Morning all.
Simon Collings of The Standard reported a few days ago that Maurizio Micheli was at The Emirates on Wednesday night for Arsenal’s game against Brentford which suggests he’s now joined Arsenal’s recruitment team. If his knowledge and experience helps Andrea Berta in the transfer window then the better it will be for the club.
Talking of transfer windows, I wonder if Arsenal will do any business next month…
Back in 2003/04, whilst Arsenal were on an unbeaten Premier League journey through the season, Crystal Palace were sat in the Championship relegation zone in December and looking odds on to go down when they sacked their manager. In came Iain Dowie. Fast forward a few months, five to be precise, Dowie and his Palace side were at Wembley, winning the playoff final. Dowie said his players showed “bouncebackability” – a word now included in the Oxford English Dictionary.
The moral of that story is never write any group of players off until the proverbial lady is in full voice.
Just like any other Arsenal fan, I hate it when we lose but I never lose sight of the fact that no match is a forgone conclusion. To head into a game thinking it’s our right to win it is foolhardy. To not look at the opposition and recognise they are strong, is equally as foolish. Bearing in mind we were the last club to win at Villa Park back in 2024, to repeat such a feat was never going to be easy.
But our squad is so much better now, I hear you say, but is it right now, today? Of course not, we have no Gabriel, Saliba, Jesus, Havertz, and for Saturday’s game, no Mosquera either. Neither Trossard or Gyokeres can be fully fit either because if they were, I’m pretty sure both would have started the game.
I’m not making excuses, I’m just being realistic. The sucker punch at the end of the game was exactly that, a sucker punch, especially having scored an equaliser but things like that happen in football and it serves me right for laughing at Utd for conceding late against West Ham in the week.
Arteta:
We’ve been 18 games unbeaten and still we are there (at the top of the table), very close to each other. And that’s the level of the league and we know that, that’s the opportunity that we have ahead of us.
It’s time to bounce back.
We all have our own theories as to why we suffer so many injuries but I’m sure the medical staff at the club are working day and night to get to the bottom of it. Well, all day anyway. Until the staff find an answer, there will always be questions, theories and of course, injuries.
We all have theories on who should or shouldn’t play too which is fun but honestly, we don’t know what goes on behind the Arsenal doors. We don’t know why Nwaneri, Norgaard and perhaps even Dowman aren’t getting minutes but I’d sure like to know so I can understand. After all, if Arteta was trying to preserve a point against Villa, wouldn’t Norgaard have been the most obvious player to bring on? I’m a huge fan of Lewis-Skelly but he hasn’t got the experience or know how of our ex Brentford captain.
Almost half the season is over and we have lost two games. Take the emotion out of the Villa game, ie Emery and Martinez and perhaps just accept that they kept going and we couldn’t hit a barn door if it was right in front of our nose.
Now isn’t the time for Arteta or his players to feel sorry for themselves. No, now is the time to dust themselves down, ignore the over the top reaction to a defeat in the back pages and get back to playing the kind of football which gets results. I think at Chelsea and Villa Park, things were a bit frantic, rushed and misplaced.
As the old saying goes, “keep calm and carry on” because what Arsenal have being doing so far, certainly during the 18 match unbeaten, has served them well. Very well.
We just need our two of our big central defenders back, or at least one of them. A bit more accuracy and zip in our forward play and I’m sure we’ll be fine. 🤞
As Mikel Arteta said, “It’s time to bounce back”!
Catch up in the comments.
Good morning Rico.
Nice upbeat post today, thank you.
If Gyokeres isn’t fit to play ninety minutes giving him a few off the bench won’t improve that fitness. Give him a starting place against Bruges and see how it goes, getting a goal or two will do him a power of good. Playing matches is the only way to get match fit.
Good morning to you Cicero. Thanks
If this was the 5th or 6th defeat, I’d get the hump like many others but I just think let’s see, see how we go from here. Our league challenge isn’t over in December
Agree by the way re Gyokeres, start him and then sub him when required. I hope Eze plays too so he can put that awful performance on Saturday behind him. Minutes for others is important imo, we’ll need every player ready for this period of the season.
Morning Gooners, morning Rico, thanks for the post. I’ve got a feeling that Arteta will start the same back-four in Belgium, Salmon might get a run-out depending on the match state? I think you win something like £3m for every CL win so the incentive is there!
Yep, I’d start Gyokeres, it’s europe after all, he should do ok. I’d start Martinelli and Madueke as well. Trossard felt his calf again last Saturday so he should stay at home and rest as should Declan and Bakayo, we’ll need them for Wolves.
I wonder if we could recall Kiwior?
Is Harriman Annous fit, if so then why not have him on the bench, he’s quick and will run around a lot, Merino needs a rest?
Max, Myles and Ethan should all get minutes and maybe Jesus?
Morning Kev, I’d add Zubimendi into the needing a rest category too although he might be suspended. Not sure.
Don’t think we can recall Kiwior, isn’t he on an obligation to buy loan, same as Hincapie?
Maybe a bit early for Jesus Kev, perhaps Easter will be a good time for him.
🤣
Morning Rico and all, it might be time to rest Raya and give Kepa chance as well.
It’s how Arteta uses the set back to gee up the players and reset the system . We have to hope that the back line sorts out a bit whilst we have the next four games with three at home.
If we are there or thereabouts as we go into the new year and we get the squad back , a good run should see us definitely in with a shout towards Easter.
Maybe Cicero, but I suspect that Jesus will actually return from the wilderness before Easter, even if it’s just from the bench for the occasional vision of his old self.
Afternoon Geoff, Kepa is a possibility.
Apparently Jesus wasn’t named in the CL squad…
Good afternoon winners. Even after a blip we are still winners.
Good post today Rico and a good match report yesterday Kev. Read them both plus all comments. I enjoyed reading them both even though the report was on a game we lost.
Everyone is clever with hindsight. Including me. However there were certain decisions which I found confusing…..why begin with Merino instead of VG? As Rico pointed out no knows the exact state of fitness of a player, maybe Arteta didn’t want to risk him from the beginning.
In the comments above, the 2003 team was mentioned. I would like to point out, like Ian Wright did, why didn’t Madueke or any other attacking player not take the ball to the corner to defend the 1-1?? TH14 used to do that to defend a result. Better we got a point at Villa Park than nothing.
However, I will not blame anything other than the lack of finishing for this game. We lost not because we had defenders out. Not because of Madueke not taking the ball to corner flag. No other reason, excpet that we should have scored more. We had enough chances to win it. More shots on target than them. More possession than them. Martinez winning MOTM says it all.
Onto the next vs Brugge. And Kev I agree with you regarding the team selection. There are good players which Arteta should use to rest others. Right now Arteta is being lambasted for not rotating more players, especially Norgaard who has barely had a sniff this season. Why buy him??
As Potter pointed out….its up to whether Arteta uses this set back to gee players up. We are still two points ahead and we know that if Haaland doesn’t perform City dont. So maybe they will drop points as well.
In that case Kev, he only has the EPL, F A Cup and Carabao Cup in which to resurrect his Arsenal career.
Ah yes, I remember now. His omission led to the rumours of him leaving.
Thanks Devil.
We play Portsmouth away in the third round of the FA Cup
Interesting draw..
Portsmouth away , they are in the relegation zone of the Championship and have let in 25 goals in 18 games . Games are set for the weekend of 10th January should be a chance for some of the walking wounded to get the chance to run around a bit.
I think Cicero, that Jesus can be added to the CL squad at the end of January, the annoying thing is that Jesus could have been included initially and we had an empty spot that wasn’t filled 🤦♂️
Portsmouth won’t be playing on the 10th because we play Liverpool on the 8th
As tradition has gone out of the window we probably get to play on the 11th or 12th as our next match is the 17th away to Forest.
Club Brugge vs Arsenal twist as manager sacked in brutal move.
They have instantly replaced Hayen with Gent head coach Ivan Leko, who was only appointed at their Belgian rivals in the summer and had won eight of his 19 matches in charge there.
New manager bounce ?
Typical Potter. I wouldn’t be surprised if Wolves sack their manager before the weekend either..
New post up.