Cech, Walcott and Welbeck get lost. Putting the pressure on the top two….

Morning all.

Big weekend as far as the title race goes as any of the top four sides could drop points.

Arsenal kick things off at lunchtime tomorrow with a tricky trip to West Ham but there’s no reason why this team can’t get one over the club which beat us on the opening day of the season. Just don’t give away any free kicks in a dangerous area because Payet will probably find the back of the net. His accuracy is nearly as good as David Beckham in his day.

Later in the day Man City have a home fixture against West Brom and I’d expect nothing other than a home victory in that one.

Sunday could be interesting.

The league leaders travel to Sunderland, a team fighting for their Premier League survival. This could be a match where the likes of Vardy etc can’t find a way past a Big Sam’s defence. Then the Totts face Man Utd at WHL and with so much pressure on the away team to grab a Champions League place, they may just do Arsenal a favour by nicking a point or all three with a bit of luck.

If Arsenal can beat West Ham tomorrow, the pressure will be on both clubs above us and who knows what might happen.

Arsene Wenger has been talking about money and how it’s not how much you spend, but who a club spends it’s money on. This is all because Leicester sit top of the league having spent less than £27 million on 10 new signings last summer. He says the league’s ‘more established’ clubs can learn from what Leicester have done.

What we learn from Leicester City is what I knew for a long time, which is that it’s not just only down to the amount of money you spend. It’s down to the quality of players you bring in and sometimes the opportunities are not always necessarily linked with the amount of money.

If you look well, they finished very strongly last season and on top of that they brought some players in who have given them something more, like N’Golo Kante. He had a huge impact. We have spoken about [West Ham’s] Dimitri Payet – you could say along with Payet he is one of the players who had a big impact in this league.

Ten players for just £27 million is incredible really and Arsene Wenger should be embarrassed because one or two of the players at Leicester could have seriously made a difference to our season couldn’t they? But no, Arsenal didn’t need them…

Still, at least the club will have earned a little more money from this advert.

Now we know why Theo Walcott seldom ‘turns up’…

55 thoughts on “Cech, Walcott and Welbeck get lost. Putting the pressure on the top two….

  1. Hell Raising Devil says:

    Follow Walcott????? Where???? 100% chance he will lead you to a blind alley. lol

    Good Morning Boss and Peeps

    Nice post Boss. Shame AW could not do the same as Ranieri did. Just as you said. We could have needed Vardy……but he is English remember.

    We could have done with Mahrez…..but he did not cost much.

    We could have done with Gante…….but AW deemed he had better after watching him.

  2. scottfromoz says:

    Guys, over the last week or so, I’ve been reading a lot of commons on this topic.
    I ask everyone this…… if we’d purchased these players a year or two back, how many would have deemed them Arsenal quality AT THAT TIME??
    Seriously, when we buy a 5-10 million pound player, people complain we’ve gone the cheap route again.
    When we do NOT buy a cheap player, and he becomes a success, it’s another one we “missed out on”.

  3. rico says:

    Scott, I can honestly say that a players cheap price never bothers me. It’s what they do on the pitch which counts….

    Let them play before judging is my motto…

  4. scottfromoz says:

    Fair call, Rico, but if someone said a year ago we were buying Vardy, I don’t know an Arsenal fan alive that would’ve been happy.
    Same applies to plenty of others, yet plenty are quick to criticise…..of course, with the benefit if hindisght.

  5. rico says:

    I wouldn’t have Scott. I may have been sceptical but if he started banging goals in as he has done, then any critics would soon be silenced…

    Look at Elneny, I’d never heard of him, he was as cheap as chips but he’s been very very good and made us look a different side imo…

    I’m not a believer that a club has to spend ‘X’ amount to guarantee a great player…

  6. scottfromoz says:

    Austin was doing well in the PL, though.
    I get your point, but Vardy came from nowhere.
    Same as a few of their other players.
    It’s not easy to pick players who’ll do well for us, that’s for sure.

  7. Intolerant Kev says:

    Coach, I wasn’t aware that Johnson had been out injured so long, but I thought he looked quite promising on that first viewing.

    Afternoon All
    Afternoon Rico

  8. Intolerant Kev says:

    It’s been a quiet old week Rico…

    Interest has died a bit as the season winds down with no FACup S/F or Final to look forward to…

    That defeat to Watford still rankles…

  9. Mabo says:

    Hellow everyone at HH, again tomorrow it is on I cannot wait. You know the way I am so passionate about the Arsenal I sometimes sit and wonder if I am not crazy or something. for all football clubs that exist I feel very much passionate about Arsenal. Good luck to the boys tomorrow and have fun watching them wherever you are Gooners. COYG

  10. rico says:

    It has been Kev, comments are down everwhere..

    Still, we have the summer of transfers to look forward to… 😉

    Me too re Watford, irks me no end..

  11. Lee says:

    It’s pointless talking about signing this player or that player whilst Wenger is in charge, the bloke is finished as a top flight manager and that’s been the case for the last 10yrs.

    The mismanagement of our wage bill is beyond a joke…spuds & Leicester combined wage bill is less than ours.

    Wenger keeps saying every year this is the best squad I’ve ever managed whilst at Arsenal and we win fuck all (proper trophies that is) so that tells me he’s done as a manager…..

  12. Intolerant Kev says:

    Rico, I really cannot see there being much business from Arsenal this summer…

    Wenger will probably promote from within to fill the gaps created as players move on.

  13. Lee says:

    Someone should gag the French twat too…. he nearly signed Payet apparently! He just makes himself look a total James Hunt!

  14. Lee says:

    –Suarez, 45 goals.
    – Ronaldo, 42 goals.
    – Ibrahimovic, 39 goals.
    – Messi, 37 goals.
    – Lewandowski, 36 goals.
    – Aubameyang, 36 goals.
    -Higuain, 32 goals.
    – Aduriz, 32 goals.
    – Jonas, 32 goals.
    – Thomas Muller, 28 goals.
    – Neymar, 27 goals.
    – Griezmann, 26 goals.
    – Slimani, 26 goals.
    – Benzema, 25 goals.
    – Lukaku, 25 goals.
    – Kane, 25 goals.

    Goals scored so far this season, not an Arsenal player in sight there lies a major problem! Tell you what I’ll put Walcott on £140K pw and play Iwobi instead of him!! Play Welbeck instead of Giroud….

    Fucking joke management!

  15. Intolerant Kev says:

    Well what counts Lee, is not their total, it’s what they’ve got in the League, the rest is all fluff…

    Giroud……… 12
    Alexis………. 8
    Ozil…………. 5
    Ramsey…… 5
    Walcott……. 5
    Welbeck….. 3
    Campbell… 3
    Iwobi………. 2

    The rest aren’t worth mentioning, but it clearly isn’t enough, although special mention should go to the 1 goal score by the vastly overrated Alex Oxlade-Chambelain….

  16. Intolerant Kev says:

    Rico, I reckon one middle to big signing…

    And a couple of Elneny type punts…

    The rest will be made up by kids…
    But if they turn out as gold as Iwobi then we might be better off with them…

    Just forget the EPL and CL next season…

  17. rico says:

    I’d be more than happy with a couple more like Elneny Kev.. A striker who can score has to be the priority though. A clinical finisher with pace hopefully…

  18. Intolerant Kev says:

    Lacazette couldn’t do any worse than many in our squad Rico, but a really ambitious club would go for Griezmann or Reus…

  19. Rick says:

    Afternoon Rico and the House.
    A nice sunny day day down souf but a bit chilly when the sun goes in .
    Kev kids for next season Toral cert Hayden maybe and the way Arsene talks of Willock don’t rule him out The remainder I have my doubts

    Re Chiro Johnson the right back. I think the article is a little misleading and is building the lad up to much. At the moment he is behind Moore in the pecking order and has yet to make a break through into the U21’s . Moore is not elgible to play for the youth team(too old) and except for the 9 months he was out injured he has been the first choice r/b for the U21’s for the last 3 seasons
    At the moment I think both of them fall short of making the first team.

    The U 21 game against Newcastle is live on the Arsenal player tonight so if you have you can have a look at Moore he should be playing.

  20. Intolerant Kev says:

    Rico, don’t miss Corrie tonight…. ?

    A bomb goes off in the Rovers Return and they all get killed – honest…..

  21. Intolerant Kev says:

    Cheers Rick…
    Yep, Toral for me next season, and Hayden, Willock also, not sure about Akpom…
    Maitland-Niles has hit a wall at Ipswich, but he still has plenty of time…

  22. Rick says:

    Kev Niles has been frozen out at Ipswich, his mother gave Mick some abuse
    bloody parents??
    There seems to be better news on the defender prospects Kev.
    The U17 team that won the Future Cup over easter was made up mostly of this years scholar intake and some U15’s.
    They only conceeded 1goal from open play in 5 games .There were 2 c/backs
    Omole and Olowu and a left back Thompson who performed very well.
    I just hope they can step up to U 18 level and we have a new defensive coach by the time next season starts.

    Rico Show starts 6.40 ko 7pm.

  23. Intolerant Kev says:

    Ok Rick, thanks for update on Mrs Maitland-Niles… ?

    What do you think of Marc Bola, I thought he looked quite good at times the other evening…?
    I thought he was unlucky to get sent off considering he slipped as he attempted to tackle.
    The referee was a right knob.

    Rico, I am also gonna watch Corrie… ?

  24. Marshall says:

    Ain’t Jack a luck boy (bastard). Henderson’s picked an injury just in time for Jacko to replace him

  25. Intolerant Kev says:

    Jack Wilshere, Tomas Rosicky and Serge Gnabry all played a major part as Arsenal U21s took a potentially significant step towards promotion with a 3-1 triumph over their Newcastle United counterparts at Emirates Stadium tonight.

    Gnabry was on the scoresheet along with Dan Crowley and Stephy Mavididi, whilst Rosicky played some excellent passes in his 45 minutes on the field, and Wilshere, making his first appearance of the season at any level, caught the eye and played 65 minutes.

    Despite the fact that several players who participated in the FA Youth Cup tie with Manchester City on Monday didn’t feature in this game Arsenal were still able to field a strong line-up, with Matt Macey and Julio Pleguezuelo amongst those involved from the outset. In a late change to the squad Josh DaSilva made the bench instead of Donyell Malen.

    Macey

    Sheaf-Bielik-Pleguezuelo-M. Bola

    McGuane-Wilshere

    Crowley-Rosicky-Gnabry

    Mavididi
    Subs: Reine-Adelaide (for McGuane, 25), C. Willock (for Rosicky, 46), DaSilva (for Wilshere, 65). Not used: Pileas, Keto.

    From J.Bird, Arsenal Youth blog…

  26. Intolerant Kev says:

    Just seen the goals on Arseblog News, gotta say that Gnabry scored a cracker, three very well worked goals…

    And Corrie was brilliant.
    Night All

  27. scottfromoz says:

    Morning all.
    Rico, I’m glad you had a peek at the record of Vardy prior to this season 🙂
    Winning today?
    Yep.
    A comfortable result is headed our way.

Leave your comment.

Discover more from Highbury House

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

Continue reading