Morning all.
The FA Cup has thrown up a couple of surprise results already this weekend. Middlesbrough knocked out Man Utd on Friday evening and Norwich defeated Wolves at Molineux yesterday afternoon. Both Chelsea and West Ham needed extra time yesterday to win their ties against lower division clubs which is good as more they play, the better it is for Arsenal and once the European football fixtures begin again, that’ll mean even more playing time for their players. Leicester City travel to Nottingham today to face the team who knocked us out.
This month, both Chelsea and Liverpool have an extra fixture as the League Cup Final takes place on the 27th.
Today, it’s the ACON Final with Mo Elneny in action as Egypt take on Senegal at 7pm UK time. Good luck Mo.
The Arsenal women dropped a couple of points at home yesterday lunchtime. They’re still top of the WSL but both Utd and Chelsea aren’t far behind and the latter have two games in hand. Arsenal and Chelsea go head to head this Friday. The U23’s however, thrashed Chelsea 3-1 on Friday.
In the mens game, it’s all about securing a European place come the end of May. 4th would be a fantastic achievement but if someone offered 6th place today, I’d snap their hands off.
The last week of warm weather training in Dubai hasn’t been about getting a nice tan, it’s been about preparing for the run in. It’s a tough run in too, beginning on Wednesday against a Wolves team who were knocked out of the FA Cup yesterday by Norwich City.
But what was the trip about?
We had a break of two weeks and thought of the best way to maximise it, and felt the best way was to stay together for a week or so in a different environment, but with clear objectives for this week. Not only physically but mentally, it’s been a tough season and a tough few years. We wanted to take this opportunity to get a few things from it.
- The first thing, the training camp in these conditions is beautiful. We want to keep improving the efficiency of our game model and it’s a beautiful place to do it.
- The second one is to set clear objectives for what we want to do at the end of the season. We have 17 games to finish, how we are going to do it and what we want to achieve in those games.
- The third one was about building the unity and the spirit that is in the group and that has to be maintained. There’s no better way to do it not only with the players but as well with the families because they are a big part of what we do and we need them on board to keep pushing every day.
The above is from Mikel Arteta after he and the players returned to London Colney.
Unity, togetherness, spirit, call it what you like but without it, Arsenal won’t have a cat in hells chance of having a good run of results or performances for the remainder of the season. The bad apple, if that’s what Aubameyang was, has left and the rest are players we can only assume Mikel Arteta wants at the club. For now at least, and it’s crucial that he gets the best out of them and helps them get the best out of themselves and each other which so far this season, hasn’t always been the case and it’s cost us precious points. What we witnessed at both Old Trafford and Goodison Park, has to be a thing of the past. As does finishing a game with ten men.
The chances of Arsenal winning the remainder of the fixtures are slim to none but it’s no different for the clubs around us. Barring City and Liverpool perhaps. We still have to go to West Ham, Aston Villa, Totts, Crystal Palace, Chelsea, Wolves. Leicester City, we play Utd, Wolves and Liverpool at The Emirates too. It wasn’t that long ago when I’d look at those fixtures and think, 20-25 points in the bag.
However, just writing them down lessens my belief that Arsenal will be playing European football next season.
See you in the comments.
Morning Rico and all
I still say it was a mickey mouse bonding session, if these players are not bonded by now they never will,
As for the last bad apple gone I don’t know they said that every time someone left even Ozil was meant to be the last bad apple now it’s Auba. it seems to me that any one Arteta does not like is a bad apple. what’s that saying The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
Morning Geoff, we’ll have to agree to differ on this one. Bad eggs are everywhere in the game and until they become troublesome, no one really knows how they’ll be. Who’d have thought Auba would tread the path he did when he was helping the team win the FA Cup?
What we do know is that Ozil was already ostracised by Emery before Arteta was even thought of.
Arteta bought him back and it whatever caused the first rift did not go away and subsequently after 10 games he was left out again.
With Auba we know that he had a history of having things his own way and largely that was the reason we got him when Borrussia decided that they couldn’t put up with his antics any more .
It seems that after the new contract came he returned to his easy chair and felt that he was the kingpin and things that Arteta did with the rest of the squad did not apply to him.
There was firstly the Spurs lateness and subsequently ( 2 ) the trip to France which turned into a tattoo in Barcelona ( 3 ) and these are the ones that were reported and so we know about them
How many more indiscretions have not been publicised.?
U.K employment laws mean that you get two written warnings prior to a third ,and then dismissal .
He probably had his chances and pushed too far
We have a lot of young impressionable kids that looked up to him . If you let him off continually then the rest will follow .
I agree the best thing for Auba and Ozil was to leave the club, but is Arteta the bad apple as it appears any one who disagrees with him get frozen out.
Good morning all.
After the upheaval of the transfer (out) window the club were due a “reset”. so the “warm weather” training is probably a good thing in the circumstances, keep the squad together and avoid the sort of things that usually happen when young men with too much money are let out on their own. Restricting their access to nightclubs, hairdressing salons and tattoo parlours can do no harm and may do a little good.
Hi Rico.. All I know is if I find myself in Barcelona during the next 18 monhs, I shall be popping in for a game 😉
Liverpool v Cardiff at 12.. hoping McGuinness has a good game. Really thought he’d make it for us; devastated when he left..
So how many books/series did you go through yesterday, Rico?!! 😄
Hi Sue, just the entire film on Amazon. 😅
Ozil and Auba went the same way after their new contract. Absolutely agree that bad behaviour needs to be penalised. As said the other day, we moaned when Wenger allowed things to be a bit too relaxed so we can’t have it both ways.
Sue, you might see him on the Barca beach. 😅
I also had high hopes for McGuinness, Sue. And I don’t see what he could have done wrong. Nevertheless I have similar high hopes about Ballard and Mavropanos, so the fault must have been in my approach, if even Saliba has hardly any chances to make it in red and white…
Two weeks in Dubai with your family, a bit of football, a bit of golf, some shopping, sitting by the pool, what’s not to like about that and certainly better than being over here in the cold, damp and gloom.
I guess we’ll know on Thursday at Molyneux if it was all worth it?
If anything it will have given the coaching staff a rest as well as they also experience fatigue and stress.
Certainly Ballard has done the mileage in tough environments and has gone on to represent his country . I see him as a replacement in the suad for Chambers or Mariand saliba coming back to challenge White , Gabriel for the starting positions .
Mavropanus unfortunately got shipped out as a Mislintat signing first rejected by Wenger and then Emery with a large number of injuries on the way. he never really got a good chance at the club .
I just hope that Saliba doesn’t get the same treatment.
R. Madrid was said to be interested in Saliba.
I’m ahead of myself, thought we were playing Wednesday. Oh well, at least the game doesn’t clash with Corrie, I might have been tempted… lol
Ditto re McGuinness, thought he might finally be a defender brought through the academy and into the first team. Ballard too but I don’t think he will.
Forest giving Leicester a hard time
Good, extra time and penalties would be good.
Just seen, Forest are 3-1 up. Lol
I’m not fussed, Rico – the beach or Camp Nou 😄 Just watched Barca v Atletico.. Barca won 4-2..
What the hell are Forest on?
pbarany.. Good to see McGuinness has cemented his place in their team; shame they lost to Pool.
You know we’ll sell Mavropanos/Ballard for peanuts!
Forest for the cup 😄
Well its 4-1 now. I guess Forest ain’t that bad after all. They are running Leicester ragged. And unlike Arsenal Leicester are playing their regular squad.
Noticeable how Maddison is getting wound up. Shades of Xhaka
Sue, I just don’t know if Ballard, McGuinness and Clarke were simply not good enough (like Olowu, Medley, Omole) to play for Arsenal’s first team in a cup game, maybe even just sit on the bench, or they were never even given the chance to live up to the standard.
Mavropanos and Saliba are excluded here, as they are not academy graduates, and their performance statistics clearly show that they are AT LEAST as good as our first team defenders. And even with admitting that statistics are not everything and show only half the picture, it’s kind of a convincing half…
Ha ha Sue. SpecSavers? 😂
Forest v Middlesbrough Final would be interesting…
Afternoon..
I guess Marc Overmars is finished in football. What a chump!
Late last night purely by accident I saw the last hour of the 1988 Arsenal – Everton match . As time goes by you forget things such as , How quick was Overmars ? and just how physical Everton were and as they were played off the pitch ,how Ferguson and Hutchinson reverted to type.
It was amusing to see how Ferguson took out Dixon and two minutes later was flat on his back with Keown on top of him and how Hutchinson did Petit and then found Adams close by and hardly went near him again.
Parlours work rate and until he went off Petit’s ability to win and recover balls that were never his.
And of course that surreal moment when Bouldy put Tone through for the fourth goal .
Happy days
Those were the days Potter.
1988 or 1998? 😆
1998 , slip of the finger.
Easy done.
New post up now