Daily Bits and Bobs

Flamini spot on… Arsenal set to raid Leicester…?

Posted on by rico

Morning all..

Mathieu Flamini reckons Olivier Giroud is a better player having been dropped by Arsene Wenger, who instead, preferred Theo Walcott to lead the line earlier this season.

The lack of competition for places is a subject many Arsenal fans have discussed over the years and certainly here on HH. It’s the one very thing which keeps players on their toes, knowing full well that a couple of dodgy performances could land them on the bench.

That’s pretty much what happened to Ollie, Debuchy, Gibbs, Szczesny and latterly, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Being dropped, rested, rotated, call it what you like, isn’t always a bad thing. For the playing sitting on the bench it’s no doubt very disappointing but it’s a wake up call in most cases, it’s the manager saying, ‘come on, you need to do better because I know you can’. Not always, I know as players need to have a break as they are only human and can’t play every game, every week but for the players listed above, my own view is that they weren’t playing as good as Arsene Wenger thought they could.

Since Theo Walcott suffered injury in Sheffield, Ollie reverted back to first choice striker. To be fair, it’s not always gone well for him and the big Frenchman has again been on the end of some hefty criticism. Justifiably so imo but back came Theo Walcott last weekend, Ollie started scoring again and who’d have thought he’d have been our hat-trick hero a couple of nights ago? No, not me either but he was and maybe that’s because he knows he has a fight on his hands to keep his starting place.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is another who’ll struggle to get a starting place as Joel Campbell, after a mini run in the side has suddenly started to silence a few critics. Whether he sustains such form remains to be seen but after last weekend and again on Wednesday, the manager will perhaps find it difficult to ‘drop’ him. He’ll need a rest at some stage, they all will but as long as JC is in peak fitness, I think he’ll start which leaves Oxlade-Chamberlain having to work a lot harder to get back into the side.

Debuchy suffered injury, Bellerin stepped in and took his chance and the Frenchman just can’t get back into the first team on a regular basis. He’s rumoured to want out as his place in the French team is under threat.

The next big change will soon come at the back imo as I think it’s only a matter of time until we see Gabriel get a bit of a run in the side, he’s got to surely and in the place of Mertesacker….

Competition for places is healthy and we don’t have enough of that in the squad. Hopefully January will change that.

Arsene Wenger’s press conference:

Basically, there are no new injuries after our CL game. Mikel Arteta and Alexis Sanchez miss out this weekend but Jack Wilshere and the rest on the injury list, won’t return until the New Year. When in the New Year is anyone’s guess.

Gossip:

The Mirror report this morning that Arsenal are trying to ‘poach’ Leicester’s highly-regarded scout Steve Walsh’. Not only is Walsh their top scout/head of recruitment but he’s also Claudio Ranieri’s assistant manager. Getting him on board at Arsenal might be a great thing as looking at the Leicester team, there’s one or two who imo would walk right into our first team.

Who’d have ever thought that eh……

Finally, happy birthday to AllezKev who is 21 years old today…. Again..

That’s it for Friday, have a great day all…

Update – Highbury House seems to have crashed. The comments box has either disappeared or comments disappear into a big hole somewhere. Hopefully normality will be resumed soon…

Housework it is then…. 😉

rico

57 thoughts on “Flamini spot on… Arsenal set to raid Leicester…?”

  3. `Rick says:

    Rico I have been trying since first thing yesterday to post
    with no luck . Thought it was My keyboard it looks like i was wrong.

  5. Rick says:

    Hi Wavy at least you and I are back lets hope the others wake up soon.
    Better late then never
    Happy birthday Kev hope you are having a good one.

  6. Wavy says:

    Good effort Rico.
    Can’t see any reason why Steve Walsh would want to leave Leicester City just now. They are top of the league, cash rich, good squad etc etc, and he was a long serving player and very loyal to them. Just can’t see it.
    (This is a preçis of a much longer piece that got lost in cyber ether, earlier. But glad we are back on line again now.

  7. Wavy says:

    Oh, and Happy birthday Kev. Another year closer to retirement! Have you been awarded the “golden steering wheel” for long service to the Hackney Carriage Carriers Assn. yet?

    Hi yer Rick and Lee good to see some people persevere with HH, especially when it’s nearly down and out!

  12. agirlagunner says:

    ricooooooo!! Howdy?

    Maligayang bati, Allezkev, reverend, cabbie extraordinaire, shopping buddy!! I hope you have a fabulous birthday!!

  16. agirlagunner says:

    Good to hear, rico. I haven’t even started shopping!! 😀 Eeeeeeek!! Malls here are now open until 11 pm, haha.

  20. kelsey says:

    Good afternoo everyone.

    I believe that Ozil has a “slight”hamstring problem, whatever that means.Looking ahead to the Summer apart from Arteta,Flamini and Rosicky all being out of contract (should have been released last Summer IMO and at least 2 purchases made) I agree about Pers as he will invariably get slower.
    Debuchy is no Sagna and the boy Bellerin was thrown in has been pretty good but not at his best these past few games so rotation would be advisable.
    Campbell reads the game very well and is taking his chance but is very one footed but as has been said before is he playing for his place or is he in the shop window.
    Giroud had a one in a thousand game on Wednesday and of course financially it staved off a financial disaster.
    Walcott is nowhere near fit and I still don’t see him as a CF despite what he says, though there are a few games where it mght work but not as a lone striker.
    The Ox is another who at a young age has had his fair share of injuries but I am not sure he has the desire to drop deep and play defensively when required.
    Ramsey and of course Sanchez are the key for me. Get those on song and both scoring then we have several options up front though defensively the main question for me is the loss of Coquelin and can Flamini fill that gap for months or will we plunge into the market in January.
    There is no doubt that other clubs have improved their scouting since the early days of AW but should we really be looking at Leicester despite their great start.
    I go back to Dein’s departure and AW most probably having a finger in all aspects of the club instead of delegating for scouts,coaches etc .

  25. allezkev says:

    Evening All….

    Wavy, Agag, Rick….
    Thanks lads, golden steering wheel?
    I hope not…

    Thanks Rico, I wondered why everything was so quiet on here today…

    Lee ? Cheers mate…

    Off out soon…

    Take care everyone…

  32. Orfevrerie says:

    Oh, I see, thanks Rico and have a great dinner.

    Back to the topic, I think it’s great to recruit the foxes scout’s, but better both with get Mahrez also.

  39. Allan Michaud says:

    Looking forward to seeing if Joel can continue the way he ended on wednesday, Ramsey too for that matter. Things looking a bit brighter, no injuries for almost 2 weeks and players starting to come back. Fingers crossed we can push on and put some space between us and Citeh.

  45. potter says:

    Competition for places has always been the best way of getting the best out of the players. It has kept Theo and Giroud on their toes and should do the same for the others.

  47. allezkev says:

    I had great time today (yesterday) with dear friends and close family, quite memorable for me…

    Thanks Potter, very kind…
    Thanks Orf, yes I’ll get you beer, but no ice cubes… ?

    Cheers Scott, 10th time indeed… ?

  48. allezkev says:

    Agree with all the comments regarding competition for places. It’s still the best way to motivate players. Giroud/Walcotg is the perfect example although it doesn’t always work ax with Debuchy, whose shown a worrying lack of self-motivation.
    Best for all concerned if he goes this January, I’m sure we can cope…

  50. Tai says:

    Morning, Kev, All…

    Tried repeatedly to comment yesterday, all in vain…

    Happy Birthday…once more. Hope you had it great.

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