Morning all.
Bolton, Bradford, Birmingham, Bayern Munich, Barcelona…. The list goes on. All at some stage have been a bogey side for us in the domestic and European cups.
Last night we drew another ‘B’ in Burnley! At least it’s a home fixture which is always better but Burnley got through the last round with an away victory over Middlesbrough.
Here’s our results against the now 5th place Championship side under Arsene Wenger:
2007/2008
Sun 06 Jan Burnley 0 – 2 Arsenal F.A. Cup
2008/2009
Sun 08 Mar Arsenal 3 – 0 Burnley F.A. Cup
Tue 02 Dec Burnley 2 – 0 Arsenal League Cup
2009/2010
Sat 06 Mar Arsenal 3 – 1 Burnley Premier League
Wed 16 Dec Burnley 1 – 1 Arsenal Premier League
2014/2015
Sat 11 Apr Burnley 0 – 1 Arsenal Premier League
Sat 01 Nov Arsenal 3 – 0 Burnley Premier League
Nothing to fear then surely?
Yes, everything to fear as if Arsene Wenger and the players take the game to lightly, Burnley, who will have nothing to fear at The Emirates, will win.
Perhaps the worst day against a ‘B’ side was at Wembley in the Carling Cup Final when having turned up in tracksuits believing the game was already won, a cock-up in defence at the end of the game, left the players walking away with a losers medal. The manager and players seriously needed that Cup but complacency and perhaps arrogance was their downfall. Let’s be honest, 2011 was not the not only time we’ve seen a similar approach to a game and one could say, it’s been our Achilles heel. We still witness such an approach today on occasions imo.
That match takes place over last weekend of January.
Before then though we have three very tasty fixtures starting tomorrow with a trip to Anfield. That’s followed by Stoke away and then Chelsea at The Emirates.
Could be a season defining month for Arsenal and the good news is that Alexis Sanchez should return to action this coming weekend. Boy have we missed him, I think Theo Walcott certainly has….
Transfer Gossip:
Arsenal are confident of completing the signing of Charlton striker Ademola Lookman this month, according to reports in The Sun. The 18-year-old is a hot prospect after bursting onto the scene with Charlton this season, scoring three goals in nine first-team appearances. Chelsea and Tottenham have been looking at signing him up but Arsenal are confident of bringing him to the Emirates.
If that doesn’t excite you then I don’t know what will… 😉
Have a good one guys and gals, maybe Elneny will be announced today. Or maybe not….
New post up now..
🙂 Adam, I do forget you are a soft townie… lol
Rico. They were there so I turned them on. Leather seats are cold in the morning against light cotton trousers. And don’t forget that I am a town softie. 🙂
Heated seats?? It’s not that cold Adam… lol
Thanks you Brudder.
****Adam you is a Brudder from another mother……**** much better!
Ah the old Rockford files….. not a nice ailment!
Adam us is a Brudder from another mother……
it is certainly nippy out there. I was out earlier and actually used the car’s heated seats for the first time. They work but extended exposure can give you Farmers I hear. 🙂
It’s jolly cold though Devil, sun has little warmth in it…
Morning Ts and Adam..
Doh, blonde moment, of course it is Adam… 😉
its so hard when people are treated as just a number. politicians say they care. yes they do care….for their pocket imo. And its cruel when old people are treated in such a way….esp when they have contributed to the country when they were younger.
Morning Rico and all. Brudder, is the answer ‘like an Egyptian?’
Dev- it is brutal over here for those not so privileged. I blame 1 man- IDS. It will be more desperate next winter when TTIP shows its head.
Morning Rico and all…
You’ve lost me Lee, not that that is difficult… lol
Good Morning Lovelies and Hunkies.
you have sun Rico?? good. at least the poor old pensioners will not continue freezing. I heard from a friend that a lot of pensioners cannot afford central heating.
After his display against Sunderland do you reckon the OX will start the game against the dippers…..or will it be Campbell???
Elneny is scheduled to be unveiled today.
How does Elneny walk???
Morning Marshall and all..
What a change to see sunshine and a hard frost. Nice.
Spot on re transfers Marshall, not like we needed a midfielder early this month eh….
Morning everybody, Burnley showed what they can do if we take them lightly.
As for transfers we’ve lost lots of good ones, even Messi. But I don’t get the logic of keeping sanogo and letting someone like Vela go- he could’ve developed into a great striker.
Our transfers are a drag! It’s like AW tries to sign aliens who the British govt have to approve they are human, then work permits are prolonged (Campbell) then our slow medical team do the medical and bam TW is closed before we announce them. Arsenal are painfully slow with transfers.
Mick we’re on BT Sport, I think…
Night All
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/jan/12/joel-campbell-arsenal-arsene-wenger-loans
Jm, if you can’t beat Man United you might as well pack in it !
Kev, a home draw against Burnley in the next round, you can’t really knock it can ya, whats that, 6 home draws in the last two seasons and 2 away, the FA really have it in for us don’t they !
Lets see how tough Joey Barton is without a cigar !
Are we on the box tomorrow ? I’ve no idea.
Nite Gooners, keep it real.
Burnley won 5-0 at MK Dons…
Btw Joey Barton plays for Burnley!!!
Jon Toral scored for Birmingham in a 1-1 draw…
Newcastle 2 MU 2 74th mnutes..
Night guys, busy night on television for me… 🙂
He could be the poacher striker we haven’t had since Eduardo imo
Or decisions that weren’t there for him to make?
Adam- he will still bury chances we create…
Vela or Hernandez?
Bale or Theo?
Wiltord vs van nisteroy?
Cocu vs van bronchoist.
The best striker vs ibrahimovic?
Decisions AW May have gotten wrong… In hindsight.
Wiltord for his goal at old Trafford is excused…
Apparently, he won’t rule out a move back to the pl….
No idea TS.
Is he available?
He knows where the goal is.
I’d love us to get Hernandez…
Not Arsene Adam… 😉
Some dream of both Rico. 🙂
Mick 5.05;
That’s a big big statement to make…
Don’t tell his mummy…
I know there’s often a call for a striker and I get that, but imo, sure up our midfield this month and we really could win the league.. It’s our major weakness…
Flamini too sometimes Adam. Arteta is maybe the wise one but age and fitness just isn’t on his side…
Rico. I tend to agree about Ramsey. Alongside Chambers, against strong opposition, we can look frighteningly open. Yet you don’t want to stop Ramsey doing what he does best.
I was comparing this seasons performances Ts. Our loss to the Saints last year was just days after Coq was recalled from his loan. Our results after that match improved greatly. Well, until the last few games…
Ramsey is too keen to bomb forward. Not knocking that but he needs a strong midfielder by his side if he’s to play that way. Imo of course…
lol Micko…
Rico- the saints game was awful but we also lost to them last january with le coq in team; albeit only 2-0… 😉
We just need a proper CDM who will free the likes of Sc19 and Ozil to play further up instead of coming deep to pick the ball up because the team can’t trust him to start attacks from the back…
Elneny? He Sphinx! Or so they say, it’s all a matter of decomposition! Imp, of course.?
That’s who I was referring to tsgh, Mohamed Salah.
Agreed there are Coq being our main specialist in that area…
On the other hand he plays infront of Sc19 almost all the time, but because he does not or is not allowed to get involved in our attacking play he is perceived to be more defensive… imho.
Magic of heat maps… 😉
… and we missed AR16 in the middle too…
Micko, if we go by the fortunes of Egypts best player who was the last big signing of Jose, then Elneny is for the future…
The Southampton game was in my mind when typing about the qualities of Coquelin…
Caulker the last time he played was for Southampton when Liverpool won 6-1 I wonder what they saw.
Not saying he’s the saviour Ts, he’s just better than the rest we have in the squad imo and by miles. He’s strong, doesn’t get bullied and seldom crosses the halfway line…
apart from Saints game I must add… quickly
the*- 2 hand typing tsk…
Rico, since Le Coq got injured we have conceded 3 goals and scored more goals if compared to the same number of games he has missed;
Good old Sky Sports 😉
http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11670/10127478/arsenal-close-on-nigerian-youngsters-kelechi-nwakali-and-samuel-chukwueze?
Not sure Adam, Ramses the Third sounds a little bit of a mummies boy to me !
🙂 Rico. i like Coq, I just do not see him as teh saviour he is made out to be imho…
We miss SC19 immensely though…
You just don’t like Coquelin Ts and can see no good in him. He’s your ‘pick on’ player for this season… 😉
Since his injury, and Santi’s of course, our midfield has been more porous than a triangular PG bag… Decaf of course.
Missing Coq in which way…
We have goten more points on average without him an d scored more goals…
Is the Little Pharaoh Ramses the third?
Everything I’ve read about him has been good so far, he’ll bring a lot of energy to the team.
A good mate of mine who attends a lot of the Basel games says he’s not in the same league as the Little Pharaoh but he’s probably a little bitter about it all lol.
Or the secret Adam…
That good eh Micko… lol
Seriously though, I’m going to wait and see how he fares if he signs, especially as I was one who wanted Coquelin gone, yet I think we are seriously missing him right now….
Micko. Personally, I see Elneny as THE key.
Yeah, what’s your point tsgh ?
Oh ok rico, I’ll tone it down a bit, still think he’ll go on to be the best Egyptian in the premiership come May !
And? 😉
Snap- he played against Fiorentina in the UEFA cup just over a month ago…
Sure is Kev re Liverpool.
Snap, defensive I think but I’ve never seen him play…
Micko, that’s just being greedy…. lol
Adam, I’d even go as far to say if we sign Elneny we’ll win the Champions League !
Is eleneny a defensive player or offensive cause I think we need more defensive players
if Ola turns out to be our Kinglsey Coman who refused to sign Psg contract last summer; it will be another coup by AW or another to partner Pleugezeulo (spelling) in the reserves league.
Bit of a panic signing Rico
Klopp has signed Steven Caulker in time for tomorrow’s fixture….
Ola Aina is English Kev.
Probably more likely Kev, especially if AW is staying…. 🙂
Rico, it could be a combination of the two?
Both Jonker and Wenger were at the U21 game last week vs Blackburn…
Coach, where is he from?
Kev, Ola Aina has refused to sign a new contract. He could be good player for Arsenal as he is also an u21 international I think.
Jonker or Wenger?
Project Youth Mk2…???
Meanwhile Arsenal are interested in Chelsea defender Ola Aina, whose contract at Stamford Bridge expires at the end of the season.
With the 19-year-old defender’s future up in the air, the Gunners have stepped in and could persuade Aina to make the switch across London.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/leicester-city/12094005/Leicester-City-to-offer-Ben-Chilwell-a-new-deal-after-it-emerged-he-earns-just-800-a-week.html
http://news.arseblog.com/2016/01/nigerian-starlets-set-to-join-arsenal-academy/?utm_source=feedburner.com%2Farseblognews&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+arseblognews+%28Arseblog+News+-+the+Arsenal+news+site%29
http://www.espn.co.uk/soccer/soccer-transfers/story/2785076/arsenal-close-on-nigerian-starlets-nwakali-chukwueze-sources
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/sport/football/article4662850.ece
http://www.101greatgoals.com/blog/arsenal-to-sign-nigerian-teenagers-kelechi-nwakali-and-samuel-chukwueze-african-football/
No Ts, Africans I think…
Kev, under 19’s that’s for sure.
I’ll try and find the story… First stop – The Metro.. 😉
Sure would Kev. Mind you, Alexis and Cech were done pretty quickly. As was Ozil… 😉
Wonder if they could be from the Nigerian Youth team?
I think we need a few of those now Devil… Not those you name, but the more physically strong kind of player..
Who are they Rico? 2 Franco-africans?
Heathrow Coach?
Not been up there since late October…
Transfers?
It would be nice if Arsenal, for once, just did a transfer simply, instead of every move turning into a fcuking drama…
You kind of imagine, that our club, being The Arsenal, would have top top people, movers and shakers, running a dept like transfers.
But I sometimes wonder if our recruitment dept is more akin to Fred Karnos Army…
the new Sanogo????
wahahahahahahaahahahaha.
Wath will choke on his cornflakes when he reads it.
Has anyone else read about us signing two African players?
I like players with gladiatorial like physique Rico. Maybe add in Ozil, Henry, Bergkamp and Pires for finesse but the rest I want them well built. Imagine an attack of Bale on the left, Henry in the middle and Ronaldo on the right, with Dennis behind them. And PV and Petit as DM/B2B. A defense of Lauren, Campbell, Adams and Winterburn. With Cech as keeper.
imagine…..P38 W37 D1 L0.
That’s my trick Adam…. 😉
Old Dev- are you insinuating that you are a witch doctor? 🙂
Another Sanogo?
Sorry Rico. I misread it. 🙂
Don’t think we will Devil….
I agree Rico. I do not want to see another Messi. Maybe another Ronaldo type player yes. Another Drogba type player yes. But not another Messi.
It drives me crazy. Honest.
throughout my coaching career with young players I always found it repulsive. I always considered each and every player as an individual in his/her own right. They were the subject not the object. When I had parents comparing I often told them straight and plain what I thought. Its not fair on the kid. Yes even when he was around 18 years old.
I used to tell them that they were individuals and used to focus on their strengths not on whom they reminded me of. Atm there are around 80 players playing in our premier division whom I have coached for a minimum of one year, 4 of them in the national team, and each one can say that I always told them to work hard enough so that one day kids will look up to them as role models. But never told them that they are the new so and so.
I see it boring.
Well said Devil, always makes me laugh reading ‘the next Messi’ – there’s only one and always will be…
I don’t know enough about it all Ts, so I stay away from topics like that… Don’t want to make myself look a tit… lol
🙂 Dev… you have a point.
The new Wath will be tee-total and a pescetarianism and a Corbynista.. lol
the first one to say ‘the old Dev’ or ‘the new Dev’ I will hex him.
I hate comparisons Ginge. I find it tedious when they say…the new PV, the new TH, the new Ginge, the new Adam, the new Rico, the old Wath, the old Kev…………comparisons are odious.
yes styles may be similar…..but the brain is not.
🙂 Rico.
During the boredom of the transfer window, it is always hilarious to listen to the spin of politicians.
That’s what I meant Adam, tomorrow you find out…
No idea Ts..
Lol Dev. pleased to read another ‘blogster’ agrees with that comparison
In the summer before the Emirates cup, even before he played I drew that comparison, having spoken to someone who works in scouting arena from france.
my heart skipped a beat when I read the headline………..
http://arsenalarsenal.net/2016/01/12/arsenal-have-found-the-new-diaby/
No Rico. Unfortunately the boot is still on. Tomorrow we will learn if it can be removed.
Good mornin g again all,
Hi Snap, how are you doing?
Rico, do you think Jeremy Hunt is using the right data to con the public re. junior doctors? 🙂
Good Morning Lovelies and Hunkies.
I am still playing with a daisy regarding Elneny…..will he, wont he, will he………
Morning Kev. still outside Heathrow waiting for a couple of players to the Ems????
Onya Kev lol.
Boots off isn’t it Adam?
Ha ha Kev, I was so sure it was my gaff, and another post would have to be binned….
Morning Scott, I take on board your earlier comment about complacency, and I will not tolerate that….
I don’t think we’ll underestimate Burnley (or Barnsley 😛 ) but bringing in a few Kids alongside the lines of Rosicky, Arteta, Chambers and co should be able to do the job…
Sure is Kev.
You know what, I was reading about the Stiffs last night and Dan Crowley in particular, who wax at loan with……
Barnsley…. 🙄
I must concentrate….
Morning Adam, big day for the Gunners tomorrow and boots… 😉
Morning all.
Morning Adam..
I think you might be right..
Morning Snap, Kev and all again…
Let’s hope so Snap..
🙂 Kev, I had to double check though after your comment… lol
Morning Rico and all. If we get Elneny we will strike fear in the hearts of the opposition.
Bon Jour Rico…
Oui, c’est Burnley, vous clever clogs 😀
Good read Rico……I think Wenger is hungry for more titles so are the boys imo…