Daily Bits and Bobs

Laurent Koscienly drops a bombshell. Shkodran Mustafi still after the league title…

Posted on by rico

Morning all.

The dust should have settled a bit by now after the last two dreadful performances against both Watford and Chelsea. I expect Arsene Wenger has finished shouting at his players, having told them what an overpaid bunch of letdowns they have been. No doubt he’s questioned their attitude, passion and pride for the club which pays them so handsomely. And there’s little doubt he’d have told more than one of the players that their Arsenal future hangs in the balance unless they improve their game.

Dream on eh….

Laurent Koscienly dropped a bombshell to the press apparently as he suggested Arsene Wenger is selecting certain players when perhaps there are better options available. Get you Laurent, bang on imo but Wenger won’t like it will he?

Perez and Welbeck are the big two for me, especially Perez. He offers so much more than Walcott going forward and tracking back. I’m sick of defending Walcott and despite him defending so much better at the start of the season, watching him watching Alonso on Saturday as he made his run before heading home Chelsea’s first goal was embarrassing! Would Perez have done that? I doubt it, in fact I’m sure he wouldn’t as he never knows when to give up.

What about Kieran Gibbs, is he a better option, or certainly an option worth considering, instead of Nacho Monreal as the Spaniard isn’t having the best of seasons.

Mesut Ozil? I know he’ll never make crunching tackles, he never has done but his game has dropped and just because he cost £49m odd, a place on the bench shouldn’t be above him, not if it’s for the greater good.

With Welbeck, it’s slightly different as he’s been out injured for so long but surely it’s better for him to start a game and be taken off as his legs tire than to come on when we are chasing the game as that’s when players can try a bit too hard and suffer because of it. Remember Bendtner when he came off the bench against Cardiff a few seasons ago? With the score at 0-0 we were desperate for a goal which he got in the 88th minute but in the process he suffered an injury. Ramsey and Oxlade-Chamberlain have done the same this season too as they came off the bench only to be subbed soon after.

Sticking with the injured, there’s a big decision to be made over Hector  Bellerin before Saturday after he suffered concussion having been elbowed in the face on last weekend. Same for Mohammed Elneny who has now returned from international duty with Egypt. Surely he has to start for us as it’s not like he’s played much more football than the rest of his Arsenal teammates and let’s be honest, after watching Francis Coquelin over the last few weeks, the Egyptian is a much much better option. He’s certainly able to cover more ground, and quicker. He’s one of my favourite players these days, no fuss, no tricks, just goes about his business well. £5 million? One of Arsene’s cheap gems I’d say.

Finally, Shkodran Mustafi has said he’s not ready to give up on the league title just yet.

‘I think it’s going to be more difficult than it was before but I’m a believer,’ he told Sky Sports ahead of this weekend’s home game against Hull City. ‘I don’t give up.

‘As long as it’s possible we’re going to fight for it, and in the end we will see and if we’re lucky enough and good enough to go for it or not.’

Sadly, even if Chelsea do drop a lot of points, Arsenal just aren’t good enough to overtake them….

rico

76 thoughts on “Laurent Koscienly drops a bombshell. Shkodran Mustafi still after the league title…”

  1. Ian Ure Face says:

    Morning excitable Gooners ! ……………….and thanks Rico ?

    According to some media outlets ……….Kroenke is desperate for Wenger to sign a two year extension !

    Bright sunshine and a high of 6 degrees celsius in the original Launceston ! …………..off for a run to try and warm myself up to 40 like Scott . ?

  2. scottfromoz says:

    We are good enough, we’re just not good enough, often enough 🙂
    Morning Rico.
    Ive always thought Gibbs’s is a fantastic player, yet I know I rate him much higher than most.
    Seems he looks woeful when coming back after a break, but when given a run of games, he does well, for mine.
    Perez is one I really can’t understand not getting more of a run.
    His stats are terrific, and he works his arse off every time he plays.
    What could Arsene NOT see in him?
    If any of our players has a right to speak up and be taken seriously, it’s Koscielny.
    The man never lets us down, and has been up there as our best player for years.

  4. rico says:

    Morning Scott and all again…

    That’s what I mean Scott by we are not good enough. Once or twice a season isn’t good enough…

  5. Adam says:

    Morning Rico. I am not sure this particular dust is ever going to settle completely. Seems to me that Arsenal have become as boring and predictable off the pitch as they have on it. I am seriously hoping that there really isn’t an inevitability over Arsene’s new contract, but fear there is. You really don’t want to be going into every match expecting the worst and waiting for the team to stumble along to another defeat. I sense that the mood of the Emirate’s crowd is horribly balanced in that way at the moment. Probably with good cause. It really isn’t going to take much to make the home games more of an ordeal than a pleasure. Even the most optimistic supporters are on edge about what they see and the players plug straight into this. I know a lot of people who just aren’t going any more and the exchange will only sell your ticket if the match is sold out. Not a happy situation. As to whether it will be addressed by the club? Who knows?

  6. scottfromoz says:

    Hi Adam, fans here feel exactly the same way now as those at The Emirates.
    Everyone knows the seasons gone after just a few poor performances….people had lived in hope but two games ended all of that.
    Rico, how many years has it been now that we put just a few super performances in?
    Too many to count lol.
    We will always have Chelski at home 🙂 🙂

  7. Adam says:

    Mmm. Not a great deal of encouraging news from Wenger’s press conference it seems. That borderline point where calmness becomes apathy seems to be an emotional wave that’s he is quite happy to surf endlessly. So it’s ‘as you were’ then.

  8. gnarleygeorge9 says:

    Evening all,

    Thankyou for the post rico, it’s been well received down here in Big Launceston. Weather is just perfect, it was 20 something 2day with a humid scotch mist to help the plants along! And Arsene still hasn’t signed his extension yet?

    I don’t mind if he does, as I’ve mentioned b4, he can make a significant contribution in the transition to a new manager.

  9. Kel says:

    Match report for the at least 15 games next season… we started slow, go one down, lack urgency until 70 mins throw the kitchen sink 1-1… played with the handbrake on. ?

    Morning guys.

  10. Meerkat says:

    I don’t like to see him pilloried by the press and the fans, but I find it hard to defend him now.
    I still don’t want hims sacked, but just wish he would retire. The team obviously need a new motivator. Hearing the same ol’ same ol’ every day, must be pretty boring.
    Listening to a new manager and having to start from a clean slate in impressing him, is probably the best thing that could happen.
    Another season down the swanney.

  11. Simon says:

    I don’t see the difference between Wenger and dictators that we have seen in the past years….especially here in Africa.

    They are all driven by greed and fears that no one else can do the job well rather than themselves.

    Why can’t Wenger leave the job amicably and still maintain his respect? He wants people to revolt against him…? Where is professionalism?

    Honestly, I don’t see any chances of Arsenal winning a league if Wenger is still the manager. We should forget it.

  12. Ken says:

    Hi
    We should not make the mistake of believing that Wenger really meant it that the title race is not over for us. He’s been doing this for years. HE WANTS FANS TO STILL FILL IN THE STADIUM, SO THAT HE GOES ON WITH HIS BLOODY BUSINESS.
    He is a liar and will always be..

  13. Kel says:

    Arsene stated at the start of the season he’ll assess himself at the end of the season….

    As Jamie carragher says that’s a nice position to be in ?.. when I big contract is waiting.

    Kronke is an even bigger idiot allowing it.

  15. Ian Ure Face says:

    Back from a run around the smaller but cuter Launceston ! 😀
    Sunny but bloody cold, so stuck some rockwall insulation down my shorts !…………..difference to poor hot and sweaty Scott who probably went for a run wearing cryogenetic budgie smugglers ! 😆

    Listen guys and girl…………………….how many of us would give up being Arsenal manager ?………………………..add £8M+ salary PA………………..are you seriously going to think about leaving ? ……………………it would take some serious mental strength !
    🙂

  16. Kel says:

    Scott what is being done over in your neck of the woods to help the wildlife during this heatwave?? Just curious m8.

  18. Ian Ure Face says:

    Kel…………………….I think all Aussies are on a Marsupial Sex ban whilst the weather is hot !…………………….never gets that hot down here in Cornwall to have such bans, always a pleasant average temp` all year round due to being being in the gulf stream !……very content sheep around here ! 🙂

  20. potter says:

    HE WANTS FANS TO STILL FILL IN THE STADIUM, SO THAT HE GOES ON WITH HIS BLOODY BUSINESS.

    I put my ticket on exchange Tuesday night at about midnight , this morning at 9 .00 am it has sold. The demand is still there , I thought this would be a difficult sell.

  22. Obi says:

    Hi All:

    Apparently many including SK believe that no one man can do what AW does at AFC, so they are contemplating a management structure with a sporting director that will replace AW. They are thinking of 2 candidates for manager, Leipzig head coach Ralph Hasenhuttl (who is in the same mode as the Hull manager, Marco Silva) or Massimiliano Allegri.

  24. Joaquim Moreira says:

    I’ll wait for the game on Saturday …
    Can we win the title? Of course, Musthafi, if we win all the games and the opponents lose several …
    Coaches: Marco Silva or Leonardo Jardim.

  34. ScottfromOz says:

    Morning all.
    Kel, the wildlife handle things better than we soft humans-they should help us lol
    Obi, let’s face it, no mamatter yet what people think of Wenger, how do you replace a man wearing so many hats?
    He’s done an incredible job, but it’s all too much for one man.
    He’s an easy target, but how many others at the club are riding on his coat tail?
    Maybe they’re more worried about “change” than the fans are.

  35. gnarleygeorge9 says:

    Just giving myself another South West England language lesson so i can understand the locals when I’m there later this year. Even a bit of northerner in there to boot. One thing I’ve learn’t is they struggle to count to 10 🙂

  38. gnarleygeorge9 says:

    Scott

    This episode of ‘How to Speak Cornish’ is a bit of a microcosm of Arsene Wenger’s tenure @ The Arsenal, just when you think he’s done for, he is back from the other side.

  44. allezkev says:

    Restless night again Rico, dear me, guilty conscience perhaps? ?

    I haven’t got Sky TV, don’t miss it either, hype over hype.

    But Paul Merson, what a complete and utter embarrassment he is, not only to those Arsenal fans who worshipped him, but to himself.

    A self-confessed drug, gambling and alcohol addict.
    A totally fcuked up individual…

    But to think that some overpaid moron at Sky, thinks that there’s anybody out in TV land, with half of one brain cell, who actually takes any notice of what that fool says, is quite worrying and sums up what Sky thinks of its audience.

    I don’t know what Merse has said, I don’t care what he’s said, it is of no consequence, end of.

    To coin the phrase of a man who no longer sports a beard, a waste of internal organs…

  47. allezkev says:

    Snow over the weekend eh Rico?

    I’ve heard that there’s going to be a blizzard around 11am this Saturday, in East London, and that it’s gradually going to move in a north westerly direction and settle over Highbury Fields where a million tons of snow will fall in 20 minutes.

    Good luck ?

  50. allezkev says:

    Yeah Rico, Merson, what a disgrace, him, Stewart Robson, Alan Smith, where’s the loyalty.

    Maybe they should give back all the money they took on their testimonials?

    Well, not Robson, he’s just a plank.

  66. Kel says:

    He’d come running Rico if we wanted him have no doubt about that.

    He seems to be punching well above his weight, could be exactly what Stingy stan likes…?

  67. ScottfromOz says:

    Rico, my lack of sleep is not something I enjoy, I assure you.
    I can’t remember the last time I had 8 hours in on go.
    My wife and son could go 10 without an issue!!
    I hate them hahahahaha

  68. Adam says:

    Morning Rico and all. So, there’s a night time sitting of the HH members now. As for Merson? He drove into the back of a 30 ton lorry on the motorway and claimed he didn’t see it so I tend not to trust his observations. Add to that the fact that I despise him. He makes Robbie Savage look like the chairman of MENSA. The plank!

  70. rico says:

    Very true Kel…

    Morning Adam, I hope my night time shifts don’t occur too often… 😉

    Spot on re Merse. Such a shame really. He’s not even a good commentator, can’t pronounce the players names, repeats himself often, he really is awful..

  71. Adam says:

    Rico. To quote Merson himself. “Very much so”. A phrase he churns out with nauseating regularity and the most complex combination of words in his extensive vocabulary.
    As for your night-time shirts? Are they pin striped? 🙂

  75. scottfromoz says:

    No shirts on this club, Adam, just a secret handshake.
    The net is heating up over the Juve Manager staying/not staying after seasons end, so of course, he’s headed our way 🙂

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