Morning all.
That was alright wasn’t it? A mixture of players from the entire squad with Ben White and ESR the only two included from the team which beat Aston Villa. I was surprised to see them both start especially as Mikel Arteta said after the game that White had been feeling unwell. Thankfully, when he went off, it wasn’t because of injury.
No, there is a bug going on, we lost Pablo today as he wasn’t feeling great and Ben had it as well in the last day or two. He wasn’t feeling great, so we decided to take him off. – Mikel Arteta.
The game could have gone either way really but when Ben White left the pitch, Calum Chambers replaced him and with his first touch of the ball made it 1-0. Eddie Nketiah scored the second, proof that if a forward player chases down what appears to be a lost cause, anything can happen. Excellent ball control from the player although when it came to putting the ball in the net he very nearly fluffed his lines. However, he didn’t and he got a goal his commitment deserved.
I have no doubts about what he can offer. Whatever you throw at him, he wants more, and demands more of himself, and he’s another one that I am delighted to see the performance and for him to score the goal and help the team, because he totally deserves it. But there’s a lot of players who play in that position, and with a personal situation [with his contract running down], but I try to leave that aside and try to [reward him] because he deserves it. – Mikel Arteta on Eddie Nketiah.
I do wonder if Mikel Arteta is reluctant to give players who are in their final year of contract as much of a chance as others whose Arsenal contracts still run for a while. Mo Elneny, Alex Lacazette and Eddie Nketiah can all leave in the summer and the club won’t get a penny for them but I’ve no idea if any of three have been offered, let alone turned down a new contract. If it’s the latter then the club will have a decision to make come January if offers come in for any of them. I can’t see Lacazette or Nketiah being allowed to leave. Not when the FA Cup will come into play and Aubameyang will be off on international duty.
Salah-Eddine Oulad M’Hand, not a name I’m familiar with but he’s been training hard according to Mikel Arteta and excelling for the under 23’s and last night he was on the bench. With the five substitute rule in place, it’s a shame he didn’t get a few minutes at the end of the game just for experience but being on the bench probably felt good. Maybe that’s the idea, experience the atmosphere for a game and then make the next step gradually.
Anyway, we’re in the quarter-final and we’ll find out who we face next on Saturday. I’m hoping it’ll be Crewe Alexandra or Preston at The Emirates.
See you in the comments.
They were lucky Sue. 😆
Morning Devil, all.
I don’t think Arteta would allow the mindset to drop should we draw Sunderland Devil, just as he didn’t in the first two ties.
New post up now
Good Morning Rico and all
Sunderland to draw the Scousers? I don’t think it that way Rico. I want us to draw Sunderland……and teach them a lesson. However good they might be they are not playing in the EPL. They are playing in League one. The only problem would be Arteta’s mindset. or the players mindset.
Now that City have been knocked out I just hope that the dippers and chavs draw each other.
A good post bdw. And I really enjoyed the fact that Chambers scored. Him and Holding might not be first choice….however they are great team members and their attitude is spot on and first class.
How good are the hammers right now?! Wow!!
Ha ha Potter, but let’s not eh..
Hi Sue, that Johnson chap is a cheeky one. I hope his team draw the scousers just for that. Eddie’s record is pretty good isn’t it.
Hi Rico..
Sunderland boss Lee Johnson on the Carabao Cup draw: “I’d love to have Arsenal away or Tottenham away if not that. And then we’ll wait for the really big guns when it’s two legs.” #AFC
I bet we draw the scousers, Rico!!
Excellent result last night. Was a tad anxious after the line ups came out; Leeds looked strong (on paper 😄), but Eddie does what he always does in the cup!! And what an introduction from Chambers (pity Andre Marriner was half asleep!).
Pepe is the only player that can dribble past someone and then stumble on the ball; as frustrating as he is though, he still managed to bag an assist… On we go!!
We have always seen the effect that a new contract on the horizon has for certain players . Perhaps we should start negotiating with Pepe’s agent and he might try to learn a new trick apart from the cut inside and shoot or bend a centre to the far post.
I think quite a few of the younger players already train with the first squad Cicero.
You old cynic Potter. Lol
In reality though they’re playing for their future whether that be at Arsenal or elsewhere so it’s in their own interest to play well. If the Balogun and Saka contracts are anything to go by, it’ll be a while before we hear whether or not Eddie is staying.
Morning Geoff, the White situation is odd but Arteta said he felt right to play. I just hope whatever bug it is going round, is gone before Saturday.
Morning Rico and all
sounds like it was a good match, only thing is, if Ben White wasn’t feeling good then why have him around the playing group and take the chance on more players catching a cold.
Maybe the players are more happy now because they are starting to see the owners care about the club and giving Arteta a nice budget for the last transfer market.
Good morning all.
It was good to see that we could field what was largely a reserve team all of which had Premiership experience. I hope Arteta can continue to feed youngsters into the senior squad for training and give them bench experience which will, inevitably I hope, lead to minutes on the pitch.
I too was impressed by both of the full backs and Leno made some good saves too , which made me conclude that they were playing for their futures elsewhere.
Chambers and Eddie though I suspected that they were looking to stay and looking to prove their worth to the squad.
Ultimately the decision on these two rests with the manager . If he wants them , the work with their agents can begin .It is worth remembering that Nketiah is represented by Elite Project Group Ltd, the same agency as Bukayo Saka, Alex Iwobi, Reiss Nelson, Folarin Balogun, Chuba Akpom and Jonathan Dinzeyi – all with Arsenal connections. and it was largely reported that the only reason Eddie did not join Palace was the agents fees and high wage demands. Which perhaps is the sticking point as ,out of contract , he can get both a signing on fee plus higher wages.
Squad decisions have to be made and we can only comment on what we see , we don’t know whats happening in the background . Are the reports from France on Saliba suggestive that he may well be with us next year and if so , does that mean that a defender has to go to accommodate him ?
I posted that we were getting too open towards the end of the first half but Chamber’s goal allowed us to re-tighten our grip on the game and from then on we were pretty much in control. It was a good work out for the fringe players it was just a shame that the breakthrough took so long otherwise we might have seen a starlet towards the finish.
Morning Adam. Agree re the players. They certainly appear to be a happy group despite playing time for some of them being limited. I can’t remember the last time Kolasinac played as well. I thought AMN had a very good game too. You might be right about something happening away from the pitch because there’s something different out there. Long may it continue.
Morning Rico. We were fine for about 25 minutes or thereabouts and then lost our way a bit. Second half it was good to see that Mikel had identified the problems and put it right. The players were good I thought and I was surprised how committed Kola and Cedric were. Leno was superb too.
I really like this feeling of togetherness I’m seeing from the squad/club. Something has happened recently and a few pennies seem to have dropped. Good results help for sure.
Hi Mig, a different kind of performance was inevitable with so many changes but the attitude was spot on I think although I missed some of the game.
Cup matches can cause problems so yep, job done well I reckon.
Hi Rico,
Game of two halves and us fielding a much weaker team from the PL one I have to say it was a job well done. Nice to see Holding, Chambers Leno etc again and they deserved the win from their second half display. I thought Eddie chased everything and deserved his MOTM.
Job well done.