Daily Bits and Bobs

Cech deal smoke and mirrors? Another ‘accident’ looming?

Posted on by rico

Morning all.

Back in 1993 and on this very day, Arsenal beat Sheffield Wednesday 2-1 to win the FA Cup, thanks to Andy Linighan’s 119th minute header.

All the back pages are filled with the ‘Cech in Arsenal talks’ story and as much as I hope this is true and we can get a deal done, I honestly can’t see it happening. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if this story was all about the dwarf trying to get one over Arsene Wenger. The two clubs can talk all they like but just like with Demba Ba, the rug will be pulled from any supposed deal at the final stage. Let’s hope I’m wrong.

Arsene Wenger has been talking about Francis Coquelin:

Even if somebody else comes in, Coquelin will stay here. I extended his contract [in February]. That means I believe in him.

Not sure who he’s trying convince with his words and I don’t he needs to in any case. ‘Most’ Arsenal fans I know have seen what he’s brought to the team and really appreciate him. They certainly don’t want him replaced, just added to.

His next statement is so very true imo:

If we’d bought Coquelin for £40m at Christmas, everyone would say, ‘What a signing!’ I’m sorry he didn’t cost any money.

Sadly that’s football and not just Arsenal fans. If a player costs £40 million he’s got to be good right? And if he’s free, well, lets not give the guy a chance eh… Wrong. Mind you, I think £40 million is a bit excessive…..

Anyway, lets hope he and his team-mates ramp it up a bit tonight as the last two games have really been cruel on the eye.

Sunderland need just a point to remain in the Premier League so it’s fair to assume Dick Advocaat will be bringing a bus bigger than Cliff Richard’s with him tonight in hope that his side don’t lose.

I expect them [Sunderland] to be well organised defensively, sound at the back, and to try to use all the counter-attacks they can.

We have to put a high rhythm into this game and play with a high level of energy to win.

So, no excuses. Arsene Wenger knows what to expect and he’s had a few days to work out a plan of action.

How about width, pace and a bit of shooting practice, you never know, one might go in….

Seriously, the wide players need to stay wide, if Ollie starts, ping a few crosses in for him to get his head onto. He needs a goal, let’s start providing him with chances. And certainly forget the boring pass, pass, pass, in and around the box, get at them from the off and take them to the cleaners.

It’s simple, whoever starts must turn up in the right frame of mind, play football the way Arsene Wenger says he likes to play and get three points.

Three games left and we need three more victories so no more slip ups or ‘accidents’…!

COYRRG’S!

rico

139 thoughts on “Cech deal smoke and mirrors? Another ‘accident’ looming?”

  1. eduardo says:

    Cech headlines in the media is probably just them trying to unsettle our keepers for the cup final

  4. rico says:

    Morning again all…

    I doubt the keepers will be worried about headlines any more than we do…

    Not sure what you mean Drake…

  6. rogerbij says:

    Dont know what you mean either Drake. Listen to enough Wenger interviews and you will never hear him speak badly about an Arsenal player. He talks them up, motivates them, shows them he believes in the them, and this helps them to perform better. One of the reasons why Arsenal in years past has consistently outperformed in relation to some of the players we had at our disposal (which in some cases were nothing better than run of the mill). Anyway, Chambers doesnt play DM for us, Theo had 1 game or so at Striker, An le Coq has been a revelation, non?

    Nice post Rico, I doubt Cech too, but happy enough for it to happen! Funny though, I put our in priorities as
    1 Top DM; 2 Top striker 3 Top Keeper. Do that, and anything else is bonus in my books.

  7. Hell Raising Devil says:

    Good morning Lovelies and Hunkies.

    Good post Rico.

    I have been saying all along….AW will not get a new keeper. Ospina is here to stay. I would like Cech but tbh he is not going to come.

  8. Wavy says:

    Morning all.

    The question is, will they bring the single or double decker? If it’s the single Giroud could have a field day!
    Not expecting anything other than an Arsenal win, and a comfortable one at that, but this is football at the desperate end of the season, so anything is possible.
    Will Wenger tinker with his team selection or will he send out the ‘first eleven’? As he has done for the last 7 games. I reckon he’ll start with his strongest and when the game is won in the 55th minute he’ll ring the changes with a couple of the less fancied players and Theo!
    We’ll soon see but 3rd place could be assured tonight and so it should be. The last game of the season can then be seen as practice match and filled with hopefuls and has beens! Hello to some and farewell to others.
    Win tonight and then save themselves for Timmy’s villa and hopefully another trophy!?

    Great start to the day Rico, as usual!

  9. rogerbij says:

    I fancy that Gabriel, Walcott and Wilshere will all start in light of the game just a few days ago and that Kosh was apparently under the weather. Otherwise full strength until we are 2-0 up with 25 mins to go.

  11. andrewh1313 says:

    Good post rico, morning. Agree Roger, be silly for them not to. We looked jaded last two games and haven’t turned up till after 60 minutes. I would try Coq, Wilshire & Ramsey in the middle (know it didnt work before, but we didnt have Coq then and Ramsey is a better player now. Ramsey & Wilts can take it in turns to go forward. Theo stay out right. Cazorla can recharge batteries.

  14. tsgh says:

    Sunderland are still in a relegation battle; They still have something to play for…
    Further, Dick Advocaat was also promised a £500,000 bonus if he keeps the Black Cats up.

    Hope it will be as easy tonight as sections of fans are envisaging…

  17. allezkev says:

    Good post Rico, and yes, three wins to wrap up our season.

    But, I’d happily take one point from the last two league games if it meant we could smash Villa in the Cup Final…

    By smash, I’d take a 1-0 to the Arsenal…

  20. scottfromoz says:

    Kev, if we pinch an early one v Villa, we will put 4-5 past them.
    Still, two to go before then.
    1-0 v Sudnerland will be great.
    Rest plenty on the weekend and we will be fresh and firing for the big one.

  22. allezkev says:

    Digger, believe me, Villa will not be easy…

    Benteke and Grealish are very dangerous…

    It isn’t gonna be a great game for the purist, but as long as the Arse win, then I don’t give a shit mate…

    Where’s my T-shirt?
    😉

  26. rico says:

    Ts – you said it was a £1 million for Dick the other day. See, I knew your info was unreliable… lol

    Kev, I’m still hoping for 2nd and FA Cup… If we struggle in the last two league games, that might carry on into the FA Cup final…

  27. tsgh says:

    ha ha Rico… well excuse me to attempt at back tracking…

    He will earn a total of £1m during the 9 games he was appointed to be in-charge of…

  38. Hell Raising Devil says:

    Arsenal: David Ospina, Hector Bellerin, Per Mertesacker, Laurent Koscielny, Kieran Gibbs, Aaron Ramsey, Santi Cazorla, Jack Wilshere, Mesut Ozil, Alexis Sanchez, Olivier Giroud.

    Subs: Wojciech Szczesny, Gabriel Paulista, Nacho Monreal, Francis Coquelin, Mathieu Flamini, Tomas Rosicky, Theo Walcott.

  39. Hell Raising Devil says:

    Good Evening lovelies and hunkies.

    Le Coq is benched. he needs a rest. So Jack plays in his place. That means that AW sees Sunderland as parking the bus and this renders Le Coq obsolete. Gibbs gets a run out. he needs it as well…..but I do not like seeing both Bellerin and Gibbs in the same line up.

    too much forward thinking. lets hope it does not rebound on us.

  41. Hell Raising Devil says:

    Santi is the deep lying Pivote. Supposed to be the DM but not exactly as the destroyer. Aaron and Jack both ahead of him. however those between Ollie and Santi need to keep their shape. Otherwise it will be tits up and the defence will suffer.

  47. Hell Raising Devil says:

    when we put in crosses we create more panic in their defence. when we play around the D we look less likely to score.

    Keep the fecking width and whip in the crosses you darn lot

  56. Hell Raising Devil says:

    its too fucking predictable. why do we keep on trying to pass through the middle??

    i think unless we allow them to come out we will not score. they are not testing Ospina, but they are doing a manly job at their own end.

  59. BT62 Gooner says:

    The more i watch, the more i worry about Wembley…Rico

    Wavy, some pace and quick thinking wouldn’t go amiss either.

  61. andrewh1313 says:

    When was the last time we got an early goal? When we could shoot in area we lay off, when outside area, we shoot high. Need an OG or pen I think?

  63. Micko says:

    Hold out for the draw tonite and play the B team the weekend, a chance to say goodbye to Diaby, Flamini and Walcott.

  69. Micko says:

    Just a feeling in me water rico, he could score a hattrick tonite and wouldn’t start the final !

  74. Hell Raising Devil says:

    had that gone in it would have been farcical. I do not think we will get more than a point today.

    The game reminds me of the 0-0 at Highbury against Spartak Moscow….when we had something like 30 shots on goal but still failed to score.

  86. Micko says:

    Gotta snap outta this mini slump of ours rico.

    Poor ole Adam, bet he can’t remember the last time he saw us score a goal at home !

  90. joaquim Moreira says:

    always the same.
    We played in na square of 3 metres … the only dangerous come from the wings where the wings were the full-backs…
    Dropped 5 points at home and said goodbye to the second place (it will be thebest positions in 10 years…)

  91. Vonnie says:

    Agreed Scott, Rosicky should have come on much earlier. I don’t understand why Arsene refuses to play him. Also the abuse that Ollie gets is rediculous, a bit of pushing and shoving is expected, but Ollie is wrestling all match every match and not one ref does anything about it.

  93. scottfromoz says:

    Guys, panic has set in amongst Gooners.
    I don’t know why.
    We have had several games recently where defending was all the opponents had in mind.
    The Cup will at least have two sides trying to win.
    i can’t wait until the season is over because more and more, I’m getting pissed off with teams refusing to engage.

  94. Bob John says:

    Not beyond the realms of possibility that the Mancs smash 5 or 6 past Hull and on this form we could easily lose to WBA.Only Arsenal could mess up a chance to rest players before a cup final

  96. kel says:

    What can I say about that other than, no end product, last goal scored at home was the 4th April against Liverpool… just not good enough.

  98. Micko says:

    Scott 9.47, couldn’t agree more with ya, 2 points outta 9 with West Brom to come, what really gets up my nose is these bloody teams that come to the Emirates with a game plan and we expect Arsene to have a plan B to sort them out ! Who’d be an Arsenal supporter eh.

  101. Micko says:

    Everyone loves a trier tsgh ! My money would be on Boateng, bit of a no contest really.

    Basel, league Campions again, 6 times in a row, when the BarfusserPlatz is bathed in red light it can only mean one thing.

    Nite all.

  102. Lewis says:

    With teams defending for their lives it’s not much wonder we are struggling to score.

    That said, Wenger whinging about us looking jaded as a reason we can’t finish games off. Maybe if he learned how to rotate a squad we wouldn’t look so jaded and out of ideas.

  105. Hell Raising Devil says:

    Good Morning Lovelies an Hunkies.

    28 shots yesterday and none went in. Seems as if the Gods of football contrived to keep Sunderland up and nothing went in. even that farcical moment when a Sunderland defender hit the wrong post. Seemed as if the Sunderland goal was charmed. Even Ollie hit the post from an impossible angle.

    Micko…..its not AW’s fault imo. yesterday it was more to do with bad luck for us and extremely good luck for them. Believe me…..there will be games when Ollie farts and the ball will get caught in the vortex created and sails in.

  107. Adam says:

    Morning Rico and all. As a football match last night at the Emirates was abysmal. Obviously Sunderland had watched the Swansea game and decided that was the way to go. It’s hardly a surprise is it? Arsenal came with no width or pace for the first hour and overpassed with ineffective short square balls ad nauseum. In fact they did exactly what they did against Swansea. Sunderland were delighted as we knocked it around in front of them in a narrow channel through the middle.
    Perhaps they were tired.
    As for Anthony Taylor? What a useless, weak dork he is.

  108. Hell Raising Devil says:

    it seems that way Rico. but imo it was only farcical luck that prevented us winning. yes there were central shots, there were players trying to tread through the eye of the needle, but let’s be honest….we created 28 chances and had around 10 shots on target plus 18 off target.

    its just one of those games.

    yes we should have won and we do have the players to do so. however whatever plan AW might have employed we would have suffered against a team playing two banks of 5 defenders and 4 DM. Even Rodwell, who is a DM by trade, when he came on for the 2nd half he was the most AM behind Fletcher.

  110. rico says:

    Was it ‘just one of those games’ though Devil?

    For me it was a repeat of what we witnessed against Swansea, and how we played before Christmas…

    Until AW addresses the width and cuts out all the stupid passing around and in the box, we’ll stay the same.

  111. Adam says:

    Hi Rico. From the stands it was worse than that. It was clear what was happening but nobody on the pitch seemed particularly concerned. We could easily have lost that match. Yes, we had a lot of shots but, after the previous two home games, we had nothing new to offer. There was a crass predictability about the whole thing.

  113. Adam says:

    Rico. I agree. After the excellent run we have been on we are finishing weakly. Add that to our weak start and we have come very close to the edge this season. There is an air of staleness about this team at the moment.

  115. tsgh says:

    Morning Rico and all…

    Dev,I think you are being very generous; we could have also conceded 2 goals in the 2nd half after Fletcher squandered 2 of the most clear cut chances in the game.

    The fact that AW can convince himself that his squad is jaded is even more worrying. We haver been playing virtually 1 game per week since March…

    Why Wavy I take it you are not a fan of Gideon re your 12:47

  118. rico says:

    Top four, job done staleness I reckon Adam..

    Morning Ts – agree re the jade. One game a week should be a breeze, but then he has a squad, why not rotate?

  119. rico says:

    That’s a good question Adam, you’d like to think that once they cross the white line, pride would motivate themselves…

  120. Lee says:

    We need new ideas and new players so this leads to a new manager in my book! If we win the F.A. Cup (I’m not too confident about it tbh) would it be perfect timing for Arsene to step down?!?!

  121. rico says:

    To a degree Lee, I blame the players. I say that as we’ve seen them play with width, pace and directness this year and we’ve really blown teams away – well, won. 😉

    But the last few games it’s been like watching schoolboy football where they all chase the ball and want to score.

    I can’t believe that they are told to play that way surely…

  125. Lee says:

    I blame Wenger more than the players, he buys them, picks them and sets up the team. We’ve become easier to play against, Sherwood will follow the Swansea/Sunderland blue print and try to catch us on the counter. It’s written in the stars, Adam told me!

  126. rico says:

    Can’t see AW walking away, not if we get 3rd and win the FA Cup – although I too am quite nervous ahead of the latter the way we are playing…

  131. rico says:

    I’m hoping Sherwood will want to light up Wembley, although I have a feeling you’ll be right Lee..

    Agree Bt.

  132. Adam says:

    BT. I was struggling for direction until I met Lee. He told me the couch was the place for me and that he saw a great future for me there. 🙂

  133. allezkev says:

    Morning All…

    Didn’t see game and switched off radio at half-time.

    We’ll get a draw vs West Brom and beat Villa in a boring Cup Final.

    This season reminds me of the climax (steady Stan) to the 1997-98 season, when we achieved our ‘goal’ and lost some intensity from our game…

  139. scottfromoz says:

    56 games played thus far this season.
    An abysmal start followed by a sensational period which has us safely in 3rd spot and favourites to win the FA cup.
    We still don’t have a half a billion pound squad.
    28 chances, none went in.
    Blame the players who simply must be flat, but the tactics?
    28 shots.
    Sorry guys, but bad tactics can not produce 28 chances.
    Players worn out can cause 28 shots being fluffed…..then, a few keepers of late have done pretty well, to make things harder.
    Nobody was suggesting Wenger should be replaced 1-2 months ago, but. As always, a few bad results and back to square one.
    Top of the morning, boys and girls.
    All is well.
    Rest plenty this weekend and go straight at Villa, hard and fast.
    We will belt them by 3-4 goals.

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