Morning all.
Not quite the highly entertaining, free and fast flowing performance I expected but a good job done nevertheless. On a crappy pitch.
Four good goals for the Arsenal, the best being Elneny’s. Where did that strike come from eh? All four goals were quite different, something the first team could do with emulating. Eddie’s closing down of the Dundalk defender earned him his goal. His finish was a cheeky lob over the keeper. Elneny’s was reminiscent of Lacazette’s last week. Super strike from a long way out. Both Cedric and AMN tried their luck from distance, both on target but both were saved. Shooting from distance is catching on….
Willock’s goal was all about Balogun’s strength and poor keeping but I doubt our goal scorer will care about that anymore than I do. If you don’t try, you’ll never know. Our final goal was a lovely finish from Balogun but also Pepe who showed a bit of determination prior to sliding the ball through to his mate. That’s how I’d describe this Thursday night team. A group of mates who enjoy doing what they’re doing and who they’re doing it with.
This group of so called second string players have taken this competition by the scuff of its neck and have won the group without dropping a point which is nothing more than Mikel Arteta could have wished for. Willock, Nelson, AMN, Balogun and Pepe have stood out in my opinion. Cedric has been solid and the return of Mari and Chambers has been a boost. Runarsson will probably be disappointed he was beaten twice last night but otherwise he’s done ok too. How he’d fair against stronger opposition remains to be seen but I don’t see a huge gulf between him and Leno. Of course I wish Martinez was still at the club but that ship has long sailed sadly.
I think last night showed how important it is for Arsenal to keep hold of Balogun. Nine years he’s been at the club and personally, I think he’s ready to be introduced to the Premier League. His goal was good in itself but his hold up play for Willock to score was even better. No one in the Premier League squad has shown that kind of strength in the box. He might only be 19 years old but he’s a strong looking guy. I’d love to see him on the bench on Sunday and getting minutes and if that’s what it takes to make him realise his future remains at Arsenal, I think Mikel has to do it. To lose him would be a travesty in my opinion.
We know that the length of his contract at the moment is an issue but we are trying to resolve it the best possible way. We want him to stay, he said to me that he wants to stay at the club so hopefully we can reach an agreement and extend his contract. He’s done really well, every minute he has been on that field he has been superb. Today he looked a threat again. He scored a goal, set another one up and looked really lively and mature on that pitch. Mikel Arteta.
I think AMN has to go into the first team for the Burnley match too. He has energy, attitude and legs. He gets up and down the pitch quicker than Xhaka can turn on the spot. He’s the work horse we lack on a weekend.
Anyway, job done rather well I think and on Monday we’ll find out who awaits Arsenal in the knockout round.
Now the focus has to switch back to the Premier League and we need points. Fast too. 16th in the table is not good. It’s appalling. If the team are going to continue firing crosses into the box as they did last weekend, there’s a case for Balogun to play right there.
Have a good Friday guys.
Morning Rico and All
Unfortunately the competition has just begun so depending on the draw we may have seen the last of our youngsters at that level.
I slightly remember being told about BalaGUN when he played over Wanstead flats from the Senrab coaches the scouts at the time couldn’t make their minds up,probably why I missed him,to play like that at this level impressed me more than anything else.
I watched Ajax the other night blood a few youngsters and BalaGUN would go straight into the first eleven or twelve with what he showed last night.
Micky needs to act quickly because everyone is watching now.
Kev mentioned Kenny Samson the other day who in my opinion on his day was as good a left back as anybody in the world.
Kenny could glide across pitch and leap like a salmon he was amazing to watch.
I had the pleasure in them day’s to knock around with a teammate of his and went to many party’s and late afters as we called it then,his brother liked a good time as well looking back,
but Kenny in them days I thought acted like the Pro that he was.
Still scratching my head at this midfield it’s all over the place,not sure what Mickys doing,when he first came in we had three midfielders guarding the counter attack at corners for instants yet when you look at the goals against lately Villians/Spuds the midfielders are nowhere to be seen not to mention the wingbacks,so we will see especially against Burnley who we all know will park the bus,if he has spotted that mistake now and goes back to that,instead of putting 5/6 players around the goalkeeper to stop him coming out,I’m surprised we don’t use the short corners for a different angle enough.
Morning Fred. It’d be disappointing if these younger players are cast aside as soon as the knockout stage arrives as it’s they who got us here. However, I do understand that this is a competition we really need to win. Easier said than done though.
My hope is that as the weeks pass, some of those who have been playing well in Europe, push their way into the first team.
Balogun would be a huge loss. I know he’s yet to prove it in the big games, but m6 goodness, he looks like he’ll be the best striker the academy has produced in years. Many years.
Good morning all.
Looking at the bare fact of the final score, a four – two away win which could have been five but for a marginal off-side decision, that should have been an entertaining even exciting game. unfortunately apart from the six or seven minutes occupied by the goals, it was a boring affair stuffed full of endless, ineffective passing and wasted possession. A replica, in fact, of most of our Premiership games so far this season.
Morning all.
Rico you pose an interesting question, who was the last home grown Arsenal centre forward?
I’ve been racking my brain cell, and I can’t remember. I wondered about Ted Drake, pre his era it’s all a bit hazy! Kev, you’re good at historical figures, who do you reckon?
Good win last night though. The result is everything!
Over the years I have had the pleasure of standing behind Kelsey , Wilson , Jennings , Lukic , Seaman and Lehmann , the dubious pleasure of Furnell , Fabianski , Almunia and that’s the level that I put Leno
. He’s a good number 2 and I am afraid that Runarsson doesn’t fill me with confidence that he is ready to take over or even apply enough pressure to keep Leno on his toes.
Now on to the positive stuff .
It is a pleasure to see an Arsenal team playing with Zee “andbrake” off . watching players running at defences and popping shots off when they see the whites of the keepers eyes. Who knows by the time we play the next round the second string will be Ceballos , Xhaka , Luiz et al as Smith-Rowe, Mari , Balogun , AMN have cemented their place in the Premier team..
When Partey comes back if AMN and Elneny flank him we would have a mobile midfield that moves the ball quickly and would give our forwards the confidence to make runs with the feeling that the ball was likely to come.
Last night will not take the pressure away from Arteta as Dundalk will be dismissed as a Sunday League Hackney marshes team . We need to turn things around and quick and the young players have the confidence to do that or at least go down trying .
Today 11th December in 1886 the Arsenal played their first game as Dial Square.
I didn’t know that , and I wasn’t there. Though my grandad was.
I’ve certainly no idea either Wavy. Our academy finally seems to be producing a few good players who might end up being excellent players.
Cicero, it was a dead rubber on a crap pitch against a club whose players woke up this morning wondering if they have a job. I’m not so unhappy. Lol
We can only hope Potter. If Mikel wants mobility in his team, he has to leave the slow coaches away from the first team.
Wavy , I would say Andy Cole , but something strange happened there, There are a few rumours but only those really close to the club know the truth.
Rico feel free to delete this if you want to .
Today the AFC Forum folded ,
It was spawned from the official Arsenal forum which was disbanded by the club when criticism of the prospective share sales to Kroenke and Usmanov was being fought over . The board came under a lot of bad press and closed it.
At this point about 200 or so contributors went their own way and donations were taken and under the guiding hand of a guy called Steve the forum was set up as an individual unit. Over time people have left and towards the end only about half a dozen regularly posted .
I would like to thank Steve for his efforts and if he Rainham Red , Red Snapper , Tenbob , THynker Foys and a few others are reading this , make yourselves known , and maybe we can reactivate the popular prediction league with Rico’s permission.
No need to delete Potter. Sounds like a good idea to me.
Rico looking at the spuds stats in the europa cup as regards young players Maureen took no chances,he dared to risk 3 young lads and gave them 9 mins each early on then his bottle went,l can just about imagine what the families of the youngsters must’ve thought when looking over the road,so well done Micky, I think he was very brave which ever way you look at it,we still have cup games to play if we can get rid of the Barcodes.
Homegrown striker, well John Radford from 60s/70s,more recent I suppose Kev Campbell,a few years before that Niall Quinn who played in the first Arsenal match I saw at Stamford Bridge,a 0-0 draw in about 1986.
But yes it’s weird there’s been so few, especially as Arsenal have always had a tradition of bringing through homegrown players.I guess one that got away was Andy Cole who played a handful of Arsenal games as a youngster.
Frank Stapleton too, I’m sure there are others.
Strikers and central defenders through the academy are rare.
Rumours of Willian to Real Betis , got him on a free paid his wages and then sell him for a fee .
Might be good business
I so hope that’s true.
New post up now