Daily Bits and Bobs

Mertesacker hints at change & Could Yaya produce a shock this season yet?

Posted on by rico

Morning all..

Arsene Wenger saw him, liked him, signed him.

Yes, Yaya Sanogo has a poor injury record but he was, still is young enough to get over them just as Aaron Ramsey has, Jack Wilshere has and of course Alex Oxlade Chamberlain has done too.

Just because Yaya is tall, black and French, it doesn’t mean he’s out to outdo Abou Diaby on the injury front does it?

Apparently, the young striker is back in training and as long as he suffers no setbacks, he’ll no doubt soon have a run out for the reserves to get some match time and then we may just see him on the bench, or even starting for the first team because he’s a first team squad member and when fit, he’ll be expected to play.

Should that day miraculously arrive, he could play a big part in the remainder of the season. We all know Olivier Giroud can’t play in every fixture between now and the end of the season and Nikki B is hardly doing enough to justify a place on the bench, let alone in the starting eleven so bearing in mind our lack or alternative options, I’m hoping this 6′ 3″ pacey striker gets a chance to show us all why Arsene Wenger took a risk on him.

I know this option is not ideal, nor is it right for a club like ours but we are where we are right now and we can’t sign the striker of our choice so I know I just hope and pray that who we have stay fit, get fit and perform well for the rest of the season.

At the other end of the pitch we are doing really well and like Per Mertesacker, I couldn’t believe this one simple statistic:

Arsenal have not lost a Premier League game that Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny have both completed since January 22, 2012.

Staggering really and I doubt their partnership can be bettered by any other central pairing in the Premier League and that’s clearly the reason Arsene Wenger is reluctant to break the pairing up in the league unless he has to of course like he did when we went to Old Trafford..

It [the statistic] sounds not real for me. When I first heard it, it sounded very weird. It’s a good statistic but we have to build on that.

I think we have shown a lot of people who criticised us a lot over the last two-and-a-half years that we know each other much better now and that we complement each other well, so it looks like that’s a good partnership [with Koscielny].

Mertesacker believes that changes at the back are due though and should that happen, it will be a lot easier for Thomas Vermaelen to walk into a defensive unit which has belief and confidence than it will to step into one which has been leaking goals like we have done in the seasons gone by.

But I wouldn’t say that’s only us or the two of us. I think when I speak about our centre backs I want to include always Thomas Vermaelen because he’s our captain and he’s always vital for everyone. He’s aware of situations, he gives us a boost, he came back from a heavy injury.

The boss will rotate in the next couple of months and it’s really important that we are all in good fitness and all in a good shape so we can continue our good form and good partnerships with the three of us.

It must be hard, very hard for Thomas Vermaelen. When he first arrived he was possibly one of the first names you’d want to see on the team-sheet yet now he’s not getting a look in.

But a true professional will bide his time and when he gets his chance, he’ll take it but I can’t see that being too soon, not when our current two central men are playing so well.

Long may that continue…..

That’s your lot for another day…

rico

0 thoughts on “Mertesacker hints at change & Could Yaya produce a shock this season yet?”

  3. W.A.T.H says:

    Lee, Mangal won an award… Maybe it was the restaurant where the most swear words are heard on a yearly basis…!

  4. BrainwashedKev says:

    Morning AgainAll

    Morning Rico…

    Morning Lee and Adam, we must visit Mangal again soon and rip into some more animals… 😉

  7. BrainwashedKev says:

    Good post Rico…

    Not sure that I would rotate our centre-backs at this stage of the season, just let them have plenty if rest between games…
    Even the FACup, I still wouldn’t break up the partnership.

  14. rico says:

    Thanks Kev. TV is reported to be out for 2 weeks so no chance of rotating, thankfully..

    Maybe April he can step in… 😉

  26. AY says:

    I read that puma would help fund balotelli’s move to arsenal….. It’ll be a good way to kick-off arsenal transfers next season, as milan are most probably not going to qualify for UCL next season. COYG

  27. southyorkshiregunner says:

    On a football front, life is brilliant WATH.
    Other stuff = Stress City F.C …. and FC in this instance don’t stand for football club lol

    How are you?

  29. rico says:

    I agree with the bit about how signing Kallstrom totally goes against the grain of his ‘If a special player is out there’ comments…

  30. W.A.T.H says:

    I am fine SY… same shit different day but ticking along mate…!

    I’m with you Rico, I don’t read anything that dickhead posts even if it is someone else writing a post…! Mr Attention seeker himself…!

  31. umar says:

    Rico do u mean TV is out 4 two wks? den lets pray matersacker n Laurent shld scale tru dis Feb fixtures. Gunners 4 life.

  32. rogerbij says:

    Good stuff for Yaya to get back to training. However, before we get excited, did anyone else watch him in the pre-season games? The matches I streamed when he came off the bench, I was very underwhelmed. Ya, ya I know its preseason and you cant read much into it, but Im not expecting him to be an improvement on Bendtner.

  33. rico says:

    umar, he is out for 2 weeks according to some reports.

    roger, I’m going to wait and see if he plays and if he does, how he plays and hope to heck he has something about him…

  35. Wavy says:

    I’ve read it Syg, I tend to agree with the man! Wenger cossets his squad. He has said many times, “I have made my squad by the end of September, I shall stick with it and so should every other team in the league” or words to that effect. He has also expressed the view that the introduction of “new” players during the season can have an unsettling effect on the team ethos and performance and not a positive one! Example, a Cantona or a Pietersen type of character could and probably would dilute or even destroy the team spirit, which currently is very good, very Musketeer, all for one and one for all. Throw in an ‘unknown’ and who knows how it will all pan out. You are foolish to change a thing if it ain’t broke.
    I know the cry, almost the Arsenal supporters’ mantra. ‘ we need a striker, we need a central defender etc’. sure we do…… But not at the expense of the esprit de corps. The whole squad have performed magnificently this season, so far. Let them continue and hopefully finish the job, still top of the pile.
    Summer time, when the living and playing is easy, that’s the time to change things round move some on get some in, assimilate the new with the old and start all over again!
    Sorry about the odd song lyric in there. Just at the moment I quite feel like singing. Strange but true!

  36. Adam says:

    Wavy. Why does bringing a new player in have to be at the expense of squad spirit? I really cannot see that point and the need itself only stems from the fact that Wenger failed so miserably in the summer to get the quality of striker he knows we need.
    Any article about Arsenal that peddles the “Be careful what you wish for” schtick is doomed for me from the very first line. It harks back to all the bullshit we went through last summer.

  41. potter says:

    Ozil’s arrival proved to the contrary that a new player actually gives a lift to the squad. Throughout time when a team is going well the manager’s that have won things always refreshed their squads to keep players on their toes. This lot have a tendency to get complacent when they see a lesser team turn up to play , with new men waiting to take their place perhaps they would be less likely to do so.
    We should not be in the position of hoping that Giroud stays the course at optimum level with only Bendtner and a permacrock to replace him should it go tits up.

  42. Adam says:

    Potter. I tend to agree. Wenger knows better than anyone that he needs a quality striker who can make a difference in tight games. I can only imagine that he has a limited number of candidates that he wants and can’t get at this moment. The summer was the time and he blew it.

  43. southyorkshiregunner says:

    A striker?
    To have a predatory striker is brilliant, however the general rule of thumb is that the predatory striker is in business for himself.

    I keep on harping about Wright and Smith.

    I loved Ian Wright as in my eyes he could do know wrong (even though he is a grade A dickhead nowadays), and I thought Smith a very uncharismatic boring player, however the latter played for the team and helped manufacture loads of goals from midfield and for his co striker…. With Ian Wright, 90% of the time if he didn’t score, Arsenal didn’t score. But with Smith, Arsenal won things.

    Van Persie was predatory, but less predatory than Wright but a far more cultured player, but still wouldn’t really fit into what we have now. Not really.

    Giroud is a less predatory and a less cultured player than Van Persie, but is a hard working, selfless player who holds up the ball to lay it off and who isn’t afraid to fight for it in the air.

    He is basically a better looking and less faggoty version of Alan Smith and at the moment, his style is a sound fit for our system.

    I get it that we need an Option B, and I know Bendtner isn’t that and I will state now that Sanogo will never be that.
    I think Bendtner is a slightly more cultured player than Giroud but his work ethic is certainly not as good. Sanogo is no better than our loan players that are at Sheff Wed and Brentford.

    Bendtner could work on the work ethic, as that is all that he needs. The rest is there for him to be a like for like replacement.

    As for an Option B. I get it. We need one, however we have to be careful that Option B doesn’t bamboozle Wenger into being an Option A. That could involve overlooking Alan Smith and Andy Cole and having the carthorse that was Kevin Campbell leading the line… …And I saw him bollocks up 5 one on ones with the goalkeeper in a 2-2 night match at Elland Road in 1992.
    Smith? He had two chances and buried them.

    As Wavy says, don’t change what ain’t broke

  45. rico says:

    I too agree, great additions, even just one gives the entire place a lift, including the fans….

    Adam, no doubt you are barking ‘coffee’ orders to Mrs Adam.. 😉

  46. Adam says:

    If we had bought Suarez, would he be option A or B?

    Me Rico? Not on your life. I am watching a Scandinavian crime thriller series on the telly.

  52. tsgh says:

    Good read Rico…

    Nice post/link Syg… I concur with that btw…
    are you still around this side of the transfer window because you are more optimistic…

    When we had TH14 didn’t the so called experts also say we needed a plan B… the reason why Aw bought Frannie Jeffers?

    We are doing fine at the moment; it could be better we all realise that… I still believe that in the top and tight games strikers do not score anyway… our midfielders need to step up!

    On the topic of signings I also believe that less than 1 in 4 signings contribute immediately anyway…

    Of all the $hitty signings last summer, only Fernandinho has contributed or had an effect and he is a seasoned pro who cost nearly £29M at 29 y.o if I am not wrong…

    Fergie last season bought 4 players including Crewe’s Powell but only VP helped them to win a trophy… the rest failed…

    AW gets slated for his Gervinho’s and Park like signings but at the end of the day his success rate for signings is better than all the so called ambitions/winning managers imho…

    Teams who are able to win anything are those who have been able to keep a core of their squad together for more than 2 seasons…

    This is the first time we have done that in over 16 years under AW imho… lets see what happens!

  53. potter says:

    Campbell was always good for a hat trick round about Christmas and for a good 15 goals a season. He always had a tendency to hit the keeper as he ran through but I would take him now for the run in as cover.

  56. southyorkshiregunner says:

    Everything is great at the minute re: football Ginge.

    Stressed on the other side of life though. The house and gym has just been up for sale, with the latter creating a right headache as I’m having to deal with a right load of fckng mongs …. 23 phone calls Friday night…

    “I can can give you ten grand cash tonight……”

    “Does the price include the building?”

    “I’m after one of those things that you run on…”

    “How much could I earn in a week after I paid my rent, electric bills, rates and water and if I was the lovechild of Errol Fynn.”

    Wankers!

  59. rico says:

    Peeing down Lee, just tried getting in to town to do some shopping but the roads are flooded so did a u-turn…

    Still, Fido didn’t care that I got soaked whilst she was having a jolly run around…. 😉

  67. tsgh says:

    Jeez, Syg it sounds like you are getting the nasty bunch down your phone…

    It looks like everyone has signed off… ?

    Laters…

  68. tsgh says:

    Fulham fans are petitioning for the Michael Jackson statue to be re-instated…

    They claim taking Michael away too the spirit out of the club… lol

  69. stevepalmer1 says:

    evening all, You have me a little confused Rico. You make me think that perhaps its best to leave Merts and Kos Playing together i felt that You have doubts about our Tommy. What has foxed me is how our defence can play all the matches but Giroud wont last out because of exhaustion. Usually as soon as talk is of a good record for out 2 defenders almost beckons a defeat. I always feel that if a player keeps turning out and he still shows his worth, we should only change when circumstances warrents a change. Many will say they get tired, or is the word exhausted but we all have to do 5 days a week and i have never been told to take a few weeks off because i look exhausted mores the time they ask you to work harder and longer hours, Players only usually play 90 minutes hardly that exhausted surely, then they can have a rest for 3 or 4 days surely another 90 in 3 days is not going to knacker them that much.

  73. BrainwashedKev says:

    Maybe Gervinho’s success says more about the level in Seriie A, than it says about him?

    He was effective in Ligue Un, and is doing well in Italian football.
    But in the EPL he was not a huge success.
    Maybe playing him as a loan striker hampered his development?
    And if that is the case, then look in mirror Arsene Wenger….

  74. Scott from Oz says:

    Kev, forget how Wenger played him.
    The opportunities he stuffed had nothing to do with anything other than what was going through the players head….he could not handle the pressure.
    Morning mate.

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