Daily Bits and Bobs

Arsenal want Eastender in January. February 2010 flashback….

Posted on by rico

Morning all.

According to reports, Arsene Wenger wants to rival Liverpool for the signing of Kyriakos Papadopoulos, currently of Schalke. I thought Mr Papadopoulos owned the laundrette in Eastenders… Ok, forget that if you are not an Eastenders viewer…

Anyway, the 6′ Greek international has been with his current club for three seasons now and it’s believed that they are willing to sell him should any club meet their valuation which reported to be £11 million.

Injury update from Arsenal.com – Mertesacker has recovered and will be in the squad but both Mesut Ozil and Olivier Giroud have slight knocks and will face late fitness tests ahead of the match in France. Should Giroud fail that test, Arsene Wenger has hinted that Theo Walcott could make the switch to play central. ( Now now, stop your moaning, see if he plays there first and how he performs before whining! )

Flashback – February 2010, the Potteries.

Venue was a sports stadium specialising in Rugby Football, but which masqueraded as a bear-pit where Association Football was played.

The home crowd, full of ignorance, venom and a total lack of class roared as the assault/tackle flew in.

They bellowed as the leg collapsed and the bones shattered.

Meanwhile a young mans career looked to be in tatters.

Of course the home manager made his excuses at the end of the game, but his ugly team were created in his equally ugly image.

But enough of Stoke RFU…

Arsenal were left to pick up the pieces from the promising career of a young player touted as Cesc Fabregas’s successor. Ramsey had the same Fabregas qualities, that ability to glide across the pitch, to pick a pass, he had that technically pleasing touch, the feel for the ball and an eye for a goal…

Those qualities were now in the hands of some new experts, the doctors who would put Aaron back together again and what a wonderful job they did as eventually he was able to walk normally again.

But would he ever play football at the top level again?

The Arsenal medical team did a great job and eventually, following spells on loan at Nottingham Forest and his old club Cardiff City has again donned an Arsenal shirt in a 1st class game.

March 5th 2011, he was a non-playing sub v’s Sunderland, some 13 months after the assault at the Potteries Rugby Stadium.

He finished 2010-11 making 9 appearances, (4 from the subs bench) and scored the only goal in the win over Man United on May 1st 2011….

Even so, many of us voiced our concerns and doubts that he would ever recapture those previous levels of performance. Would we ever again see that style and verve that had captivated us all way back in 2010..??

2011-12 and 2012-13 was all about the long road to fully recovering both physically and mentally from his injury. At times it seemed a forlorn task.

But towards the end of last season we began to notice that there were definite signs of improvement in his performances. His ability to get around the pitch for 90 minutes without his level dropping off. He was competing and tackling like nothing had happened..

This season he has gone up another couple of levels, he is playing like a house on fire, roasting the opposition.

Yes, he still has a lot of catching up to do, after all it’s arguably taken him the best part of three years to return and now surpass the Ramsey of 2010 but when you recall the state of his leg, it’s a miracle that he can even walk again properly, let alone be a vital cog in the Arsenal midfield…

Good luck to him…

Written by BrainwashedKev…

rico

0 thoughts on “Arsenal want Eastender in January. February 2010 flashback….”

  1. Iragaba Gilbert says:

    good morning all resident gooners. i am a Ugandan gooner for 14 years and have been a faithful of HH for two years.i really enjoy all the posts have followed all discussions on daily basis.
    i hope i will be welcome to make some contributions when i can.
    Salute to you all esp Rico.
    Liverpool failed to beat the Swans even when they had a representative on the other side…. funny

  2. rico says:

    Someone has their Arsenal mojo back…

    Another great post Kev. There’s an awful lot of of high praise for Ramsey going around at the moment and it’s deserved. But I still think he has a couple more levels in him yet.

    One thing for sure though, everything that happened in 2010 is well and truly left in 2010. He’s done really really well to recover from such a horrific injury…

  3. potter says:

    A classic story of patience for the supporters, we have people getting on Jack’s case but he is a good 6- 10 months behind in recovery time . we are lucky that these two seem to be able to get over their traumas. Diaby and Eduardo have not been that lucky.

  4. rico says:

    Welcome Lg and thanks re HH..

    I don’t get the hassle that Jack is getting at all – for the reason you state potter. He’s pure class and once he’s 100% fit and healthy, that will be there for all his critics to see…

    We saw a glimpse of what he can do on Saturday, it could be that having such a class player around him brought out the better part of Jack…

  5. tsgh says:

    Good morning all,

    Another fine post, 2 in a row. Wow

    Kev, the address you posted on the previously seems like a ‘drop -letter-box’ 😉 🙂

  6. c2hills says:

    Morning Rico and all.

    Kev is like a house on fire, burning words (of wisdom) on paper. Ramsey’s desire to comeback and improve is a lesson, not just to footballers/sportsmen but, to every human who knows about it.

  9. Charles says:

    The problem I have with our team is that when we play we looked a bit shaky at the back, I don’t see Wenger siqning another Dm .hopefully benzema will not impress in Madrid this season and Liverpool missing out of the champions league with suares having a fine season, Madrid will come for him and sell benzema to us..have a fantastic day my fellow gunners

  11. tsgh says:

    A decent result for us based on last nights game.

    Just to clarify, no one was bashing Laudrup at least not me…

    I always liked him and his older brother; Michael is amongst my fave no.10’s ever…. and as as result I have followed his managerial career as I do with Rijkaard, CoCu, De Boer and Simeone to name a few.

    All I was saying was he has a history of leaving clubs after his 2nd season; I do not know the true reasons but from a distance, his teams performances have always been poor in his 2nd full season in charge as compared to his first.

    He also seems to fall or have disagreements with his club chairpersons… he did with the Swansea board in the summer too…

    The same can be said of O’neil…

    I respect people from all walks of life who have staying power and work at issues.

    Maybe if society were like that divorce won’t be rife and we won’t have kids killing each other and some cruel adults bringing kids into the world and killing them as in the story in Manchester….

    No one is trying to predict the future at least not me…

    CH, the desire shown by folks like Diaby to come back after persistent injuries is a breathe of fresh air in a society where we are quick to point fingers and banish individuals to the scrap yard…

  15. GunnerDNA says:

    Good morning HH, ” I’d rather we got Suarez, Rooney or Benteke, and certainly don’t want Benzema”. Rico AW would make Benzema playing top class football again, Rooney and Suarez will not join afc. And imo Benzema is better than Benteke.

  16. c2hills says:

    Ginge, tis a result-oriented world and everything is so fast now. Kinda explains why patience has gone out the door imo.

    Rico, the I couldn’t log into my last yahoo account, it was so frustrating. I had no choice but to look for another e-mail service provider. Having used yahoo, aol and gmail, I think gmail is ‘beta’.

  19. Scott from Ozil says:

    You lied to me Rico 🙂
    Great post Kev.
    Yes, Aaron is getting plenty if accolades atm, but the best thing is they are thoroughly deserved.
    He is not getting sympathy votes, he has been our best player thus far.
    In the dictionary, for mental strength……see Aaron Ramsey.
    What a top young man.
    Humble, hard working and resilient.
    He copped an incredible amount of abuse from Gonners yet never complained, and never shirked the task at hand.
    Young pros could do a hell of a lot worse than taking a leaf out of his book.
    Jack will be back better than ever….he was terrific on the weekend.
    Oh yes, and the “Gonners” was no Freudian slip, because where are they now 🙂
    Morning all.
    What a great day to be a Gooner!!

  31. Lewis says:

    Good day all.

    Great post Kev, always thought the criticism of Ramsey was over the top, but he never hide away, he always took it on the chin and kept working. Now we’re seeing results. On top of the injury he had to deal with Gary Speeds death and I believe he Speed had quite a good relationship. All these things have been against him yet he is still rising to the top, Sky is the limit for this kid, long may it continue!

    We will also see the best of jack this season, he just needs that time to find his confidence again.

  32. SD UK says:

    I would rather have Suareze in our team than Benzema, don’t want him at all. Even French national coach thinks Giroud is better than him. Benzema lost his mojo to his hair 🙂

    Suarez anytime, even if he bites off another Chelsea player’s hear (Preferrably Terry’s)

  34. rico says:

    Lewis, but Ramsey was pretty dire a couple of seasons ago, but credit where it’s due, he’s like a different player these days. Almost like a ‘new signing’.. 😉

  35. Nedox says:

    Morning rico, the gang.
    Kev is on a roll. Two in two! Nice piece.

    Benzema over suarez for me. Suarez is a strikes i extremely like, for other clubs though, not for my arsenal.

  36. Adam says:

    I have known a few players like that Rico. Poor for a while then boom, off they go.
    I have known many that went the other way too and even some who started badly and remained remarkably constant in their awfulness.
    But certainly Wenger has a more than decent eye for a player and it is successful more times than it isn’t.

  38. Scott from Ozil says:

    In Aussie Rules, we have more career threatening leg injuries…though usually knees…than most sports, and the time frame required to get back to full speed, if the player ever does, is why i always had faith Ramsey would.
    Some you can see have their spirit broken and everything is half hearted, but he never showed that.
    Tough kid.

  40. devilgunner says:

    Good Afternoon Lady, Sir, Gentlemen and Ladies.

    Good post Kev. Two in a row.

    Great contribution regarding Aaron.

  42. BrainwashedKev says:

    Afternoon All…

    Cheers Rico, thanks for the sub….

    Thank you Adam, C2H, Scott, Ginge…

    Brought down to earth by Lee…. Cheers bruv. 😉

    Just catching up…

  43. BrainwashedKev says:

    Adam 12.23;

    Yes mate, Paul Davis was a slow burner, but what a great player he turned into, intelligent, technical and hard as nails. One of my favourites….

    Cheers Lewis/Nedox, happy you liked it….

  44. snaparse says:

    morning rico nd the house…as im not really a stat person i can’t bring out the stats 2 prove this but on current form ramsey and vidal are the best midfielders in europe currently and that’s saying something…the thing that stands ramsey and maybe sagna above everybody in d squad is there will to improve…i see ramsey becoming a top top player for us if he continues like this….just wish i could say the same about my boy ANEKE

  45. BrainwashedKev says:

    Thanks Coach, what do think, Verm/Kozzer at the Velodrome?

    Do Olympique have any height in their attack/team?

    Save BFG for Stoke maybe?

  46. tsgh says:

    I never thought Ramsey was that awful; I always defended him by saying he was one of the most intelligent or tactically aware players in the squad; he also covered the most ground in our squad… the reason he was used to do ‘a job’ like Ramires and Essien in the squad…

    This was one of my comments defending Ramsey in september 2012:

    TalkShiteGingerHater says:
    September 23, 2012 at 3:23 pm

    Rico. Ramsey may give us a bit of more running around and defensive cover on the right.

    TalkShiteGingerHater says:
    September 23, 2012 at 4:34 pm

    That is what Ramsey offers. Fitness

    This was one the day Gerv scored when we faced $hitty and Ramsey started on the RHS instead of Theo…

  47. tsgh says:

    Kev- Valbuena is half SC19’s height; 😀 Ayew is quite nippy and powerful with his left foot,and then there is Gignac who is average height but very quick and strong…

    Khaelifa (spelling) has power in the air but OM’s speed up front especially with Thauvin is a concern…

    Payet is quite deadly… personally I rate then higher than Napoli.

  48. tsgh says:

    Snaparse I agree re Vidal =Ramsey.

    I am hoping to see how Gundalon is coming along. Sahin has really come to form too.

    Don’t forget the injured Marchisio; I think Jonjo Shelvey will be a player. I haven’t seen enough of Morgan Schnerderlein this season but i think he will be there and there about.

  51. c2hills says:

    And you wonder why mrs Ginge says you should tone down on the football? You’re practically an unpaid scout, Ginge. Afternoon btw.

    Afternoon all.

  54. tsgh says:

    CH, I work with men who wear sandals and socks and wear corduroy in the summer… I need an outlet from work. lol

    Nothing beats watching football whilst on the rowing machine or on the exercise bike….

  60. snaparse says:

    tsg gundogan is techniqually superior 2 ramsey nd vidal bt they edge out in tactical awareness and also in the goal scoring department but they are all great players and ramsey nd gundogan will surely improve….tsgh what do u tink of ANEKE nd his chances of making it here(ARSENAL FC)

  62. BrainwashedKev says:

    Akpom and Hayden in senior squad for Olympique M…

    Gnabry in Youth squad, not sure why he was ommitted from CL list of playets?

  63. tsgh says:

    I don’t think Aneke will make it Snap…

    He is very good technically and imho deserves a shot in the squad this season but it is very political at Arsenal especially with the English ‘thingy’.

    He looks very good playing for Crewe as a no.10 but he won’t be played as a number 10 for Arsenal.

    The luck he has is that he has not chosen to play for Nigeria yet which will ‘kill’ his career at Arsenal imo…

    I remember when JW and Frimps first featured in the Erms cup 4 years ago and the media were waxing lyrics about JW, AW was always trying to divert attention to Frimpong and terlling the media that Frimpong should be snapped up to play for England.

    Frimpong even made his debut for the seniors before JW;

    AW was accused of being prejudice to playing certain creed as no.10 in France 2 decades ago… I am not saying he is btw… just relaying what the rumours were then.

    I heard from a very well informed person that AW was keen on Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang this summer but the club have decided to only have European representing players for now and the short term so we allowed him him to join BVB 09 instead… He would have been ideal for us too imho…

  67. tsgh says:

    As I was saying at 3:41… is it not strange Hayden has been picked ahead of Frimps. Considering Hayden should or could be featuring at u-19 against Marseille whilst Frimps can’t I believe unless he is one of the 3 players over 19’s permitted to feature as Nico is not fit.

    I was at the game last thursday and I would say the best players were in this order, Serge, the goalie, Ajayi, Frimpong, Akpom, Olsson, Eisfield,Boateng, Bellerin ….

    On the other hand you could tell in the second half after the 60th minute that both Ryo and Frimpong were not match fit…

    If Serge was British he would be playing more for us… imho.

    He was by far the best player for the Dfb u-19 squad last week.

  68. tsgh says:

    Samuel ‏@samuelj29060 7h

    Real Madrid coach Ancelotti says Guilavogui, Zouma & Payet “impressed him the most” during his time as PSG coach

  70. rico says:

    Woody, that is a huge relief but I just hope they are 100% fit, don’t want them to feature tomorrow, suffer a set back and then miss Sunday..

  72. BrainwashedKev says:

    Ginge, not know what think about the kid we trialled from Charlton…
    The Addicks have a top academy, at their level an absolute must, so he should be ok….

    If Aneke had a future at Arsenal, I don’t think that he would be at Crewe now…

  74. rico says:

    I always thought Aneke would prove to be good enough for us Kev…

    Hopefully there is still enough time and he’ll be given it..

  75. tsgh says:

    Its strange that Boateng was moved to lb whilst Ayaji retained the CB role with Hayden.

    In the first half he was immense. Hayden reminds me of Thiago of Psg. A proper ball playing centre half.

    I wonder what will happen with him as he is not going to displace our senior 3 or 4 centre halves. Miguel is a better footballer but maybe not better defensively…

    I just hope he does not become another ‘Eastmond’ who was promoted too early and then just went backwards…

    Flamini signing a 3 year deal ‘kills’ the career of a lot of players including Nico, Aneke and possibly Frimps imho…

    Nico is probably one of the most unlucky players… whenever he has a chance he has an illness or an injury…

  78. cork gunner says:

    Just read an article where a spud reckoned it wos a blessing in disguise they didnt make cl last season as it would have taken away from there challenge for 4th this year, fucking muppet, if they make 4th this year maybe they’ll forfeit it as it might derail next year’s campaign

  79. cork gunner says:

    Hi ts I dont think flamini will kill those players(arsenal) careers unless there not good enough to take his place, survival of the fittest and all that.we just want to see our best players on the pitch, I think them players would force there way into the team eventually if they have the talent

  82. tsgh says:

    Nice one Cork, typical spuddies reasoning. 🙂

    My next door neighbour has avoided me for over 3 weeks now since we beat them. Before that he was telling how we should not have built a stadium etc…

    Nice man and all but supporting sperds makes you lose brain cells I reckon…

    I have nothing against Flamini but a 3 year contract for a 29 y.o who fcuked us off?? I just do not buy the crap AW is trying to sell to us about how MF wanted to come back etc.

    Milan offered him a lower wage 2 year deal and he turned it down. Would he have signed if he was offered the same amount Milan offered?

    Sagna is fitter, loyal, better football and more dedicated to the cause is struggling to get a deal… a bit unfair I would say.

  85. snaparse says:

    thanks tsgh 4 d heads up reANEKE i just think he deserves a chance with us….among the youths who do u think will make it…..btw ajani reminds me of campbell….

  86. cork gunner says:

    I think he’s on 40g a week ts which doesn’t really break the bank and like nasri and the little boy who cried for man u he shouldn’t have been left run his contract into the final year.i understand where ur coming from though but I think most footballers are the same, theyll take the extra cash all day long.as long as we can get the most out of him ill be happy and that crunching tackle against the spuds where he got a yellow kinda won me a over again

  90. tsgh says:

    Morning peeps,

    Snap- I hope Serge makes it… I will want Akpom and Nico Yennaris to make it too but I think he is approaching 21 y.o so he either has to get promoted or get shipped off unfortunately.

    I thought Eisfield was going to get promoted this season but he didn’t quite take to AW’s fancy…

    Unfortunately he is a bit like TR07 but with less stamina and we are over loaded in CM so I think he may end up back in Germany next year…

    Bellerin will make it for show; Olsson still has time on his hands as he is barely 18…

    Players like Frimps and Aneke depending on how long they have on their contracts I suspect will stay and run down their contracts if they are not given chances….

    I still rate Frimpong though. He may not be an everyday/match player but for some games he will be useful.

    Hi Scott- you are right re needing a DM.

Leave your comment.

Discover more from Highbury House

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading