important in his Flamini-esque ways, but at this point of time given the way we play Arteta’s presence is very important in the really big matches.
I am sure Arsene has already identified potential reinforcements in this area for the next season…
@253, Holloway, i mean it the other way round, winning the premier league is like winning a marathon, what i meant was i dont think so with the squad depth and with the potential names still to be around if we do reach the q/f, the chances of us winning seem remote. League i believe we can and the way to do it for me is simple, damage limitation against city,chelsea,pool and united, win all the rest of the games, i think it will even out elsewhere and we shall be champions, please god pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.10 years been too long god, come on listen to our prayers.
Vinay, I don’t think there’s much any god can single-handedly do to help us end our trophy drought but God on the other hand…
DB10 will return one day to smite the unbelievers and condemn them to perdition, rest assured.
H2H @ 253, well on the day of the Southampton game, I’d seen my family for the 1st time since I left for university, I was back in London for the weekend, I was meeting you for the 1st time, I was seeing NorCal in the flesh again after just over a year and finally getting to have a chat over a pint with him, I was meeting Holics from far and wide for the 1st time and seeing old ones again, I was back in the Tollie seeing my friends from Twitter that I’ve made on a matchday but most importantly, I was going to see my beloved Arsenal again. So I was extremely positive that day, my proverbial glass was full to the brim! 😀 Although my pints weren’t 😉
But I have been a bit depressed recently over a relatively superficial issue in my university life, probably the reason why I was so “glass half empty” when writing that post up in the early hours. Feeling a lot more positive now after chatting with one of my housemates about the issue, even if I finally have to write up that infernal lab report haha 😛
Heh Cent @ 259 😉 Always the captial letter (Y)
bt8b @ 246 & Cent @ 248, good shouts people.
Zico @ 247, you have multiple souls to sell? Why am I not surprised… 😉
🙂
Stade Rennes player Ousama Dembele sp? Sent a welcome to Ntep on twitter because supposedly he is going straight on loan after Arsenal complete the deal. Not sure what to make of this if it is even true ….
If you click on Bendtner’s twitter photo link on the Arsenal.com site you can see that he is drinking a bottle of Chateau Rauzan-Segla, which is a wonderful Margaux…suddenly he has risen in my estimation!! What a fabulous striker he is! 🙂
Vinay,
The chances of us winning the Champions League are, from memory, 1.3% as Ned pointed out yesterday.
And that is before you even think about squad depth, who is left in, who plays where for who etc. etc. etc.
As Tabs said – “Enjoy the ride.” 😉
Peter…..well he is best known for being a massive plonk….er 😉
Fulham up next. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
LCmIX5 Muchos Gracias for your article. Will read on…
nHVuMl Hey, thanks for the blog.Really thank you! Much obliged.