Morning all.
Well I know nothing about tonight’s opposition, other than Demba Ba plays for them, as does one of our old youngsters, Oguzhan Ozyakup.
Arsene Wenger has spoken about the 21 year old:
I’m happy that he came here. He was educated by us and we saw that he had top quality and technically he is very good. Physically he can run all day, he has very good stamina and a good final pass.
I always thought he could make a career but at our club he had big competition in front of him and that is why we let him go.
It is good to see he has made it to the top level and is now an important player in Turkey.
That good eh Arsene, well why didn’t he get a chance?
Both Kieran Gibbs and Yaya Sanogo have hamstring injuries and miss out. As do the three World Cup winners.
Laurent Koscielny has recovered from his injury problem and he will partner Calum Chambers in the centre of defence.
Arsene Wenger also had this to say in his press conference last night:
The play-off is not not affecting too much my transfer policy. Financially it is a big game but it’s not that that’s the most important thing. We want to compete at the top level, we want to fight against the best in Europe and that’s the real target of the competition tomorrow.
To be honest, his transfer policy seems to have died an early death after the flurry of quick signings were announced so either this match and the away leg is holding things up or we really have done all we are going to do this summer. Somehow though I doubt it’s the latter as the manager would have to daft to believe we have a squad anywhere deep enough or strong enough to compete this season.
Right now the best thing Arsenal can do is get a handsome victory tonight, one which will almost guarantee our place in the group stages and if there are a few big names waiting for us to qualify before signing on the dotted line, they may just be snapped up a bit earlier.
One can only assume that Besiktas, being the home side, will be all out to score goals tonight in attempt to take a lead to The Emirates.
That might just play into our hands, unlike Palace whose defence was tighter than Arsene Wenger!
Gossip:
Kostas Manolas is soon set to to sign for us as according to many reports, he’s agreed personal terms and had his medical. So where is he I wonder?
The Sami Khedira stories rumble on too and bearing in mind his agents were supposed to be in London yesterday to sort out his future, perhaps he’ll be an Arsenal player soon too..
The Star continue to report that Podolski could soon be a Gonner.
Come on Arsenal, get the victory tonight and then get the final pieces of the jigsaw signed and sealed…
COYRRG’s….
Have a good day all…
Nice post Rico
For anyone that missed it http://t.co/i4aM70OPwh
Thanks Nickie.
First time we’ve played the captain Kirks!
I know absolutely nothing about them – hope Wenger has done more homework than me……
2-0 win I think, Demba ba won’t be as lethal without the service. They have to impress their fans and certainly won’t sit back. We will bide our time and pick em off.
http://www.101greatgoals.com/blog/mesut-ozil-takes-on-ice-bucket-challenge-nominates-mandy-capristo-rihanna/
Scroll down and see the banner made by a Besiktas fan…..charming!
Good post Rico, know little of Besiktas, third biggest team in Turkey i believe.
Nickie, he wasn’t that lethal with some service.. lol
Lee, that fan has a point… 😉
Thanks Bt, should we be concerned I wonder. The place will be very hostile…
Good Morning Munchkins and Chipmunks
Good post Rico…..why dont you email him the question….That good eh Arsene, well why didn’t he get a chance?
I saw him play twice for our youth teams…..and I was impressed. Yes we had competition. Song for example.
Morning all.
Lee, show some imagination…..50 quid?
Come on 🙂 🙂 🙂
Thanks Devil.
Doesn’t make sense does it? Goes back to what some have been saying for a while, the manager has his favourites and plays them regardless.
Adam said yesterday that he’d like to think that cream rises to the top but how can when certain players don’t even get a chance, yet others get selected regardless of how average they play…
Song being the prime example…
Fabregas impresses, costa scores, chelsea win. thats a headline i didnt want to see this morning.I hope wenger knew what he was doing with cesc,Cant see past them this season for the league. Anyway we would want to be very careful at the back tonight. gibbs out, koscielny might not be a 100% fit and i hope were not over playing chambers, so early in the season. 17 years in row if we qualify for champs league, but i cant help thinking, statistically we could be due a change of luck and not qualify.If we keep on getting 4th place. one year it will happen. hopefully not this year .
£5k then
Goodmorning all,
Good post rico,
It was Burnley FFS,
If The Arsenal had gone to burnley(a newly promoted team with majority/all of it’s players without EPL experience) and controlled the match beating them 3-1, the media will still say it’s burnley. But the chavs went and hammered them and in their eyes automatically wins the league. Would have love to see them play crystal palace in d opening fixtures and see how they fair with the compact defending palace put up. Lets not forget the chavs next match is another newly promoted team Leicester so the media w*nkfest continues
Not surprised by Cesc ‘the traitor’ performance. When he was with us and even when he went to barca, he starts off the season fast and furious and cools off at the beginning of the new year. Doubt if it will change
Anyone else feeling a bit sick watching maestro Fabregas doing his thing for Chelsea? I know a lot on here didnt want him back. I did. Ive got a bad feeling we’re going to be sorry for not taking him back…
Hahahaha.
You are that confident we are so bad 🙂
How’s about a bottle of something?
Emma, good point, and one made by Barca’s president…Cesc died off badly towards the end of the season.
Thanks emma, that’s my view too…
I’m not saying we are bad Scott, I just think Chelsea have a better squad and have addressed their weaknesses, whereas we haven’t (yet).
Ok, a bottle of fizz or wine your call mate but we gotta drink it together!!! 😉
Now that is a deal, Lee !!!!
I don’t think they’ve done that much, to be honest.
Cesc and Costa, who is unproven in the PL, and after Ba, Torres, E’to and others, Jose is yet to work his magic on the guy.
We’ve done very well this far…if we get two or three others, we will smash the Chavs.
As it stands, we will beat them comfortably 🙂
unfortunately, it still hurts me seen him play for them.
Their strike force Costa, Torres and Drogba ours Giroud,Sanogo and Campbell.
I am with wenger for not resigning that traitor(Cesc). A player who went on strike all in the name of Barca DNA. He said he was going home and that was enough reason for us to let him go. Even at a cut-price when he could have being sold for £40/£50m at that time. Flirted with manure last season and finally discovered that the grasses where not greener elsewhere and joined that arrogant Moaning idiot, who slated and kicked him in Barca
It’s true. Cesc ‘used’ Arsenal for his own project. This should never be allowed to happen.
We beat Burnley 4-1, “Arsenal struggles against harp-less Burnley
And Alexis Lee…
I would of had Fabregas back…just how do you know he flirted with Manure? I’m intrigued.
dublin, don’t watch him then…
Was it in the sun?
Lee- Cesc publicly came out and said he would have a word with Martino and if he is not wanted he would leave but Martino refused to sanction the sale as he wanted him at Barca
Lee, stop trying to convince yourself you made a good bet 🙂
Nice post Rico, Morning to you and everyone……..I posted this on the old one……….. I would do the same thing Wenger did to Fabregas, I won’t take him back, why should he? he’s good and so fu*c*ing what? he left us and claimed love for barca then barca who he called his home claimed much love for Suarez and pushed him out and then again he’s back, please he looks confused and his story sounds like a glory hunter, I have an Ozil and a Ramsey and cesc will unsettle that team, except for a DMF that midfield still looks better without cesc, we might still argue what if after the season but we are human and Fabregas didn’t deserve the second chance let’s move on
potter says:
August 19, 2014 at 10:33 am
Scott , Cesc is/was a young impressionable kid when he left home to join us and he got caught in a political war as the presidential candidates for Barcelona fought each other. Many things were going on in his life his parents divorced and one candidate in particular wining and dining his father to get him to return.In the spanish team he was pressured every day to go back and he buckled. When he got to Barca the man he idolised all of his life Guardiola left the club and the new man and the new president wanted a new shiny toy to give the fans and eventually they splashed out on Neymar. He was then shunted all round the pitch not because he was playing badly but because there was no room with the other stars and because he was so adaptable he was the one that got hooked everytime. In the meantime a new manager came and the boardroom unrest continued with the neymar deal being exposed as not Kosher , the rumblings on which continue. All in all the homecoming as you named it was not a happy one and the promises made were not kept.
All of this has come from people i know in local supporters clubs in Catalonia. It was also difficult because a certain section of the crowd never accepted him because he went in the first place , just as many of you can’t see past him leaving us.
Have to defend cesc until im told different. he supposedly wanted an arsenal return. knew barca were likely to sanction a move this season. and did not want to be a united player. but found out in may that wenger would not be persuing him.
I don’t need convincing Scott.
Cesc should never have left.
That is all.
Lee 🙂
I believe we can win the league If we can get a CB and as well a DM, manage the squad properly and hopefully forsythe methods works to reduce injuries *simple*
Morning Luznic, thanks. I’ve forgotten Cesc, I did the day he walked out under a cloud…
Scot/Lee, how about a bottle of Cobra?
Had AW wanted to, he could have forced Fabregas to stay as he was on a long term contract.
For whatever reason, and I think we all have our own ideas, he was allowed to go home…
I don’t think it was a harmonious departure….
I love all the unfounded conjecture re Fabregas it’s laughable….
Morning Kev… Can I have one too?
Kev, what is Cobra??
A bottle of Cobra after a ruby…
Then another bottle or three…
Yep, I’d have a bet on that…
Scott, it’s an Indian version of 4X
But it tastes brilliant with a Jalfriezi
http://www.cobrabeer.com/en/home.aspx
Yeah, Burnley always struggle without their harp… 😉
Adam is learning how to play Bridge of Sighs on his harp…
I can’t wait to hear it…