Daily Bits and Bobs

Boxing Day battle on the South coast! Krychowiak or Elneny heading to Arsenal…

Posted on by rico

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Happy Boxing Day.

Morning all.

That’s Christmas over for another year. Such a shame the day goes by so quickly really as no sooner I’d eaten, watched the Queens speech and walked Fido, darkness arrived….

Boxing Day – I know the day has nothing to do with two people jumping into a ring and battering each other half to death but today, the boys need to put up a fight once the whistle blows a 7-45pm. Having beaten Man City just a few days ago, playing again so soon is going to be tough but that’s the festive period for you and they’ve got to do it all over again on Monday.

We don’t often lose to the south coast side but around this time last year, we did. 2-0 was the scoreline on the 1st January and we missed sitters during that loss. Santi Cazorla and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain spurned great chances that day and it seemed that each time we were bossing the match as far as possession goes, wham, they scored….

That loss hardly kicked off 2015 in the best way but the players battled on to secure third spot.

We are in a much better place right now, certainly when it comes to our league position and with Southampton struggling to find the kind of form they were in this time last year, we need to be coming away with all three points…

I doubt they’ll be too many, if any changes tonight as there aren’t a lot of options left for Arsene Wenger. Maybe Gabriel will give one of the centre backs a breather, OC is another option too but Campbell’s work rate would be a huge miss.

Anyway, it’s a big night for whoever plays because we need three points on the road. After that we have a little run of home fixtures..

I’m off to the in-laws today so have a great day and catch up later.

COYRRG’S!

Ps – According to the transfer rumours, Arsene Wenger is going big next month. Grzegorz Krychowiak is the player he wants and a £33m offer is set to be made.

However, if one is to believe other stories, Mohamed Elneny is the midfielder heading to Arsenal. Honest, it’s true! He’s on holiday right now but he’s flying in for a medical and once that’s passed, he’ll be an Arsenal player……

Exciting eh…..

rico

213 thoughts on “Boxing Day battle on the South coast! Krychowiak or Elneny heading to Arsenal…”

  9. Wavy says:

    Happy Boxing Day one and all.
    i see you are using the ‘f’ word again Lee.

    Today, 2-0 to the Arsenal. Giroud, after a lightening quick break and Ozil with a thumping header! We’ll see, neither scenario very likely, though!

    Have a good day all!

  16. Nashua Gunner says:

    LEICESTER CITY 0, LIVERPOOL 1

    CHELSEA 2, WATFORD 2

    MANCITY 4, SUNDERLAND 1

    Tottenham 3, NORWICH 0

    AFC BOURNEMOUTH 0. CRYSTAL PALACE 0

    ASTON VILLA 1, WEST HAM 1

    SWANSEA 1, WEST BROMWICH 0

  20. rico says:

    Hi Ng, fingers crossed the players aren’t tired… Can’t see us surrendering a lead to Southampton, that’s if we score of course.. 😉

    🙂 Bt, very close…..

  23. rico says:

    Not at all thanks Bt, I had to drive today so took it easy yesterday. Have one more bottle Cava and a Prosecco left…

    Happy days….

  25. rico says:

    Oops, silly me Ng.. 😉

    I reckon we could if we get a player or two next month. Then when the others return, we’ll be strong… Mind you, goodness knows when that will be… March/April is my guess…

  30. Adam says:

    Evening Rico. Seems to me that the rarest commodity in football these days is a manager who knows what he is doing. Finding one who can do this consistently at the highest level is especially hard.

  31. BT62 Gooner says:

    I fancy a win tonight,if the Spuds can go there and win 2-0, surely we are more than capable of matching or bettering that score line…

  35. tsgh says:

    It looks like the only part of Rooney’s game that hasn’t deteriorated is his ability to get away with bellowing profanities in the ref’s face

  36. tsgh says:

    Interesting – Points difference to last season’s equivalent fixtures

    Arsenal +2
    Man City -3
    Man Utd -4
    Liverpool 0
    Spurs +6
    Chelsea -18

  42. Adam says:

    Yes Rico. Fans are fickle. After the awful November many opinions would probably have been different I imagine. Perhaps Arsene has Kipling’s IF on his wall. 🙂

  64. BT62 Gooner says:

    Rico, thought they added up to you’re age…….lol

    Adam, i thought you would have checked that before you tied the knot…..

  93. Kel says:

    We’re gonna need a penalty or some kind of intervention from the ref because as it is atm we’re absolutely terrible.

  94. rico says:

    A great strike but, one player offside and a dreadful clearance by Merts….

    Definite whiff of complacency.. Rocket up their bums at halftime I hope…

  95. Wavy says:

    Mr Wenger needs to work hard to justify his night’s earnings during half time.

    This is not going according to plan A, plan B to be employed asap and successfully to boot!

  96. Joaquim Moreira says:

    The first ball must not go to Metseckaer! They had put Loan covered Kos and Mets is alone but he didn’t know what he must to do with the ball!
    Besides: Ramsey was very poor and without influence; they were waiting for our tic-tac, so shoot from outside; we were very slowly; could be a !hard” game to Kos, Ozil… they and all the players must be carefully with the referee.

  98. rico says:

    Wavy, I think the players need to earn their money too.. This is the same group which beat City and most of them are really not up for this…

    I hope they got a rollicking at halftime…

  115. Kel says:

    Then we need to kick fucking back, that’s what’s wrong with this team they have no balls, no power no muscle for nights like this.ffs… so frustrating.

  118. Bob John says:

    We have been shit but none of their goals should have counted. 1st offside 2nd foul 3Rd goal kick not corner. John Moss bank account must be looking good tonight

  119. Lewis says:

    Bar a top keeper, I see nothing different in this team than in previous seasons. We are just lucky everyone else is a little worse than us.

  126. Joaquim Moreira says:

    we had no “flame”, will to win, claw.
    The goals maybe not counted, but with this performance we want to be at the top of the league?

  128. Wavy says:

    I wonder what the betting patterns looked like??

    Mr Wenger should give his salary to charity, there was absolutely no change after half time, if anything we were worse!

    Back to the drawing board!

    I wonder if we will perform a little better on Monday?

  129. Wavy says:

    Last sobering thought, we are still 4 points short of safety from relegation! Where will they come from if we continue to play like tonight? Still, it’s never over till it’s over! Or so they say!

  130. allezkev says:

    It seems that we played badly, but just because you have a bad day at the office, it doesn’t follow that you’re gonna lose, and certainly not 4-0…

    The first goal was what, off-side, the 2nd a clear foul on Koscielny, the 3rd was not a corner…

    To me, Arsenal were roundly beaten by West Ham, Sheff Weds and Bayern this season…

    All three defeats at Chelsea, West Brom and today had costly mistakes by the officials all over them…

    That doesn’t excuse the defending, or lack of, in today’s game and that needs to be addressed…

    Our players seem to have a repetitive problem with complacency, usually following an important result.

    A lack of options on the bench doesn’t help.
    Maybe with the January window opening in less than a week, this was a timely reminder to Wenger, not to procrastinate in the market but to be proactive…

    Let’s hope so…

  132. Wavy says:

    No expectations here! I believe all Arsenal’s eggs will be left in the basket for Pep to exploit! We’ll see! But a very bad day at the office and not one to be repeated this side of May 2016 and thereafter!

    Nite all.

  133. scottfromoz says:

    Officiating was just farcical, but our performance was even worse than that.
    Not to single a player out, but Theos performance today v that against Citeh show exactly how far apart we were as a team in those same games.
    Wanyama absolutely manhandled Ozil every time our guy got near the ball, so why no yellow?
    If he cops one, the entire game changes.
    His studs up half way up Aaron’s shin copped Fukk all.
    Wtf was this bloke in black doing?
    Yes, we were terrible, but does that excuse a referee to compound our issues?
    The first goal-no issue, it was a cracker.
    My question on the second is this…..reverse the situation, and Kozzer gets a straight red so why no bloody free kick?
    Long-he deserves a smacking for his filthy performance.
    How the hell could Moss see Kozzer “touch” the ball from directly behind for the corner that saw us concede the third?
    Since when do referees get paid to make a call on what they believe happened?
    Again, the only thing that mirrored his performance was ours.
    Merts….after Citeh, I ate crow but now, he needs to be sold.
    Theo-back to form.
    Lazy arse performance and he truly should be ashamed to hold his hand out for his pay.
    I’ve got no issue with others who had shockers but put in, he didn’t waste an ounce of energy at all.
    Ramsey, Monreal and Campbell are the only three players who at least tried to put in a shift, yet even they were mostly ineffective.
    Arsene, if EVER there was undeniable proof we need more squad depth, watch this bloody replay!!
    Were they tired?
    Who knows but at least with more quality, those guys having a bludge may be more inclined to work.
    Disgusting.

  135. Nashua Gunner says:

    Scott. Yes you’ve a point. The ref. Should be be ashamed of himself. If it was fatigue after Mancity game you would tend to give them a pass, but Theo and Campbell were below substandard. Kos made a lot of errors but I’m not blaming him for the second goal.
    Gabriel could have handle Long pace but Per could not. In hindsight, Southampton instructions were simple, ‘rough play Arsenal key players like Ozil and OG12’. And Wanyama did just that. Southampton was up for this game Arsenal wasn’t. You just have to look at the midfield and how they rough our players and got away with it.

    AR16, in my opinion, he is an attacking m-fielder not a defensive one. He has the abilities to go forward and assist and score goals, but his defensive duties in front of the back four is not the same. I said that because during the Mancity game Flamoney constantly had to communicate with him. Telling him not to go too deep and stay back.

    From the word go, Southampton dominated the midfield, and used the wings to their advantage since Theo and Campbell weren’t effective as they did with Mancity, which in turn had an adverse effect on the R&L back, especially Ballerin.

  136. scottfromoz says:

    Theo and Giroud put in no work at all.
    Campbell at least tried, IMO, so I’ll give him a pass mark for effort.
    The major difference was v Citeh, the defensive pressure was placed on our opponent high up the pitch by these guys where today we started defending 25 yards out.
    So very disappointing.

  137. scottfromoz says:

    NG, on the ref….imagine Wanyama playing in our kit, and playing like that?
    He’d have been sent off before half time, and I have no doubt at all about that.
    Not an excuse at all for our crap effort, but still…….

  138. Nashua Gunner says:

    I’m not going to hold my breath that AW is going to buy players this transfer window. I’ve seen it too many time with hopes up to be let down once again. I’d believe it when I see it. With the hope of all those injured players promising to come back, there is doubt in my mind AW will buy.

  139. Nashua Gunner says:

    Am just too tired for blaming some of the ref. Sometimes we don’t turn up and played as if we entitle to win. We played Mancity, 11 men behind the ball. We played Southampton, we thought we’re going to get an easy win if we just show up. Make some players start to think or feel that if they don’t perform, they would have to look for new clubs, and see what happens? But when your position is garanty and the next man that suppose to replace you isn’t going enough, you take every game for granted.

  140. potter says:

    Little point in rehashing all the crap from last night.As an entity we have these games in us and have no leader to shake the lethargy either on or off the pitch Until someone stands up to lead from the front. We will drift into mediocrity.

  141. scottfromoz says:

    Morning guys.
    NG, yes, too many of those players seemed too comfortable, and therefore, too complacent.
    Just to emphasise my opinion that I’m not blaming the referee at all for that pile of shit.
    Potter, God help some of guise guys if Adamas or Vieira were playing.

  143. scottfromoz says:

    Rico, you and I stood up and admitted how good he was during the week, after we both recently criticised him heavily.
    He was bloody awful this time and should be sold ASAP.
    Kozzer was over run.
    He had a shocker, but what chance did he have.
    Get Gabriel into the squad immediately.
    I’ll say this….simply with his passion and fight, if he plays, we do not lose 4-0.

  144. rico says:

    Scott, his pace is a huge problem and the headed clearance was just awful. Kos was left with a lot of work to do and it showed.

    It was a dreadful night for plenty, even Cech wasn’t at the top of is game but not one of those first three goals should have stood and although I won’t hide behind that, it made a huge difference…

  148. scottfromoz says:

    No question those goals made a difference, as did the tolerance of Wanyamas destruction of Ozil.
    We lost and we deserved to, but as I said earlier, a bad performance never automatically means a loss, and we were denied our chance by that prick in the middle.

  151. Wath says:

    The truth is the ref was awful yes but we were diabolical… Bullied and owned all over the pitch.
    Beating Citeh wasn’t going to win us the league just as loosing last night won’t lose us the league.
    We have one team only sitting above us in the league what will lose us the league is if Wenger procrastinates and doesn’t add to the squad when he has the ideal opportunity to from Friday.
    The league is there to be one, this was a huge wake up call to remind everyone yes that would be you Mr Wenger than we not as good as we think yet still placed 2nd in the league a couple of decent additions and we can indeed go on and win the league.

    No excuses, no bullshit about no quality available in Jan, if you had added in the summer we would not be relying on Jan sales to solve the problem.

  152. Wath says:

    Scott, Wanyama did his job mate, we have no one who has the physical side of the game to bully him back and to control the midfield simple as that, no good moaning about them being physical at all give it back…. Ooops there’s the problem, we can’t..!

  153. scottfromoz says:

    Yes we need to buy players, and ASAP.
    ANY quality players of ANY position would do for mine…..I’ve changed my entire attitude after that performance.
    As long as their fighters, I’d love to see them at the club because we lack in that department.

  154. scottfromoz says:

    Wath, but if Wanyama had our kit on, would he be allowed to play the same way??
    He’d be carded out of every game.
    I’m not criticising him or his manager, but the officials need to be asked to explain why he got away with so much.

  156. rico says:

    Wath, I’m pretty sure had Flamini given Wanyama as much as he was dishing out, Moss would have been rubbing his hands together whilst dishing out a red card…

    The ‘Costa’ farce proves that….

  157. Wath says:

    Scott, what did he get away with…? He made one rash tackle on Aaron in the 2nd half apart from that he was excellent, they were all over us like a rash, they closed us down were in our faces hustled us out of our game and we couldn’t cope…. They certainly didn;t kick us off the park at all they just got at us and we didn;t like it and allowed them to win the physical battle… Petit and Paddy would of bossed that game..!

  158. rico says:

    Perhaps the ‘merry-go-round’ in the managerial world will be complete then. Ancelotti to Bayern, Pep to Arsenal and Wenger to Madrid…

    🙂

  159. Adam says:

    Morning Rico and all.
    I can’t see Arsene doing much in January myself but thought it odd that, after the win over City, he took the opportunity to big up his decision not to buy in the summer. I thought it dubious that he claimed our success this season was down to this and wondered if it had occurred to him that, if we had added quality, we might be in an even better position. With perhaps another 6 points.
    Wenger’s teams usually have a performance like last night’s in them somewhere and I reckon there’ll be more to come.

  161. Wath says:

    Sorry Rico, I don’t see it like that, we are way to soft and as said they certainly didnt kick us off the park and Kos got away with a few as well but when he does it we happy that we are getting “stuck in”….! We just a soft touch and until that is cured we will always come off 2nd best when a team plays like the Saints did last night.

  162. scottfromoz says:

    Wath, watch again bud.
    Every time Ozil was on the ball and he was in the vicinity, watch his challenges.
    That challenge on Ramsey couldn’t easily have been a leg breaker…..what did he get for it?

  164. Wath says:

    Scott, watch it again mate your right and what did they do wrong, instead of rolling our sleeves up and getting stuck in we let them win the battle, he didn’t kick Ozil he was all over him and boot on the other foot you’d be raving about us closing a team down if our players worked like that..!

  165. scottfromoz says:

    Wath, last time me or our boys really got stuck in was Gabriel v Chelski, and he was blasted by most fans form what I remember.
    I loved it.
    If I were a Soton Fan I’d have loved what Wanyama did, but the fact is he got away with plenty and shoule have copped a card in the first half.

  167. rico says:

    No denying we are soft Wath, we have been for years and only Coquelin has shown a bit of bite in the midfield but I don’t believe there is a level playing field when it comes to what we are allowed to do, and what the opposition get away with.

    Regardless, we were rubbish and didn’t deserve anything from that game…

  168. Wath says:

    We’ll agree to disagree Scott…. I think we getting as soft as the players if we gonna moan about a team getting in our faces and there is a huge difference between getting stuck into us and closing us down than to kicking us off the park which the definitely didn’t do..!

  169. rico says:

    Like Adam and so many have said before, there’s always a performance like last night in this Arsenal team.

    The most important thing is how we bounce back tomorrow and for the rest of the season. If that 4-0 loss is a huge kick up the backside, and finally makes Wenger realise he needs to sign a couple of players next month, then it’ll be worth it.

  174. Adam says:

    Morning Wath. But he also said that a manager shouldn’t do the last year of their contract. Looking at the Pepe situation you can see why. One foot out the door with the German league still to be won and the CL too. Strange turnout really.

  176. Wath says:

    He probably wouldn’t of got away with the tackle on Aaron in the 2nd half without a card as for the rest it’s no different to what Coq does…! Getting stuck in ain’t kicking someone and we got stuck in v Citeh, we got behind the ball we chased we hunted in packs we made tackles and we closed down the players and space exactly what happened to us last night, shame we were not up for it, think they were all still eating the Christmas dinners

  177. Wath says:

    Thing is Adam he says a manager shouldn’t do the last yr yet he’s done everyone one of his…!
    The Pep thing is indeed a very strange situation but also begs the question that if we got Pep which i reckon ain’t gonna happen in a month of Sundays his modus operandi is the short term management where he doesn’t want to stay anywhere long term which leads us to who and what and where in 4 years time, doesn’t that add to instability knowing he not going to be around for long..?

  178. scottfromoz says:

    Wanyama uses a forearm to the back of the head…that ain’t getting stuck in 🙂
    Anyway, I stand by it…he’d have copped two cards in the first half if he were in our kit.

  180. Wath says:

    I told you that you were getting soft and becoming a light weight…! Did you see Kos do exactly the same to Long….?

  187. Wavy says:

    And even if he made a plan, given his age, he will have forgotten what it was, by now!

    Morning all. Blue skies here and a collapsed fence……again! The builder has been sacked, although he doesn’t know it yet!

  188. Adam says:

    Wath. He didn’t do the last years at Monaco or Grampus and he has never been in that situation since. Surely Arsenal can’t insist that any manager who comes in stays for the long haul. Shorter stints seem to be the way now and extensions to contracts are two-way things. Pep probably won’t arrive but, if Arsenal made a move then I think he would certainly come as he admires the club and the traditions that. Wenger has built. According to him anyway.

  189. scottfromoz says:

    Adam, I’d hate to see a manager come in on the pretence that it’s a short term gig.
    The danger is they’ll do whatever they can to win trophies and impress, but possibly without thought or care as to what state the club is left in when they leave.
    Sadly, that is the way things are now, but if we got Dennis 🙂 🙂 🙂

  190. Adam says:

    Scott. The link between the modern manager and the board needs to be tight and I don’t see any reason why that shouldn’t work with a new manager. Wenger has been a one-off and the way he has done things has guided the club through the tricky stadium switch. As I mentioned to Rico yesterday, great managers, who are available are a scarcity today. The board would like Pep to take over but whether the timing is right remains to be seen. Whatever happens, it could be successful or bumpy as even the best get stale and make poor decisions as we saw with Mourinho and now LVG.

  192. tsgh says:

    Micko, I said there was a conspiracy; 😉 we are the only ones who played yesterday and will play on Monday night as well… amongst the top 4 at least.
    Morning Rico, Scott and all…

    AW being a data man he should see that numbers don’t lie… we haven’t improved much. If our rivals had not been lacklustre in 2015 it would have been a different story.

  202. Joaquim Moreira says:

    no. They put, S.Loan cover Kos in all the balls coming from Cesc; Mets left free to receive the ball, but as soon as received, someone else would score, which forced him to give back, to kick forward or to the side. It was fought the offensive progression Arsenal “programmed”. (No Cazorla in the pitch. Flamini not build the game and Ramsey waits for the third touch).
    Ozil scored hard (even for “scare”) and Giroud. The referee was leaving and so after 20 minutes with 0-0, The Saints lost respect for Arsenal and began to play otherwise.
    Close well back, waiting for them in our midfield, having aggression and launch long balls to the back of defenses, primarily between Kos and Monreal.
    Mets is slow; Kos has always been to be provoked and could “lose his mind” and there is no Coquelin.
    The physical stress, lack of connection between sectors, the attitude of the players from Southampton compared with Arsenal, etc., did the rest.
    what’s happen to Ox?

  204. rico says:

    Jm, seems Poch is building a solid team. They could be very strong next season and imo, we’ll need to be very active in the summer to stay ahead. But not only them, others too who are building, Klopp will no doubt bring in one or two German players who will make them stronger..

    Right now though, we need a couple of players in Jan, one has to be a midfielder and that’s not because we lost last night, it’s always been a requirement..

    Maybe Wanyama could be that player…. Who knows…

  205. Joaquim Moreira says:

    could be…. but Totts will fight for the title this season.
    Don’t forget they had only loose 2 games until now and this will be important at the end of the season and for the mentality of the team and for any player.
    Will rest minus then two days. This is embarassing because we haven’t subs and those we need , like OX, are completely out of form

  206. rico says:

    I’m not so sure as like us, they can lose an odd game..

    Yes, the lack of players to rotate is shocking, and those we do have are clearly not good enough in the eyes of the manager, otherwise he’d use them more…

  207. Marshall says:

    Hi all, Ain’t it buzzing here when we loose. Still in my festive spirits! Arsenal is such a roller coaster

  208. rico says:

    ?Marshall, it’s normally really busy after a loss but hey, I guess the festive period is still in full flow..

    I hope we batter Bournemouth….

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