Tomorrow evening it’s our final Europa group match against Qarabag FK, a team we’ve already beaten away from home. 0-3 it was that night thanks to goals from Sokratis, Smith-Rowe and Guendouzi. Qarabag had their moments in the game though and with just the one goal advantage, we were never truly comfortable. The home team enjoyed a good spell before the break and again after it. They thought they’d equalised but a raised offside flag soon ended their celebrations. Not as much as Emile Smith-Rowe did though when he scored our second of the night. A perfectly timed goal really as that seemed to end any hope Qarabag might have had. With around ten minutes of the game remaining, Guendouzi made it 0-3. Two Europa fixtures played, six points on the board. A good start.
Since then we’ve gone on to secure top spot in the group so tomorrow night, Unai Emery has the luxury of resting as many first team players he likes, although as Kev pointed out a couple of days ago, we don’t want to end our winning streak against the reigning league champions of Azerbaijan!
Bearing in mind we needed a win in our last match to secure top spot, Unai Emery still selected a very young side, so I can’t see things being much different tomorrow night when there’s nothing to play for for either side barring pride. And revenge for the visitors.
This was the squad for our last Europa match against FC Vorskla:
Arsenal: Cech, Lichtsteiner, Jenkinson, Holding, Maitland-Niles, Guendouzi, Elneny, Willock, Ramsey, Smith Rowe, Nketiah.
Subs: Martinez, Osei-Tutu, Medley, Gilmour, Saka, Mkhitaryan, John-Jules
Koscielny in for Holding seems quite likely or Sokratis is our captain isn’t quite ready to start. Maybe Mkhitaryan instead of Ramsey too as Emery does seem to turn to the Welshman in the league fixtures if things need changing. Either way, I think we can expect to see a very similar squad to the one which travelled to the Ukraine.
I started with Lauren Koscielny and I’m ending with him too. Well, a few words about him from Bernd Leno:
“Of course, it is difficult for me to compare before [Koscielny’s injury] because I was not here, but in training you see how he is talking to other players We have many young players, he talks to them and, for me, he is a big personality in the team, in the dressing room.”
“Before [playing] Tottenham, he was not in the squad but five minutes before the game he said many, many good things about the history of the game, how important it is for the fans, the club, every player, so he is the perfect captain for us.”
Good for Koscielny, someone has to keep the NLD alive. Seriously, I bet that’s the first time he’s been permitted to have any kind of input into a pre-match talk. Perhaps on his return, we’ll see the old Koscielny back, and not the one who like so many others, looked like they’d lost a game before it’d even kicked off….
If he talks as much on the pitch as he’s been off it, then we might actually have a captain back too and I’m sure he’s already learned a lot from the coaching team regardless of being out injured for such a long time.
The ‘old’ Koscielny will be nothing more than a huge boost to the squad and an improvement to our defence and with Rob Holding out for the rest of the season, the timing couldn’t be better. Even if he only stays until the new year or next summer, a fit and healthy Koscielny that was once the heart of our defence, will be a bonus.
I’ve waffled on for far too long, see you in the comments guys.
PS. I know there’s nearly 300 people out there who receive the daily post from HH to your inbox. Come and say hello and join in. We don’t bite, honest…
Some of us do 🙂
Morning, Rico.
Kozzer, oh how we’ve missed him.
Well, to be fair, we’ve done brilliantly without him, but he will improve us even further.
What a player, and let’s hope he takes on the captains role the way an Arsenal skipper should.
Good morning Rico and everyone,.. I think Koscielny will play a big role in our team this season, no thanks to injuries… He is still our Captain as far as I’m concerned.. pls how reliable is the news of Ozil joining inter? I actually would love it. I don’t think it’s too our benefit to have nwobi, mhki and Ozil in our team, I feel we should keep just one of them…
As the bookings tot up and no doubt a couple of cold weather hamstrings arrive we will need Koscielny and all the others that we can muster. If he reaches his best then competition for the back places should cause us to tighten up and turn us from difficult to beat to bloody hard .
Here’s hoping.
Mexzy :- If he does go to Inter , would he be cup tied should they get drawn against us as they dropped into the Europa last night ?
Morning Scott, Mexy and all.
I’m on the fence re Koscielny right now, same as I was with a few who under Wenger were under performing The Koscielny before his injury has regressed imo, perhaps because he was injured and trying to play through it, perhaps because of Wenger, perhaps because he’s coming to the end of his career.
I don’t know but until he’s played a few matches, I’ll stay on the fence. Hopefully, he’ll return stronger and more determined than before, better too because for him it’s the beginning of a new start under Emery and co.
Throw in Mavropanos and Medley and suddenly our defence options looks very different.
He would Potter, just as Mkhitaryan was for us last season.
Rico, Kozzer struggles physically last season.
I reckon he was battling an injury for sure but time will tell.
Fingers crossed.
He was toothless Scott. But as said, so were others, time will tell and I really hope he returns much stronger..
I don’t agree, Rico, but that’s nothing new 🙂
Sorry, you mean the past season or so?
Yeah fair enough.
Then, he didn’t have a Torreira in front of him.
I reckon all our defenders gain confidence from that.
Yes Scott, last couple of seasons.
I agree that Torreira has brought a lot to the side, but he can’t stop players making sloppy tackles, turning their back on the ball, or change their defeatist attitude…
FYI, there is no cuptie rule in Europe this season.
I’d settle for a couple of young (24-ish) Italian defenders in exchange for Ozil
Brian
@potter Ozil will definitely be cup tied and would not participate in europe for them if he goes to inter …I feel Koscielny is decent enough, he is the reason I will be watching the game tomorrow.
I’d forgotten that had been changed, thanks Brian.
G’day all, I’m with you Rico on Koscielny, definitely a case of wait and see. Over the last couple of seasons his form dropped off and he became much less reliable, too many unforced errors crept into his game. If he has regained full fitness, if he can avoid injury and if he has been enthused by the new regime, then maybe he’ll be able to make a contribution to the squad. He should, in my opinion, play as much as possible in Thursday’s game, he needs to show that his recovery is complete.
On a different subject entirely, did anyone see Moussa Dembele’s goal against the Spuds last night? What a player! Could we possibly get him off Barcelona? They are insisting that they would not let him go for less than his buy-out fee, a mere £362 million.
Cicero, not just with Kos though, Bellerin, Mustafi, Xhaka, Kolasinac and Ramsey to name just a few had errors in them. I think too many individual performances now would suggest that there was more to dreadful defending than just the players. If that makes sense…
Afternoon Kev. I was one who thought keep Kos for the Saints game, but after second thoughts, I think you’re right. He needs 45 mins at least tomorrow to see where he’s at. Although saying that, I bet his recovering injury has been well and truly tested in training.
At least we know when he does return, he’s far more likely to be ready than this time last year when he’d have probably been rushed back. Look at how long Mavropanos has been kept back, Monreal too. Which is how it should be.
Afternoon Gooners
Afternoon Rico.
With Southampton looming it’s been suggested that Emery shouldn’t risk Koscielny this week but save him for the weekend. I can see that point but I’d be worried about throwing Kozzer straight into a tough Premier League game on the back of only training and a couple of hours of U23 football…
I’d like to see Laurent play at least one half tomorrow evening, maybe an hour if he’s comfortable, I’d hate to see us lose our unbeaten run to a pub team, but we need to protect him for the battles ahead. It’s games like these where we really miss Danny Welbeck and Dinos Mavropanos.
Of course Sokratis can play tomorrow and if Mustafi is fit he could also play, either from the start or from the bench, but I’d like to see Zach Medley get a game, he could save us several millions in January, but unless he plays we’ll never know?
The links to Gary Cahill are interesting, I’ve always liked him, but I doubt that Chelsea are going to let us have a good player in January with both clubs fighting for a top four finish.
We’re going to have an absolute shed load of centre half rumours linking this geezer and that geezer to Arsenal up till January 31st.
Re Dembele Cicero, I can see a loan deal being possible which might suit all parties…
Kos starts tomorrow Emery has said.
Arsenal Yth vs Northampton 1-0
Balogun
Good call, Emery.
Give Kozzer a half and see how things pan out.
He’s our best defender and we need him.
Just hope the bugger stays fit and healthy.
‘Best defender’ is a big call Scott. Imo, right now Sokratis is our best defender, central one I mean..
Sokratis is our best playing defender-that’s a very fair call.
Kozzer, at his best, is our best imo.
🤔 Scott.
New post up now