Morning all.
I like that from Michael Jordan although sometimes in life it’s hard, almost impossible to see something positive when the chips are down. Really down I mean and not just ‘having a bad day.’
Take Hector Bellerin. If his scan reveals an injury so bad it’ll end his season, how does can he mentally turn his situation into something positive? It’s not like he can jet off to see his family back in Spain, or take a holiday in sunny climates is it as hell need surgery no doubt and then his recovery will begin. It’ll be bloomin hard work for him to get the strength back, fitness too. He’ll stay fit, fitter than most of us anyway but match fitness is a different thing.
The positive in his situation transfers to someone else, just as it did for Bellerin when Matthieu Debuchy was so cruelty shoved into the hoardings by Marko Arnautovic at a Stoke, (I think) dislocating his shoulder in the process. Bellerin stepped in and the rest as they say is history.
Unai Emery has two young options right now. Jenkinson and AMN. Or the older and wiser Lichtsteiner. None in my opinion are the perfect replacement but then I guess if they were, they’d be ahead of Bellerin in the pecking order anyway.
AMN needs a rocket up him because he’s far too laid back. Or that’s how he appears anyway, Jenks is ok but not brilliant either but I think he improves the more he plays and it must be so difficult to come into a team having not played competitive football for such a long time. Then there’s the old and wise. The thought of him playing right back on Friday evening against a Utd team with so much pace in it scares me.
Being the FA Cup, I’d imagine Unai Emery will already be thinking about changes despite the opposition, because going for a top four spot is probably more important. We need the money Champions League football brings into the club and unless Stan Kroenke changes his approach, that will continue to be the case. Utd are in a similar position too as they rival us and Chelsea for that final 4th place so it’s likely that Ole will make changes too.
Sokratis, Koscielny and Kolasinac worked hard on Saturday evening, ideally they’d all sit the next one out but they can’t, not all anyway. Mustafi is fit, as is Mavropanos, although not match fit and Jenkinson is another central option too. Cech will no doubt return between the sticks.
With Ramsey and Lacazette both substituted against Chelsea, I reckon they’ll play against Utd with Ozil perhaps coming in from the cold too. As for the rest, a mixture of youth and squad players maybe because if we lose the likes of Xhaka, Torreira, Guendouzi etc to injury, our top four hopes could head south. They’re already looking tenuous as it is.
Top four or another round in the FA Cup is what’s on offer really. Tough call as achieving either is no certainty.
Good morning Rico, the FA Cup is a realistic chance of silverware and beating Man U would be a significant marker for the rest of the season. Two reasons to play the same starting eleven, Bellerin excepted, as on Saturday evening. Doing so will help towards achieving the consistency everyone is demanding. With a full week for recovery there should be no fatigue problems.
Our next Premiership fixture is at home to Cardiff on the following Tuesday, surely a game we can dominate with as few judicious changes as necessary.
As to Bellerin’s replacement, I think Emery must select from the three on a match by match basis. My preference would be to start with Jenkinson in the Cup, and see where we go from there.
Morning Cicero. You make a good point..
Morning all,
Good win on Saturday against a very muted Chelsea side, ( thank goodness)! But 3 more points in the bag. Ever onward.
The greatest disappointment for me was seeing Bellerin being carried off, obviously ina lot of pain. Sadly he will join our other 2 long term absentees. Years ago, the injury, if it’s another crucial, would have finished his career. The good news is that it probably hasn’t. The fact that we won’t be seeing him again this season is a great blow, he was having an excellent game, both going forward and defensively too. He offers the team a real positive approach. He was partly responsible for the team, going forward in the first half so dangerous.
The possible replacements are good replacements, but that is all they are, substitutes for another guy!! Jenkinson would be my first choice, he is probably the nearest to Bellerin in terms of full back equivalent, whereas, AMN and Leichsteiner are not quite in the same bracket, for all the reasons outlined here and in other posts. Good alternatives but not as long term replacements imo. Also I think Jenks has had a bit of a raw deal from successive managers and he deserves a regular run out with the first team. Friday may be some indication of where little Dick will go. Manure are not to be taken lightly and what’s more they need defeating, if only to stop the Ole trot! And set a marker, that the Arsenal really are better than them!
All will be revealed, as Mrs May would say!
Quite sunny here although not very warm.
Tend to agree with Cicero here , Jenks to start and keep the team intact , but hopefully without any further injuries Emery can be more judicious with his sustitutions . I think it went wrong a bit when AMN was forced to go back following Bellerin’s injury moments after he came on. It upset the balance and Chelsea got more adventurous .However we need to look after some of our important players too which means looking out on how to rest them .
Morning Gooners
Morning Rico, I honestly can’t see a lot of rotation, the squad will have had almost a week to recover and it’ll be over a week before our next game at home to Cardiff, so with the notable exceptions of Bellerin and Leno we might see pretty much the same team.
I don’t think that it’s certain that Ozil will play this Friday at all, what Emery says to the media is just PR spin. The more big games Arsenal win without Ozil in the team will only strengthen the position of the Head Coach.
Next month the games will stack up again with the return of the UEFA Cup and some midweek Premier lge matches, Ozil will get some game time then I’d imagine. Also if Arsenal do sign Suarez he’ll be another player who would probably get into the team in front of the German.
Ozil’ s people can put out as many tweets as they like or rubbish on Facebook, if the team is winning Mesut will gradually become less and less of an issue to the fan base will the possible exception of his vociferous fan club.
Er, Cardiff is a midweek game as Cicero said, jumped in a bit there, but my point remains.
Yeah, pretty much agree with everyone above, I’d like to see Jenkinson start, but I’m not sure that Emery really trusts him unless he has no alternative, so my guess is that Maitland Niles will start again Man Utd.
Mkhitaryan is coming back to fitness, not sure that he’ll be ready for Friday, we might see Emery revert to 3 at the back with Mustafi returning and less defensive responsibility on the shoulders of AMN.
Morning Kev.
I get what you guys are saying but I don’t think Emery will think the same, not if top four is as crucial as it’s made out to be.
Jenks at right back for me too.
Afternoon all and thanks Rico.
No brainer to me……………………..strongest team to play Manshafter, do we really want them to have an opportunity to beat our FA Cup record ?…………………………We aint going to win the league this season ……or any other season…………so FA Cup is my priority until Kroenke hopefully sells or kicks the bucket !……………………Come on New England Patriots !……………………my NFL team ! ( only because it had England in the name !)
Lovely sunny day and The Groan Zone(my gym) beckons !
Three at the back doesn’t float my boat. With more mobile defenders than Mustafi, Sokratis and Koscielny, it might work but is not worth the risk.
One right back option we have all missed, couldn’t Nacho Monreal move over?
Cold and foggy here.😕
Even more left side of the field, even though it`s the right side of the field……………………………..Saka at FB !……………he`s played there for England !………………………..not the Patriots ! hahaha
Imo, playing the four at the back against Chelsea proved to be the best for us with the players we have..
Same up front. Without Lacazette, Aubameyang isn’t as effective.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/jan/21/transfer-window-january-reserve-players-premier-league
That’s an interesting article Kev. I forget about Tutu. You wouldn’t mess with him. 😆
It must be difficult for any manager in this day and age. Pressure to win yet pressure to give youth a chance. The likes of Willock, Smith-Rowe and Eddie will be desperate to play against Utd, same for Mavropanos but it seems our strongest eleven is the preference. On here anyway.. lol
That’s a really interesting article Kev, but faint praise for Jordi Osei-Tutu, “potentially the best footballer to emerge from Slough”! 😕
Thierry Henry is probably the best striker to emerge from Les Ulis, France. 😜
Jenkinson would be my choice at full back.
AMN is too timid, and weak in the tackle for me. Don’t forget it will be Martial or Rashford they will be marking. Martial with his strength and pace and Rashford, he who took Holding out, who will be direct also.
I would have Willock on the bench, to bring on if needed with 20 minutes to go.
Afternoon Rico and the House.
Sven is leaving us on Feb 8th, he didn’t last long did he.
The Cpl for me against Man U otherwise same team that played Chelsea.
I hate Rashford for that Vcc, totally unnecessary challenge..
Reckon Lichtsteiner will get the nod myself and if he does, he’ll certainly have to pick and choose when he goes forward. I guess if he does start, the guy ahead of him will be busy…
If nothing else the Chelsea game showed that we need to keep the back 4 intact and only possibly bring Monreal in when he is fully ready. I don’t know enough about the young boys coming through but I doubt that ManUtd is the game to do so. After the way Rashford got away with taking Holding out it would be nice to think we had someone disposable to return the compliment ,maybe a rash Mustafi challenge in the 89th minute could stick him in row Z or something.
Or even the Swiss terminator.
I’d be all for that Potter and I’m not a violent person. Lol
Afternoon Rick.
Sven leaving so soon is odd. I’d love to know what’s happened there.
I copied this from another site, I thought he/she was spot on.
Beating Chelsea is one thing. The next thing is to challenge for cl placing.
According to Forbes,Mu without cl soccer had revenue of 850 gbp.
Arsenal had only gbp580.
The gap will get wider until and unless the gunners can compete at the top level.Winning is important because sponsors want to be associated with success. The problem is Arsenal cant compete or aint willing to pay big money for top players.
Its very good to be a self sustaining model without financial doping.
Fans don’t care about this and want a successful team.
In this respect Arsenal have fallen off the high pedestal and soon will be only one epl team not in the elite class.
The onus is on the owner whether he wants to be a top team or just
a team to suck more money from the fans.
Also this from a cabbie !…………Kev`?…………. 😆
seems Kroenke can put his own (and wife`s) money in LA Rams, but not us!
Incidently just seen on Sky that LA Rams are coming to Wembley this year in some International Comp`………………will any HHers be spending some more money by going to line even more of Kroenke`s pockets ?
https://www.gunnerstown.com/arsenal/2019/01/21/kroenke-using-arsenal-as-rams-cash-cow-this-cabbie-thinks-its-a-disgrace/
Sadly Rico you’ll die guessing😊 why Sven’s leaving that is.
The same may be said about the Cpl. the reason he won’t be picked, despite our pleas on his behalf!
My choice of the assailant on Rashford would be our aging Swiss cheese. A flailing arm here and or a mistimed tackle there should do the trick! I mean what goes round comes round, especially where the cold comfort of revenge is concerned.
£850 & £580 – where did he/she pluck that figure from I wonder…
I know Wavy, annoyingly. I expect there’ll be plenty of itk’s on NN telling us why though. 😜
If Jenks doesn’t play now, he’s never going to imo and he’ll be gone sooner rather than later. I bet if he wasn’t an Arsenal fan he’d have gone before.
Rico, again I digress. I thank that it didn’t take up to one week for the point I made last week, but rejected by Cicero to show up. I talked about the work of Solksjaer at ManU, and how he has managed to stop them conceding goals. Cicero, only talked about how good the players of ManU were compared to Arsenal’s. But I was talking about improvement in work ethics.
. Emery had often talked about his love for the pressing game. But in reality it only existed in his press conferences. You watch Liverpool or ManC play the pressing game and you on yhe oyher hand marvel at the interpretation of the pressing game Emery’s team plays. But against Chelsea, he got it right as noth the press and the closing down of opponents led to our clean sheets. Suddenly, Kolscieny and Papas have become the new Maldini and Costacurta. But in reality, if the team do not defend from the front and close down spaces, any team will keep on conceding. This is what Solksjaer brought to ManU and this is what Emery has bullied his players to do. We do not have “world class” defenders, but a team effort as we saw against chelsea will make the clamour for new world class defenders less attractive.
Daniel. I too think that Utd have better players than us in certain areas and as far as their attacking game goes, it was only ever going to improve once Mourinho left.
I don’t think we’ve seen anywhere near the kind of press we see from City and Liverpool but both of those clubs under their management having been doing it longer than us. In Klopp first season, they were nothing like they are now imo.
Rico, the point is not who has the better players. That is very clear in itself. You yourself admitted as much that arsenals games against Chelsea and Totts should be more of the norm.
Whatever tweaking that Emery did to make the team defend as it did and not the usual comical errors should be the norm. That way, I will applaud him as I am doing for Solksjaer. Team organisation, shape and discipline is not all about who has the better players. If I will also leave the ManU example and mention Southampton whose new manager has seen them get more organised, perhaps, no one will be talking about the better players
I get that though Daniel. We’ve all said on here that when we press the opposition we play better. It’s when we slow our play down we’re poor..
Good comments again Daniel……………………………….I`ve said it before (probably when you last posted) and agree that Solksjaer has defended from the front differing from Moronho`s deep defending, if you press as a well drilled, organised unit and not all going gunho , it takes the pressure off average defenders, nothing new as I said once before, Liverpool of old used to do it with Ian Rush as the first line of defense !
I`m sure you took it like me Rico, that them figures were in millions, not just £850 and £580 respectively
🙂 and the figures come from Forbes.
Love this !……………………..I thought I was the only one who drove like this !………………………and I haven`t had an accident …….yet ! 😆
https://twitter.com/Arsenal/status/1087285283752681473?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1087285283752681473&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Farsenalarsenal.net%2F2019%2F01%2F21%2Fthings-we-learnt-from-the-weekend-2%2F
Not at all Lc…
Well all I can say Rico (if I`m getting this right ) is if you think Arsenal`s revenue is just Five hundred and eighty pounds, then indeed we need loans ! hahahahaha
😂Lc..
Wrighty is totally nuts, but you’ve gotta luv him…
Cicero, I didn’t know that Osei Tutu came from Slough until I read that article although if it wasn’t for a shed load of injuries I think he may have played quite a few times for us already this season but unfortunately he has the Arsenal curse.
Don’t know about Wrighty but we are inviting Prince Philip to drive in our village in Norfolk . Perhaps we can get our roads fixed too.
Bellerin out for 6 to 9 months. Oh woe. All we can do is wish him a speedy and successful recovery.
They say these things come in threes, well, Bellerin is the third. So plain sailing from now on…………….hopefully!
Morning Gooners
Morning Rico – where ever you are… 😄
Yeah, that’s not a surprise Wavy given the nature of the injury, but it’s still a blow.
So now we can pretty much put Hector to one side until probably next Autumn and just wish him a speedy recovery…
Maybe the door opens for Jordi Osei Tutu, if he can stay fit..?
As per
@DaveHytner
Bellerín ruptured ACL confirmed in scan today, 6-9 months. Rest of squad were paintballing pre #MUFC. Francis Cagigao tipped by many to succeed Mislintat as HoR with Monchi among names for TD (no timescale). #AFC want 2 loan deals, 1 being Suarez but not close.
From David Ornstein
Ruptured anterior cruciate ligament. Operation, recovery, rehabilitation, training, conditioning, we’ll be lucky if we see him play before Christmas.
Mkhitaryan expected to resume full training this week. We could do with him to play on the right and so reduce the need for our stand-in full back to bomb forward too often. 😒
Really Cicero, you think 11 months before Bellerin recovers – blimey?
I guess that’s possible of course, but I do hope that you’re wrong, working on the timescale of 6 to 9 months that’s being quoted I was hoping it might be closer to September/October at worst…
https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/arsenal/arsenal-fans-warned-stan-kroenke-should-not-be-trusted-why-owner-is-still-reviled-on-streets-of-st-a4045641.html
Wo9n’t connect up Kev . My screen says ES is offline unable to connect . What’s it about ?
Potter, it’s about Kroenke moving the Rams from St Louis to Los Angeles. Not a pleasant story but no unusual in the world of American sports franchises.
The salient matter is the money Kroenke has poured into the LA Rams, £2.3 billion for a new stadium and a £100 million contract for a defensive player.
Small wonder that Arsenal haven’t got a pot to p**s in. 😉
Kev, six to nine months is probably a best case scenario, we hear all too often of these thing dragging on. I hope my pessimistic estimate proves to be wrong but…..
We always said that once he had full control we would get raped.
Yeah Cicero, I guess with Holding and Bellerin being young all we can do is hope that they’re quick healers.
Would be excellent if they could be join in training sometime in August/September even if they’re not ready to play.
Evening all .
Nice read,Kev`, anything that discredits Kroenke is music to my ears and love it that the only time St Louis fans watch LA Rams is when they lose……………….I do the same with the Spuds, but trouble is they aint losing much recently……..bastards !
https://arseblog.news/2019/01/report-barcelona-and-arsenal-break-off-negotiations-over-denis-suarez/
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dxhm01vXQAQNLsA.jpg
The thing with Suarez is, I think the club have other ideas for the summer and he was probably always a temporary fix.
We have Reiss Nelson back next season, we also have Smith Rowe, both can fill that role but maybe not quite yet.
Can’t see Ramsey in the photo, Kev.
The plot thickens Cicero…
Or
Maybe he was taking the picture 🙂
Where will the hair piece get his cash to settle his vast American debts, I wonder? Is he laying the foundations for his needy US franchises by stealing the Arsenal war chest? And there is not a thing anyone can do to stop him, unless the council slap a compulsory purchase or on the Emirates and all its contents😳
Hope it doesn’t come to that but nothing the Walmart sponger does would surprise me. He’s not a man with much integrity or honesty about him. By the sound of it he is a very greedy man, very greedy indeed.
Isn’t Ramsey standing in front of the Greek flag?
You are right Adam .
Ramsey is the one holding his hat on
There’s a few I don’t recognise…
Morning guys, new post up now…