Morning all.
It looks like Aaron Ramsey is going nowhere this month as Unai Emery said as much in his post match conference. Ozil isn’t either as it seems he wants to stay and fight for his place in the team. Fight, I doubt he knows the meaning of the word and yes, I do have a downer on him. Knee injury my foot, it’s winter and he still thinks he’s in Spain where they have a break. Pff!
We finally managed to put Fulham in their place but not without a few scary moments. Le Tiss kept rabbiting on about how they should have been 2-0 up before we scored but he’d clearly lost sight of the chance Aubameyang had earlier in the game. In fairness, we were fortunate not to conceded but as I’ve said before, it’s not our fault they were pants in front of goal.
We scored four though and that was a positive. I liked Xhaka’s opener, finished like a true striker. Shame he missed the second chance which fell his way. Aubameyang too, he missed a few yet again. Our best though came from Lacazette. A superb move down our left which involved a number of players, crisp passing and a thumping finish. Nice. Ramsey grabbed our third with another nice finish before Aubameyang finally managed to get on the scoresheet. We did manage to concede a goal too which was no surprise considering how hard we’d been trying to.
Lacazette was substuted again. The fans booed, not at him but him going off. Instead of looking disgruntled though, the Frenchman applauded the fans, acknowledged Ramsey who was replacing him and looked a happy chappie as he took his place in the dugout.
Mustafi suffered an injury again and had to be replaced and then our final change of the game saw Saka make his first Premier League appearance. Great for the youngster who I think has a bright future ahead of him. He’s kind of snuck through really whilst most of the focus has been on Maitland-Niles, Nelson, Eddie and Smith Rowe. Willock too who had a few good performances in the Europa League.
The defending remains a problem but then Emery knows that. It’s another subject he touched on after the game.
Our challenge now is to improve defensively. What’s the reason? Maybe different things. First, not with every player, we need to defend more than we did today with different injuries.
Today’s the first time we could play with Koscielny, Sokratis and Mustafi – and the injury to Mustafi in the first half meant we had to change to four at the back in the second half. But we are very happy with the attacking players scoring lots of goals like today, but we need to take more balance defensively and to improve.
It’s one thing for us to work on, to prepare for the second half of the season. We need to do it better in the second half of the season by working with every player in the team tactically – and that’s what we’re going to do
At least he’s not burying his head in the sand eh. He also suggested one or two players could come in this month but denied one might be Gary Cahill.
Anyway, nothing was much different to what we’ve seen so far this season really, other than we scored a few more than usual but then one would expect us to against one of the teams in the bottom three.
On to the FA Cup next and a trip to Blackpool on Saturday. Rotation I reckon with a number of younger players being awarded the chance to impress. I’m quite looking forward to watching that match.
Have to finish with this from young Bukayo Saka, who despite just getting a few minutes on the pitch, was delighted:
“I think I’ll give it (my shirt) to my mum and dad, but I think they’ll probably frame it and give it back to me! That’s what I think I’m going to do with it.“Right now I’m feeling so happy.
I feel blessed to have made my debut and get minutes on the pitch. I just want to thank my family, my friends and everyone at the club who’s helped me to get to this stage.
“It’s been a tough stage, a long stage, but through hard work and determination I managed to get here. “I’m not stopping now. I’m very hungry. I just want to work hard with every chance I get. In training I just want to impress the coach so I can get back on the pitch.”
Love his attitude but a long and tough stage?? He’s only 17 years old…
See you in the comments..
Here’s hoping Ozil read what Saka had to say.
Good morning Rico, hold on the morning paper has arrived, back later.
Morning Cicero.
Welcome Neal, Ozil won’t change now I suspect…
Morning everyone. Hope you had a great new years eve. I see Chelsea have been fast and bought Pulisic for £50M. I have seen him many times and I thinks it’s good business.. We could certanly use someone like him. Fast, direct and can dribble. But let’s focus on some great defenders. Emery has admitted that we are bad in defence, let’s hope there’s a plan..
Koulibaly would be a dream, but I suspect he would cost £70M or more..
Morning all,
Seems Emery must have Ramseys replacement lined up for the end of the season.
Rico, I know if my lad ever makes it into the pitch for a club like Arsenal, it’ll have been a long haul.
This kid obviously has obviously and breathes football from a very young age.
Imagine the pride his parents are feeling 🙂
How well did he go??
Seems he has plenty of potential based on what you guys have said, and he also has a great attitude based on his own words.
Could just be Emery trying to invite a PL club to make an offer Adk, although there seems very little interest him from English clubs.
Scott. Playing football should be a pleasure. All I’m saying is he’s still young and has barely lived.. Not knocking him though as I love his ethics…
has anyone noticed the defensive coach on the bench, still the same mannequin so still the same defense when Bould goes we should improve
Patrick, my guess is Bould was kept on because of his Arsenal background. I doubt he’ll be part of the coaching team for much longer..
I think we need a defensive coach if our problems continue after/if/when we sign better defenders..
Depending on how well he is doing I think we may well see mertesacker taking on the job.
Good call Potter.
Hi Rico
Unai doesn’t normally talk rubbish, but ‘Ozil staying to fight for his place’? Ozil wants to stay so he can sit on the bench and enjoy his money without being kicked or breaking into a sweat.
Brian.
Hi Brian.
Ozil doesn’t even want to sit on the bench does he? Might be too chilly….
Morning Gooners
Morning Rico, back on the treadmill today…
Cicero I get what you say about Bellerin, maybe Osei-Tutu if he’s fit could be an option at right back with Lichtsteiner as one of the 3 at centre back? We’re really going to be struggling for centre backs this month but at least there’s a clear week between Blackpool and West Ham and again from West Ham to Chelsea. Sokratis needs to play with a mix of Plegzueleuo or Jenkinson or Monreal or Mavropanos alongside. Although we don’t want another Nottingham Forest scenario…
Morning Kev, yep, everything is back to normal..
I still think he’ll go for a Europa League kind of squad. A good mix of experience and youth. But you’re right, we don’t want to slip up up there..
Hi Rico, good point. Can you imagine what Galatasaray players would do to him if he played for Fenerbahçe?
Brian
I was glad that Emery kept Bould, it made sense as Bould knows the club inside out, as to if he’s ‘the’ defensive coach, I doubt that very much.
My guess is that Bould is just one of the coaching team and does a variety of tasks, I’m sure if he was given free rein to coach the defence that we’d be better in that dept.
But it seems, if the rumours are correct, that Reyes is returning to us as a coach next season, something I doubt any fan imagined would happen – it might prove an inspirational appointment.
Ozil should be given the armband and should play at Blackpool.
If he says he’s unfit, I’d send him to a sports specialist to have a thorough check.
Agree Rico, although I’m not too bothered about the FACup this season, we need to focus on the UEFACup and hope that Chelsea slip up in the Premier Lge
He’d wish he worked harder at Arsenal Brian.. lol
I’m not overly fussed either Kev although it’d be good if Emery won it in his first season. Unlikely though with our squad. Champions League return must be the top priority I’d have thought by any which way we can.
Totts could be the team to slip up if they pick up the kind of injuries we have. We’ve now got Utd on our tails too so it’s not going to be easy..
I read that too about Reyes. I wonder if he still has his boots? We could do with him on the left… 😜
The list of critical injuries seems as bad, if not worse, than under Wenger. Until the club get to the bottom of it I doubt we’ll do much.
The other enduring concern is the defending that just never seems to improve from what I can see.
Hazard prefers to play on the left wing, isn’t that where Pulisic operates? Hazard to real Madrid next week?
Our first signing of 2019, Denmark International Katrine Veje signs from Montpellier.
Perhaps a lot of our injuries stem from the strict diet they were on Adam. Didn’t see injuries like we get before he arrived.
I blame the lack of mars bars….lol
Pulisic is being loaned back to his club though Cicero so more likely a summer move for Hazard.
from eurosport.com:
ARSENAL
Linked with:
Denis Suarez (Barcelona, midfield, £10m)
Gary Cahill (Chelsea, defender, £9m)
Eric Bailly (Manchester United, defender, £27m).
Areas of weakness:
Defence. Lucas Torreira has helped shore up the midfield but the frailties that undermined Arsene Wenger’s latter years continue to blight Unai Emery’s Arsenal. The Gunners’ porous defence remains and Emery has gone on record that he would like to sign a centre-half to bolster his side’s quest to return the Champions League.
The one target club should sign: Eric Bailly
If Arsenal can get a deal done for Bailly then they absolutely should do – his skillset perfectly suits the set up that Emery favours and would be an immediate upgrade on their existing options. The Ivorian fell out of favour under Jose Mourinho and remains very much a back up option thus far under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
On paper, Bailly makes sense as he can play at right back,but is he what we need? I’m not so sure if he’s not good enough for Utd…
I really can’t see the two clubs competing with Arsenal for a top four finish, selling us a player who on paper solves our biggest weakness – center of defence?
But if I’m wrong, then so be it…
Of corse Chelsea and Man Utd might consider selling Cahill and Bailly because, as with Mkhitarayan, they feel that those players won’t have a big enough impact on our defence to make that much difference and could instead become another big drain on our finances, which if the emails flying around the Emirates are anything to go on, are in a bad way.
That’s how I see it too. We need to look elsewhere imo and I strongly suspect we are.
Happy New Year Rico and All
Bailly is injured prone.
For the past few years as I could remember ManU never sells serious players to Arsenal. We have sold players to them that have made a difference when it comes to compete on the league table. Van Persie comes to mind. I would rather we look else where than ManU.
It wise to get players from the EPL who know the league, but the right ones. I would look at Crystal Palace to help solve our center defensive nightmare.
Happy New Year to you Ng, good to see you back again.
Thanks Rico
Grab Denis Suarez 🙂
Also, “apparently” we’ve bid 16 million for Keylor Navas.
Scott, I did see Mo Elneny valued at £15m, not sure where that came from (agent?) but Leicester were linked to him.
I guess it depends on whose desperate for a steady midfielder who’ll retain and recycle possession but won’t get you off of your seat.
There’s a few clubs flirting with the bottom of the Prem, so maybe a few bidding against each other might force up the price?
Kev,
He’s a damn decent player.
I think you summed him up perfectly.
Happy New Year all,
Adam 12.24, when it comes to our defence sadly there isn’t any defence lol.
Happ New Year Micko.
New post up now.