Daily Bits and Bobs

Another NLD today & Azeez faces Arsenal.

Posted on by rico

 

Morning all.

He’s a guy isn’t he. If Mikel Arteta had another five or six players in the squad with Kieran Tierney’s attitude, desire and passion for the game along with the respect he clearly has for his manager and the club, Arsenal would be a lot further up the table than they are right now.

The international break might be in full swing but back home at Arsenal, life goes on. Training goes on.

Balogun, Nelson, Coyle, Lewis and Bola joined up with the first team players not selected for their respective countries and by the looks of the video on the official site, a lot of fun was had. Even Mikel Arteta was larking around and smiling.

Miguel Azeez has been with the England under 19’s squad and today he could find himself up against his fellow Arsenal teammates his international team side faces the clubs under 23’s in a friendly at St George’s Park.

In other news, Bukayo Saka has withdrawn from the senior England international squad which makes sense. The extent of his injury ins unknown but I hope this is more common sense being applied by Arsenal than anything else. Other clubs have been withdrawing international players for years so why shouldn’t Arsenal? Partey and Auba’s international break is over too so hopefully by now they’ll be back at the club and returning to training.

Lastly, there’s a NLD going on today as the two women’s side meet at the Toots stadium. Kick off is at 3.30.

See you in the comments.

 

 

 

rico

65 thoughts on “Another NLD today & Azeez faces Arsenal.”

  1. allezkev says:

    That’s a great video Rico, I saw it yesterday but what a self effacing young man he is, it’s also why I’ve warmed to Odegaard, for these guys it’s not about them it’s about the team and that’s why I don’t want Guendouzi anywhere near our squad.

  3. allezkev says:

    A seriously weakened Arsenal U18 team playing at Reading, goes 2-0 down early in the game, then fights back to 2-2 before going 3-2 down.

    4 Arsenal players booked which means that we’re either playing right on the edge of our ability or that the referee is a relative of Mike Riley.

    Score is now 3-3, so following the example set by our 1st team…

  6. allezkev says:

    Interesting Rico, maybe for your tech guy, when I refreshed it didn’t show Rick’s comment.

    After I posted my 12.29 Rick’s 11.40 appeared.

    The same thing is happening to me on Arseblog News, I think you mentioned something about Google and how they affect loading speeds? This seems to be a growing problem with
    Big Tech/ Big Brother….

  13. allezkev says:

    Maybe I’ll have to log into WordPress then Rico, makes you think seriously about getting a VPN, sick to death of all this Big Brother intrusion…

    I don’t think it’s being shown anywhere Rico, which is a shame, seeing it on YouTube would be great, but I guess that nobody is interested if they can’t make any dough out of it?

  14. allezkev says:

    @jeorgebird
    Ft. Reading 3 Arsenal 4. Arsenal end run of four league games without a win.

    Well done the schoolboys, three in the starting XI and three on the bench.

  16. rico says:

    It does help Kev and you stay logged in for longer.

    Shame about the under 23’s, seeing as it’s against England I thought it might be shown somewhere.

    The women’s NLD is on Twitch.

    What’s a VPN stick?

  21. Sue says:

    Hi Rico.. do you know the final score for the U23 friendly? I tried looking for info on it earlier – nothing!!

    The women are 1-0 up 🤩

  24. Rick says:

    At the moment we are heading for anotherwin against that lot.

    And its at the socalled best ground in LondonLOL.

  27. Rick says:

    It looked so easy and could have been much more then 3-0.

    Good win for the u18s Kev 4 goals and 5 yellow.
    when I see Henry Frances and Omari Hutchinson getting 2 0ff them
    i cannot help thinking why.
    They don’look like they have a foul in them.

  30. Cicero says:

    A glance at the stats of the women’s NLD shows that Arsenal were in total control in all aspects of the game. Just another day at the office even, if it was at The New Swamp. 😉

  31. Rick says:

    Rico I am having same problem as Kev
    Logged it this morning just post no comments.
    Posted comment at 1140 and Kevs came up.
    Untill I posted comment at 4.45 kev and mine were the only comments on there .
    When i posted comment at 5.39 it updated all comments up to that point.
    Now as i type my comment at 5.41 is the last one posted and I do not know if there is any More.
    I did try to log into Word Press and made a right mess of it
    I don’t know how I can get round it.

  32. allezkev says:

    Rick, when I log on I always refresh once or twice and sometimes the comments update, I’m not doing any different to what I’ve been doing for years so it ain’t me…

  34. rico says:

    Rick, just below the comments box there are login options. If you use one of them to log in to HH, your page should update. 🤞

  35. Aussie Geoff says:

    has any one seen Auba hair cut it looks shocking. it looks like a table it’s flat on top with a braided piece in each corner like legs of a table.

  36. Aussie Geoff says:

    Just watched the video with Kieran Tierney I liked he talked and that he showed respect for the club, coaches and players of not only arsenal but his passed clubs, if he keeps going like this who knows in a year or two he could our new captain.

  37. Wavy says:

    Morning all.

    It’s been a very long time since we had a Scottish captain. He was inspirational! Could KT be the next highly successful Scot to captain the new resurgent Arsenal FC?

    Do you know? I hope so😀

  41. rico says:

    Just watched that interview. Arteta certainly comes across well and it’s clear imo that the club have a plan. If the club execute their plan as well as Arteta explained it, then I only see us improving.

  42. allezkev says:

    Yes Rico, I thought is was a good interview with some thoughtful questions rather the banal questions that we get from the dorks in the press.

    I saw the Saka and Smith Rowe interviews and they are just nice, young boys, it was so good listening to them chatting, we have some great young players with quite a few more coming through and it seems as if Arteta will give them a chance if they’re the right quality.

  43. rico says:

    Refreshing to hear some questions which were of interest answered Kev. Imo, he made it clear that there was a huge mess for him and Edu to sort out and not just the squad.

    I liked what he said about the youth because I do think they’re important. I’m sure there are many fans who big signings and big improvements but I think this is a slow and long fix.

    I’ll still grumble and moan I’m sure but I still think Arteta and Edu are the way forward.

  45. allezkev says:

    Everybody and his dog seems to know what Martin Odegaard has planned and what Arsenal also have planned and even that Arsenal and Real Madrid have come to an understanding over the players future. It’s amazing and how do I know all this?

    Well it’s because I read about it on NewsNow, or in reality that I saw the baited headlines on News Now without clicking on them.

    But we all know that it’s bollocks what they write, we all know that they know feck all and we all know that there’s a long way to go and that there’s a lot of hurdles to jump over before Martin is ours – that’s if he ever is?

    So don’t beat yourself up reading this sh*t because we’re going to get endless false reports on the status of Odegaard for the rest of this season and it’ll get absolutely hysterical after a good performance by the Norwegian captain. They know that we Arsenal fans are on an online hook when Odegaard is mentioned and have you also noticed how Balogun is no longer a rumour they use to reel us in anymore, no mates they’ve got Martin and us in their sights for some advertising revenue and they’re going to rinse us – if we let them…

  46. rico says:

    Afternoon Rick, not many.

    I don’t read any of the articles on NN anymore Kev, most of the headings lead to little substance to support it.

    Probably like most fans, I have a few sites I read most days but other than that, I don’t bother.

  47. allezkev says:

    Yes Rico, the general consensus among those that write sensibly about the club realise the mess we were in when Wenger left, a disjointed, unbalanced and dysfunctional squad.

    Many fans still refuse to accept this because of their loyalty to Arsene and I can understand that, but he was burnt out and just treading water, I think he lost a lot of his zest after Paris in 2006 and after that it was inexorably downwards.

    Gazides also left us in a mess, Mislintat wasn’t the magician he was made out, Raul was decidedly dodgy and a few others behind the scenes were in it for themselves. In that environment Emery had no chance, he was and is a decent man but was a poor choice and it seems as time goes by a last resort.

    Ozil stunk the place out, undermined the manager and then tried to undermine Arteta, I’m amazed that some fans still think it was a mistake to let him leave.

    Now we have a much improved atmosphere but there is still a long way to go, because under KSE we have slumped from the highs of the Invincibles to getting thrashed at Wembley 3-0 by Man City and then losing 4-1 in Baku. That is unacceptable, our worst two cup finals and it happened under Stan’s watch!

    So I’m optimistic and realistic and if it takes a couple more years then so be it…

  48. rico says:

    Very good comment Kev and I agree wholeheartedly.

    I said to Adam a while ago that I believed Arsene Wenger staying on as long as he did, set us back ten years.well, I think we’re year four. Lol

  49. allezkev says:

    Rico, I think the club ownership just fell into a comfort zone of qualifying for top four and nothing else really, no ambition and no pretence at trying to compete for the league, they just used Chelsea and latterly Man City for the reason of not competing, not that that stopped Leicester and after that the Chelsea excuse looked as hollow as it always was.

  50. allezkev says:

    As far as Europe was concerned, well that was just an exercise in making money, I mean how many times during the post 2006 did we ever believe that Arsenal went into the Champions League with any real intention to compete for it and Wenger was as much to blame as Stan for that, it was pathetic, humiliating really, who could ever forget losing to Bayern 10-2 on aggregate?

    We were all sick of it in the end, 8 years trophy less between 2005 and 2013…

  51. allezkev says:

    Then we get the comments from Arsene since he left, you know reading between the lines, that he feels betrayed by KSE and Stan and that they kind of forced him out early, and well whose fault is that? Was Stan responsible for all those empty seats and banners being flown over away grounds? Despite the Lord Wenger apologists trying to rewrite history that doesn’t happen if a club is dynamic and going places does it?

    But it happens at clubs where things are stale and in decline…

    The problem was that Gazides wasn’t skilled enough in the change over and maybe he knew that himself and that’s why he did a David Cameron…

  52. rico says:

    What about before the Kroenke family though Kev, the board then seemed happy to let the club drift knowing full well we weren’t going to compete in the champions league. The lies too re the stadium move. They weren’t from Kroenke.

    Then of course we had the battle of ownership, the departure of Dein and the rest as they say, is history.

  53. rico says:

    But yes, I agree re the owners being far too laidback during that time although I do think a lot of that was down to Wenger having so much control when they bought into the club.

    Imo, the day Josh stepped up, we started to see change.

    I read somewhere, true or not I don’t know, but Stan Kroenke never denied Wenger money for players. Then of course FFP came in, we dropped out of the CL and things went from bad to worse. Some of the signings the club has made over the last ten years have been pretty poor.

  54. Sue says:

    Hi Rico.. just out of interest which other sites do you look at? I look on JA, but tbh it’s becoming rather toxic (MA out has already started!!)

    I thought that was England’s last game today (or more like hoped!), but they play again on Wednesday… urgh.. boy this break is dragging!!

    ESR and Eddie start for the U21s @8pm..

  57. Devilgunner says:

    Good morning everyone

    Yesterday I saw two games. Italy against Bulgaria and also Sweden against Kosovo.

    Locatelli had a very good game and scored for Italy while Belotti also scored and lead the line well.

    However, Isak of Sweden caught my eye. A towering CF who is also fast, who scored and lead the line very well.

    He is on around Eur1million per year at Real Sociedad…..and has till 2024 contract. I think we should try and get him.

  58. Devilgunner says:

    All three players I mentioned are all on low to medium wages. So they will not break the bank to try and buy. Locatelli is 23 and plays for Sassuolo. He can play as a pure DM or as box to box midfielder. Belotti is 27 years old, has a good goal ratio (although he takes pens as well) and is a good leader of the line. But I am more excited by Isak, a Swedish international who is a giant, runs fast and can lead the line well. And he would not break the bank if we were to go for him. the only snag with Isak and Belotti is that they can only play through the middle or as a 2nd striker. They never play on the wings.

    Ideally we would keep Balogun as he knows the club inside out and is highly thought of. As Kev pointed out earlier, we are not hearing anything again atm since the attention of bloggers and papers is elsewhere. If Balogun is really that good then I do not think that MA will keep on faffing about……he will stick him in the 1st team. Its not a question of having to remove one of Laca or Auba……Balogun is not even ahead of Nketiah, and he does not get regular call ups to the bench. Look at ESR and Saka, they got in and kept their place even though ahead of them there were record 72mill buy Pepe, Willain, Auba and Ceballos. And to cap it all they are keeping them out of the side as well. Can you imagine the line up without ESR and Saka?? No because they are good. And they are so good that we keep on praying that they are given a rest because they are playing all the time. But if Balogun was as good as we are led to believe, I feel he would be keeping either or both Auba and Laca out of the equation.

  62. Joaquim Moreira says:

    Devil: I know all of them.
    I had Isak under my eye. Sometimes it disappears in the game. I don’t know if he is physically fit for English football. It appears and well, in Real Sociedad; not much was seen in the qualifying against Manchester United.
    Belotti is Belotti. He is an area bug”. He does not be staying in Torino much longer.
    Locatelli is a very good player.

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