Morning all.
So here we are then, the 2017/18 season kicks off later this evening and it’s Arsenal v Leicester who get things going on Sky Sports fancy new television channel. It’s highly likely the pundits will reel out the same old stuff before, during and after each game, just as it’s quite likely that this Arsenal team will do the same.
Sead Kolasinac looks to be the perfect left back, he’s strong, determined and looks like he’d run through a brick wall. He appears to have the kind of approach which Alexis does, win at all costs. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain ended last season is a similar fashion. If he stays and continues such form, he might just have his best season yet in an Arsenal shirt. I seriously hope Arsene Wenger doesn’t let him leave for Liverpool or Chelsea and instead, convinces him to sign a contract extension.
Another similarity to seasons gone by is we’re left wondering if Arsenal and Wenger have done enough in the transfer window to give this league a real go. I’d say no, not with just the three additions and by that I mean the two new guys and the newly promoted Reiss Nelson. With around three weeks left before the summer sales close, that could change. I certainly hope and expect it to.
Going into this game tonight, the defence is already looking vulnerable with injuries and suspensions leaving few players for Wenger to choose from but ahead of them, it’s expected both Ramsey and Ozil could return. Mind you, I’m not sure I’d select either, certainly not if there’s any doubts over their fitness. It’s not worth the long term risk.
The last two opening fixtures of the season have seen us lose at The Emirates, something which simply mustn’t be repeated tonight.
Start strong, stay strong and give the fans a glimmer of hope that for once, we have a squad full of players who are 100% committed to the challenge ahead.
I won’t hold my breath, but I do like surprises in life. Perhaps this season will bring one for all of us….
Morning Rico, all!
I cannot wait for the first ball to be kicked as we start the new campaign at home tonight and i certainly do want want to be left angry and frustrated at full time like the last few seasons gone by! I am however, worrying optimistic for tonight, not usually a trait i carry into Arsenal games, but i feel that we have enough and can get off to a good start.
I do sincerely hope i do not eat my words come the final whistle.
Morning rico, good post. Cant help remembering last year when our first choice centre backs were missing, ‘a bit short’ and the consequences. Deja Vu with Kosielny, Mustafi and Gabriel it feels. Maybe Holding and Monreal and one other can see out Mahrez, Vardy and Iheanacho if they all play, certainly hope so.
Morning Bumba, Andrew, all. Thanks Guys..
The ex City striker is injured isn’t he?
Think he’s fit and in squad rico. Shame to hear latest Liverpool news, what must they be smoking now!
That’s annoying Andrew… lol
Funny how Coutinho now has a bad back, seems he’s been hanging around Alexis.. 😉
Courtinho has asked for a transfer according to Sky lunchtime news.
http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11669/10983425/philippe-coutinho-hands-in-liverpool-transfer-request-after-barcelona-bids
At least none of ours have, yet…
Barca need to offer £90m + £1 ☹️ That’ll seal the deal! Imo.
Afternoon all. Like the Arsenal, sunshine and showers. Let’s hope for no tears before bed time!
Do we think Wenger will buy anymore players ??
WSG, yes i do think we will buy at least 1 more, but i think it will be the last week of the window and only when we finally manage to get rid of some of the overpaid average players we currently have.
Afternoon all, good opener rico.
It’s ridiculous that here we are starting the season, yet the TW is still open. These first few games can make all the difference. Who on earth decided the TW should extend into the season? Surely everyone is capable of seeing what’s what, in the pre-season friendlies, then doing business.
What if we wanted to go for a Leicester player, and he scores against us tonight?
Stooopid!!
Debuchy is under contract until 2019 and on £70k pw, so it looks like we’re stuck with him, unless we agree to pay some of his salary.
Personally I’d use him as back up to Bellerin especially if Oxlade-Chamberlain is leaving. Unless he goes out on loan again.
He is still a good player, he just hasn’t had any luck with us.
I am sure he will still buy and come out with a profit on the Summer. Nevertheless I still think we will concede tonight but win 3-1.
If we show all the qualitee we showed in the Cup Final I think we will all be happy especially if we can maintain consistency lot more than last season. (Is that positive enough for today,Rico.;) )
Evening all. Thanks Meerkat..
Have we signed Lemar yet?
You’re getting there Kelsey… lol
Evening Rico. Confident for tonight? I am.
hello everybody!
The kick off today with us at sport Tv -3 Portugal. All the games broadcasting.
William Carvalho probably goes to West Ham
Evening Adam. Nope… 😉
I read that too Jm. Apparently he’s slow and not right for us… 😉
If Arsenal hold on to Alexis and he extends his contract, Ozil and Ox too, and Liverpool sell Coutinho, Totts sell Rose, it would be huge imo.
Come on Rico. We should be positive. 🙂
Adam, if I’m honest, I’m not that interested. I just can’t see how much can change when things have pretty much stayed the same…
I know what you mean but, for the moment, it is what it is. We must certainly beat Leicester.
We must and I think we will.. it’s a waiting game now…
What a start!!
1-1 yep, quite a start, classic Arsenal… ?
Bloody heck!
Same old same old…. ?
Vulnerable at the back in the air, just as Chelsea showed last week after BFG went off.
Carragher is an absolute knob!
I actually turned sky sports over Rico because of him talking and repeating the same bollocks.. watching on NBC..
Has Bellerin taken on his man once yet! Annnd back to earth
Great to see Danny break his duck, now hopefully he can take it on and get a few more goals.
Lucky, lucky Arsenal.
Never easy watching is it?
Mustafi for Holding, kids not having a good night. We need experience at the back,
Lol 10 million quid for that??? Lolollol and sone still call him leprof?????? in arsene we rust. Long live the opposition.
When it went 1-1, I thought we need four to win it with our defence. Still think that’s the case.
*some
On the plus side.. with elneney in midfield we seem to move from defence to attack a lot quicker.
Holding and bellerin poor in first half.
Don’t blame you Kel. He has to be the worst..
Jeez.
I think Holding is missing the wise words from Merts, don’t blame him I say…
He probably does Rico.. but he’s getting schooled here by vardy.. learning curve I suppose. But gonna cost us.
Oh dear.
Another cross, another goal, no organisation at the back.
It’s as if we miss someone with influence in the defence!
Amateur hr…. what has this team done all of pre season on defence ffs…
Absolutely shambolic…….
I don’t blame Holding though Kel, just the guy who has left him – it happened to Chambers too…
Didn’t see that coming Kev.. eh….
Tick toc…wenger…
Chip it hector!
Brave or reckless…? The next 20 mins will give us the answer….
How many times have we seen this type of game from Arsenal.. nothing has changed with Wenger naive and weak defensively for about a decade now… oh well maybe the penny will drop before the year 2020…
If this is a glimpse of what the season ahead is gonna be like…its 4th to 7th.. imo..
Rico, I saw it last weekend, Chelsea caused some hairy moments in our defence and Stoke will have noticed it as well.
Agreed Kev.. they’ll be more physical too…
Might surprise but I’d get Theo on..
Ozil.. Lol no wonder nobody has bid for him ffs
Hi Guys,
Been away for a long time but nothing has changed apparently……
How is this game any different from our last season opening game against liverpool. No improvement and no new ideas.
Ozil so frustrates me…. loses the ball and does little to get it back…
Hi AG, all seems so familiar doesn’t it…
Wenger moaning on the sidelines.. Typical of the prick.. can’t wait for the excuses…
Here’s a reason Wenger.. your team is under cooked and unprepared again….
Hard to disagree Kel.
Exactly rico…. we have become a bit of a joke under wenger now
Lovely ball Xhaka, super finish Ramsey…
excellent goal ramsey
Ooollllliiiiieeeeeeeee ??
I the name of our Lord… I can’t take this lol blow the fuckin whistle
Bloody hell, I said we needed four!
get in…..
don’t concede now……. can’t take this
Credit When it’s due to Wenger for the subs… they worked out…
I cannot cope
Well done boys.. but defensively that was brutal…..
I said earlier what different from last year…… well we won 🙂
shame on me lol….. what do i know about football. Arsene knows best!!! heheheheheee
good subs and change in formation by wenger
No, can’t take this every week. So less stressful watching Essex cricket.
WOW! Doesn’t do much for my nerves, but what a game.
We were the better side IMO, but everytime the foxes went forward they looked like scoring.
La la la la la la la, Giroud!!!!
Look a win is a win and Im delighted.. ? but let’s be honest against one of the big boys we’ll be destroyed playing like that….
Brilliant game for the neutral no doubt.. but as an Arsenal fan not so much….
Well well…..
That’s it we don’t need to buy….. I can see AW thinking that…… SMH
Wenger tactical move ten minutes out gets the win.
What a genius 🙂
So can I Obi..
Wouldn’t be the same if they didn’t put you through the wringer.
Good Evening to The Lady of the House and all fellow Gooners in residence.
A great comeback with some fantastic goals from four of our players, but we still look vulnerable at the back. We need a proper defensive midfielder, Elneny is a good squad player, but is not what we need back there week in week out.
Also,,we need to ditch the zonal marking, more like non-marking. Vardy had a clear run at the ball for his goal. No wonder that Steve Bould has no hair. He ripped out what little he had left watching our defensive fiasco.
It wouldn’t, but at least we won which makes a change…,.
That was a thriller, mainly because our defence were frail. Well, we still have Kos, Merts and Mustafi to come back, None of those fill me with confidence, so I think he still needs to buy a top, top, player. Or two;-)
Welcome to the EPL Lacazette and Kolashnikov, LOL.
Instant replay……Lucky, lucky Arsenal.
Defence? What defence? Clueless, absolutely clueless, and I blame le coach.
Arsenal had 27 shots with 10 on target while Leicester had 6 shots with 3 on target, all of which scored. Something is definitely wrong there. Even with a makeshift back three we should have done better than that.
Agree CG… the zonal marking is bullshit imo.. Wengers failure to drill this team defensively almost cost us… thankfully we got away with it but against a better team it’s lights out imo.
The Ox played well…. pity he’s outta contract soon, I wonder who’s fault that is…. ?.
Ah well 3pts in the bag hopefully Lord Wenger can sort that backline out I really hope he does… but i doubt it….
I bet some of our players are in for a ‘few’ well chosen words from Jens ‘The Mad Monk’ Lehmann when they return from training. It’s a pity that we don’t have a leader like him playing for us.
We should not be conceding three goals at home, but on the bright side, the Foxes conceded four against us.
Bit late getting here and from reading the comments surely we cant be …………..Top of the League ! hahaha
I will reserve my judgment when I watch it late tomorrow……….if I can get through the Boardmasters traffic !
I say we are top of the league……..we are top of the league ! hahaha
Most interesting part of AW’s interview was that he said that Giroud had decided to stay and on reflection he does offer us something different and the competition with Lacazette though different type of players should be healthy.
Three key players missing in defence but even so we were carved open far too often and when will zonal marking end
.
No Sanchez tonight wasn’t the key.Welbeck despite his well timed goal continues to frustrate.Let’s hope the win restores confidence as the game could have gone either way.Fine margins as per usual.
I still maintain to win ttles you need a solid defence and build from there and we haven’t seen that consistently for a long time.
Zonal only works if someone attacks the ball. The way we play it allows everyone to leave it to someone else.
Uff!!!!
Sentence of the night: Leicester has scored 3 goals today but will not score 3 goals, away, in any game.
Tomorrow, the analysys
With Vardy up front, they are likely to score quite a few, but like us, they are dodgy at the back.
Luckily!
We can relax now for the weekend, and watch how our rivals get on. Three points and an entertaining game, are not to be sneered at.
Oh for the George Graham days, one nil up and relax for rest of game.
I thought we played really well and had the dream start with lacazette goal..
Shame we couldn’t hang on and conceded two goals.
Xhaka can be brilliant, but also has moments of complacency and recklessness that can cost us dearly.
Thought cezk was at fault for their 1st goal. .he should have stayed in his position..he got caught in no man land..
Ozil. .don’t let me start. .waste of time. .
Bellerin was so negative you think he needs a shrink. .definally regressed from what he used to be..
Holding had a shaky game but wont slag him for it..
Welbeck almost missed his chance ..hopefully he becomes more clinical. . .
The substitutes made the difference( not including Walcott ) and won the game so good move by wenger. .
However, still think we got lucky at the end, but I’m not complaining. .for now anyway.
Top of the league
What a game!
Same old Arsenal really but we won so that is great.
We looked fantastic going forward, really fluid but defensively truly awful. I would love us to go all in for Van Dijk but it won’t happen. Hopefully the return of Kos and Mustafi steady the ship a little.
Surely Chambers is a better option at CB than Monreal?!!!
Potter, your 11.07 is post of the week.
Of course zonal marking CAN work, but too often, we don’t have anyone following the runs and, as you said, attacking the ball.
The individuals let the side down, not the strategy, imo.
3 goal scoring from 6 shots on goal doesn’t make Cech look good.
I haven’t seen the game, but on face value, that’s pretty ordinary.
Unless, of course, they were soft goals so I’ll reserve judgement.
I thought positionally cech was poor for first, second he could do nothing about as his midfield/defence let him down and third no one challenged Vardy from the corner.
Watching Cech last night , you can’t help wondering about the Szczesny situation , voted by journos , players and supporters as the best goalkeeper in Italy last year and we let him go for about £ 10 million.? Wenger hung on to Seaman for too long and ruined Manninger will he hang on too long again.?
Scott our defence last night
:- There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it.
Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it.
Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody’s job.
Everybody thought that Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it.
It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done
Cheers Lewis.
I can’t wait to see the replay later on.
Thank God for The Arse that all I’ll say. I’m hurting & The Arse are easing the pain as I watch Arse TV?
Good point Potter re Szczesny. Seems there was either a personality clash between him and Wenger, or too many naughty incidents..
Our goalkeepiñg situation gets more similar to the Almunia v Fabianski one by the day…
35 is my new Edu
Morning Rico. A nightmare performance in so many ways.
Trying to keep two keepers happy smacks of falling between two stools. Sometimes you have to make a decision and if someone doesn’t like it they know what they can do. Goalkeeper stability is as important to a top defence as a striker that scores 30 a seasonis to the rest of the team.
Morning Adam. Don’t worry, Wenger said he’ll put things right…
Totally agree. I thought we’d finally signed one in Cech but lately he’s been all at sea. Can’t say goal keeping is an area of strength for Wenger when it comes to spotting and signing one…
I’d have gone for one this summer or kept Martinez as he seems to be the future…
Wenger doesn’t do defence. Never has. 🙂
Very true.
Don’t think can blame Cech when most defenders playing out of position in front of him. And although I panicked at the time, his rush out to Vardy stopped a 4th goal. Holding needs experience around him. What was Bellerin doing ending up at left back? The make up and unbalance of the defence at end would have been under the microscope, had we not had an excellent ending with two subs scoring goals. So credit AW for subs and Giroud and Ramsey for excellent goals, but he got away with tons of flack for losing with a defence as inept as in first game last season had it ended differently.
Isn’t Bould our defensive coach?
Just asking 🙂
Morning all.
Would we have won this game last season, or the season before?
I haven’t seen the game, so want to know have we found some resilience.
I know we need a lot more than that, but we have lacked it.
New post up now..
Gooood morning Rico
Hope you enjoy the break as i do.
Le prof at the helm means repeat everything and nothing changes.
My advice is prepare for the worse and not kill yourself .
Defence not addresesd and spanked near 80 mil just on that depart.
Midfield full of one touch mediocres .Very limited technically all of them there is no one confident to keep the ball on its feet and run/trick opponents.
XAKA enough said.Press him quickly and just kuck the ball it does not matter where it land.35 M for this …you having a laugh.
Lacazette and Sead …wait till he will ruin them.
I am optimistic we are gojng to win the league the season because
Manure they will revolt on Moaner
ManCity to many new players
Chelsea after winning last season would not be hungry.
Liverpool and Spuds will have exodous syndrome.
Yeah ….wenger is capable of winning after all.