Morning all.
Wales battered Israel 3-0 last night with Aaron Ramsey netting the first. He was on the receiving end of a strong tackle and was left hobbling. Late in the game he was substituted. Thankfully, that’s it for Wales as they have no further matches in this international break.
Unlike Tomas Rosicky who played the entire match, his 100th for the Czech Republic last night, he has another fixture on Tuesday.
Today it’s Brazil against Chile at The Emirates which should be a cracker. Germany also play their final match against Denmark and with Gabriel, Sanchez and Ozil involved in those games, I hope none feature for too long or pick up an injury.
Arsene Wenger has been talking about how hard he takes a loss:
I never go out after we lose. I just sit at home miserably and think about why we lost.
I’ve had periods where I’ve stayed at home for two or three days. If we have not got a game for a while, and we have lost, there are times when I have not gone out for days.
It really hurts. If it does not, you will never survive in the game.
People who live around you suffer with you, so the only thing I can do is try to get out of other people’s way.
I’m sure that’s a feeling we can all relate to, especially when we lose and played badly. I hope he has no cause to go into hiding before this season ends. With nine, potentially ten matches left to play before the season ends, Arsenal and the manager have to be at the top of their game. Our run in is not easy:
Liverpool H
Burnley A
Reading Wembley
Chelsea H
Hull City A
Swansea City H
Man Utd A
Sunderland H
WBA H
FA Cup Final IF we have beaten Reading in the semi-final.
Burnley, Hull City and Sunderland are all flirting with relegation so those fixtures will be tough, especially the Hull and Burnley ones away from home. Utd away will be tough too as the battle for top spot could be even tighter by then.
For Arsenal it’s simple, win all our remaining fixtures and this season could yet be good. Very good…
Transfer gossip:
Arsene Wenger is planning a double-raid for Victor Wanyama and Aleksandar Mitrovic. The Arsenal boss is prepared to splash £30 million on the duo, with Wanyama costing £20 million and Anderlecht striker Mitrovic being valued at £10 million. (Sun on Sunday)
So no Morgan Schneiderlin then. Doh!
Arsenal will face competition from Atletico Madrid in their pursuit of Ilkay Gundogan. The midfielder might want to leave Borussia Dortmund at the end of the current season with the Bundesliga side set to miss out on the Champions League places. (Bild)
Couldn’t make these stories up could you. Hang on, they just did….
Have a good Sunday folks, hope you remembered the clocks…
New post up now..
Lee- Firmino looked good playing for Brazil.
lol Rico… neither do I; Potter kindly ‘googled’ it for us so…
Interesting Morgan played in both internationals… he is now a starter for Les bleus; where is Abou?
Morning Adam.
Ts, sadly not re my French…
ha ha ha Potter.
Snap- if you are around…
Do you not think Pogba is underwhelming for France… I thought Geoffrey vs Kvist was very good…
Says that both he and Giroud were greeted by whistles from the crowd but they combined and scored both goals.
Google is my friend .
It was good to see Nikkie B and Eriksen for Denmark. lol. Toothless in front of goal…
Geoffrey Kondogbia, OG12 and Lacazette were immense in the first half…
My sperds neighbour keeps telling me Eriksen is better than Ozil.lol
Softly softly Catchee monkey. lol
As they say feeling pain also means you are getting better.
Hi Rico… is your French good?
Alexandre Lacazette, accueilli par des sifflets, et Olivier Giroud, déterminé à conjurer le mauvais sort, ont mis leur esprit revanchard au service de l’équipe de France en inscrivant les deux buts de la victoire française (2-0) contre le Danemark à Saint-Etienne.
Morning Rico and all.
Potter. Hope things are progressing well, despite the pain-killer thing.
Morning Ts, Potter and all…
Softly softly Catchee monkey., Just wish I could get the pain relief right. It seem that a morphine /paracetamol mix lasts about 5 hours , which means that even if I get to bed at midnight I am wide awake at 5. Just dog tired when I wake up and how my wife is staying upright I have no idea.
You ‘mending’ ok? 😉
It does indeed Potter.
Their combo seems far effective than Benzema& OG12’s…
Morning TS , that takes us back to our chat a few weeks ago.
OG12 and Lacazette combo was amazing!
Morning all btw
The tough run in will give a picture of how Arsenal will cope under extreme pressure.
The gunners have won 7 matches in a row. By the law of averages,Arsenal are due a draw/defeat in one of these games.However if Wenger wants to prove he can take Arsenal to the next level,he must show his tactical acumen.
All out attack will play into the hands of MU and Pool and other teams. NU also pulled off a draw.
Thanks to the fight ,we prevailed.That’s why Wenger must be street smart and not play teams at their own games. Sometimes anti soccer will do the trick.
A win over Pool will satisfy most gunners.
Interesting tweet from French Football weekly :- More interplay between Giroud and Lacazette suggesting these two understand each other, and France get a corner. Denmark deal with it well.
Ozil played 90, Giroud played 90, Kosielny 90. Hello and good night!
Oh well, dead on here so night all…
He was superb Wavy… Like you, I hoped Coutinho would be the one limping off…
He was good though, wasn’t he? Our boy that is. Shame Chile lost, I thought they were very lively and had greater attacking intent. Brazil, on the other hand were pretty defensive and apart from the goal, going forwards they were predictable and languid.
Still, do I care? No not really. Was hoping Coutinho would get one up the bracket! He dished it out a bit as did the rest of his team mates. Definitely no love lost between these two South American rivals! It was like a war zone at times, not especially pretty to watch! Brazil aren’t what they were, are they.
Think I’ll have 20 minutes of Ozil.
Thank goodness that’s over and Alexis is still standing….
Oops, I’m on pause so he might already have been subbed 🙂
Hope Alexis goes off soon…..
This Brazil v Chile match is a friendly?
Calm down ffs. We’ll be lucky to have a fit Sanchez at this rate. Some crazy, spiteful tackles going in.
Not happy about all the rough stuff from Chile. If Brazil retaliate it’s likely to be Alexis who gets the brunt of it
Off out with the woofa, catch up later…
Best thing Kev would be both Chile and Brazil get knocked out early… 😉
Will be a huge problem though, not only the time they are missing but as you say, their return will need to be managed..
Getting at least 3rd in the PL is a must as we don’t need that early qualifier…
That’s gotta be managed Rico, because both Gabriel and Alexis will have fatigue and burn-out issues next season as well…
Hopefully Chambers and Hayden can cover for Gabriel if there are injury problems with Koz and BFG next season.
As for Sanchez, how on earth can you cover for him?
Gnabry will possibly be an option next season, all being well…
We’ll need to retain Arteta and Rosicky for sure as well as replacing Flamini…
Two big players Bob, they’ll be missed…
Brazil and Chile both likely to reach the latter stages too Rico
Asked about the injury in his post-match interview, Ramsey replied “Yep, I feel ok at the moment.”
Silly me, of course Brazil will be there, that tournament all but ended Gilberto’s Arsenal career…
Hi Bob.
Will Brazil be there too? If so, no Gabriel either…
Just like all the other rumours Kev, tripe…
Hi all
Whatever our plans are for next season it will probably be without Alexis for the first month or two. Copa America taking place in Chile this summe! Why on earth is there not a mandatory two year break between major tournaments?
Wanayama is all Agent tripe, either to generate a big pay rise and bung for the agent.
Or to manipulate a transfer somewhere by linking him to Arsenal and generate a big pay rise and a bung for the agent…
I hope everyone is right about Welbecks and Ramsey’s knocks, being superficial…
Hi Henry. I too read Ramsey had a very good game. Let’s hope that continues in an Arsenal shirt…
Wanyama is all poppycock no doubt…
Hi Rico, 🙂
I have heard that Rambo played really well last night, and altho I do not care about Wales to be honest, I am still pleased for Aaron. 🙂
The transfer window rumours just do not seem to have stopped this year — but I think the Wanyama one is a bit weird as he went to S/Hampton for £6m when we decided we did not want him – so to pay £20m for him now just seems poor business.
He would not be my choice.
Gnabry has played this week for Germany under 21’s..
He’s fit and raring to go Kev, well, according to Gnabry… lol
OC should be back soon too…
🙂 Kev, a big one for Fido….
I hope so too and there aren’t many stories about either injury so that could be positive. We need them both for the Dippers…
Yeah Rico, the Gnabry situation could be interesting next season…
He could suddenly get a run in the team and ‘hey presto’ we got another ‘like a new signing’ scenario… 🙂
No, he’s out for a month apparently.
Don’t know why Adam, he seems a nice guy…
Is Daddy Cool Sturridge fit for Liverpool?
Hope you’re right about AR n DW, Rico…
We’ll need everyone ‘on it’ between now and the end of the season…
Rico, your welcome any time, just don’t forget to bring a brolly… 😀
Silva and Gnabry could replace Theo but I think he’ll stay…
Not sure about how serious the injuries are mate, but knowing our luck they’ll come up a bit short for next Saturday…
Then again, once Shand has worked wonders?
Lewis in a Ferrari would be interesting but nobody likes being his team mate.
Ramsey spoke after the game and he didn’t mention any injury… And Roy said Welbeck is not serious so fingers crossed on both..
From what I’ve read, Wellington Silva has grown up a bit, got his head together and has been playing quite well in Spain…
I suppose, with Le Coq in mind, that it’s not beyond the bounds of possibility, that if Walcott does leave, that Wenger might give Wellington a chance, at least initially?
I reckon they’ll both be fit…
Hi Kev. Are their injuries serious then?
Ha ha Adam, I’m a Lewis fan as you might know by now.. 😉
Morning Kev – I’ll be there shortly… lol
Welbeck and Ramsey are probably out of the Liverpool game then?!
Morning All
Morning Adam
Morning Rico
I’m in the garden having a barbecue…
I rather like it Rico. Especially when Ferrari win.
How boring is this break??