Morning all.
Prince Harry clearly doesn’t expect Arsenal to reach another FA Cup Final, mind you, neither do I. Arsenal’s Royal fan has announced that he and Meghan will be getting married on the same day as Wembley will host Arsene Wenger’s most successful competition.
Sad though isn’t it? After he waltzed into the club almost as an unknown and turned us into Premier League winners, double winners and then finally, invinsibles, he’s turned us into a club which sits closer to bottom club Swansea City than we are the leaders Man City.
Southampton and West Ham, two clubs who many other clubs have beaten with ease, held us to a draw. Although in Southampton’s case, we managed to sneak a draw. Both performances were dreadful, lacklustre and unimaginative. A reflection of the manager imo.
Tomorrow we face a Newcastle side which despite starting the new season pretty well, have since become the leagues whipping boys. From twenty four points on offer, the Geordie side have won just one. The club is up for sale and reports suggest that it won’t be long before Mike Ashley will agree a deal which will see him walk away. Rafa will no doubt be pleased as it might mean more money will be given to him for transfers.
Arsenal could do with a new owner too, one that’ll give Wenger many millions to spend because that’s the difference between us and Man City according to him. They have the ‘tools’ which I took as being financial tools. We however, just have the tool! The man who won’t spend on who we need yet sells one or two if not more, that we could do with keeping. One of those will be up against us tomorrow and I’m really looking forward to seeing how Issac Hayden performs against his old club. I liked him, I liked his attitude and I liked the way he spoke about the club he loved. No, still loves probably.
Until the defeat to Mourinho’s average lot, we’d been good at home as far as results go. We’ve seen one or cracking performances too but never enough. The Utd result was harsh but all of own doing because once again, the defence was all at sea. Silly silly mistakes cost us and having clawed a goal back to make it 2-1, Wenger’s idea of attack attack attack backfired. We should have disciplined in our defending because at 2-1 there was a chance, 3-1 and we were dead and buried.
Since that loss, we’ve been awful. Really awful but that’s how it’s been for years. A few good performances but more bad ones. That’s life for Arsenal under Arsene Wenger. Not even Alexis is saving us this time around and Iwobi never will imo. Just as so many other players we have never will because they’ve been ‘Wengered.’
How many of you watched Gabriel perform this season? Me too and he’s right back to being the central defender we first signed. Strong and reliable yet Wenger sold him!
Back to the game against Newcastle. Mustafi could return but Walcott remains out through a groin strain. Kolasinac and Lacazette should be included in the starting eleven but Ramsey will be swapping Christmas presents ideas with Walcott in the treatment room.
To be honest, it matters not who plays tomorrow because until we play with width, movement and pace, we’ll struggle, especially if Newcastle turn up in defence mode. Eye of the needle passing in and around the box won’t break them down but a little bit of imagination and tactical nouse will.
Sadly for us and very damaging for us, Arsene Wenger lacks both….
Finally and probably a load of rubbish but reports suggest Henrikh Mkhitaryan is to be sold in order to make space at Utd for Mesut Ozil. One headline even suggested he could be a bargaining tool in any future deal.
Would you take the swap?
Hello Rico
Let alone Mikhi ..give Arsene the entire squad of Mancity plus Messi….he will ruin them all
Morning anyone.. ?
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/arsenal-transfer-news-lemar-fekir-11702210
Is not a player for Arsenal.
Jm, I posted the link as it’s about how many we could lose next summer.
Cold here , but the sun is out unfortunately the Aussies aren’t. Changes or even swaps at Arsenal? won’t make any real difference. I laid in bed last night thinking about 4 -3 -3 and tried to fit our players into it. I couldn’t fit both of our wantaways into it and eventually left Sanchez out. Then I put Lacazette and Giroud up front but couldn’t find anyone to actually cross the ball accurately . So I settled on Maitland Niles. The three in midfield I chose Jack and Ozil but a defensive protector for the back four it was best of a bad job and took Coquelin and told him to stay in his own half 90% of the time.
I chose Cech , Debuchy ,Mustaphi , Koscielny,Kolasinac Coquelin , Ozil , Wilshere , Maitland Niles , Lacazette and Giroud.
Feel free to make a case for other players , but I just want to see a team with attacking intent taking into account that most teams only come to defend. Then I got up and wrote this.
Depressing isn’t it.
Swap Alexis for Mkhitaryan 🙂
Morning all.
Potter, do any football coaches actually use drills to teach players to cross the ball at speed?
I only ask you as you just touched on it, but I was thinking about it the other day.
I do like the fact that coaches are teaching kids to be confident with the ball at feet, but ffs, a classy winger who can deliver a cross at speed is worth gold, yet where are they?
How many are around now?
Very depressing Potter…
Morning Rico. Bright and very nippy here. I hope that Wenger doesn’t oversee a conveyor belt of players coming and going. Surely the next manager must have a say.
Scott, it’s probably more of a case of Wenger telling his players to keep the ball on the ground..
Morning Adam. Very cold here and clouding over. Ready for the snow apparently.
Agree wholeheartedly. If Wenger has anything to do with any revamp we all hope takes place, we’re are snookered. Same with the younger players coming through, he’ll ruin them imo.
Rico, it’s football coaches everywhere.
How many widemen can take on their opponent on and whip over an accurate cross?
Can’t blame Wenger for a worldwide problem.
I don’t see any of it at my sons school and they’re getting absolute top level, best practice coaching.
It’s not something we see much at any level.
It seems a dying, if not already dead artform.
It’s Wenger’s fault as far as Arsenal go Scott, how can it be anyone elses?
If he’s going to play a big lump up front then he should be telling the players to cross the ball and not keep it on the ground.
The way we play football is down to Wenger, no one else.
Rico. I think you must be right about that and it’s why I would be concerned about this suggested transfer binge. Surely the new manager must be closely involved as only he will know the way he wants to play and the options he will require. I think that you may be right about this being Wenger’s last season. We’re not even at Christmas and, with a couple of exceptions, we have looked poor and ineffectual in this league. If we carry on along the Wenger path I cant see us going anywhere myself.
Adam. I’m starting to believe he’s going nowhere anytime soon…
Oh dear!
I had a full page reply written, Rico, but I won’t bother.
You read my posts exactly how you choose to and obviously I can’t win, so I’ll leave it to you.
Blaming others and defending Wenger?
Ffs-WHERE did I do that?
I asked a general bloody Football question!
Wingers like Armstrong feeding Radford and Kennedy and up the road Medwin and Jones feeding Bobby Smith and Alan Gilzean , Terry Hibbit for Supermac . Wingers were an integral part of football until overlapping fullbacks became the rage . Now we have players that just sling the ball over often on the floor and cut out by the first defender.
When you hear coaches talk about it they all say nowadays that it’s the forwards responsibility to get on the end of the cross. But me in my humble opinion says that it is the job of the centerer to look up and see where the forwards are. Note the use of plurals. Two forwards crossing over in the box with a winger that can deliver is the way to beat the bus parkers.
There is nothing more impressive than seeing a forward time a run and meet a ball and head it into the goal. Even Giroud who is good in the air tends to guide the ball in rather than power it.
It’s an art that’s been tucked away out of sight, one day it will return and the coach that does it will be seen as revolutionary. In effect football is a simple game and there really is nothing new.
I’ve got no idea why you’ve responded like that Scott..
Thanks Potter, and I agree wholeheartedly.
Coaches keep trying to reinvent the wheel-trying to show us how smart they are when proper coaches do what they can to get the very best out of the players they have.
Yes, Wenger is as guilty as anyone.
In all fairness it’s not just Wenger otherwise players like Carroll would be top scorer and golden boot winner. Scott is right and I believe so am I that it’s currently a forgotten art. I spent hours on Hampstead heath aiming at a crossbar as a kid and I used to laugh when players did the cross bar challenge and hit it twice out of 5 .I never played pro but could do that regularly. I used to run down the left wing and drop the ball on the far corner of the 6 yard box but then again had an uncle that played pro for Spurs that took an interest. He had four children all girls and eventually took up fishing and growing Dahlias . I think I was his outlet.
However less of me.
Nowadays possession is king at London Colney anything perceived as direct is frowned upon , and that is down to Wenger.
Morning Rico and all.
Well a few years ago I would have thought Arsenal would get a cricket score (oops) against a team so bereft of ideas as Newcastle and without Shelvey but now I am never confident whoever we play.Listening to him again yesterday talking about Ramsey and Walcott is ill again he continues to talk in riddles.
What gets me about the Ramsey situation is yet again every single time a player is ijnured or as AW would put it “is a little short” the injury is far longer than he suggested initially. They seem to get every aspect of the club wrong but his greatest sin is not playing players to their strengths. The table doesn’t lie we can’t score, we can’t defend and midfield is pants. Regardless who we play and next are Nexcastle and Liverpool some drastic action needs to be done.If we beat Newcastle it would be no big deal if we beat Liverpool he will say everything is back on track.Yesterday he said we were still in the Title race!!. He seems to be untouchable and just on here alone look at the wise comments most of which are facts. Does he want to sink the club lower. Jack is unsure, Sanchez will go and in all probability so will Ozil,Giroud is unhappy and even the overpayed Walcott may consider a move but in his case why move when you can be a bench warmer or left out on 140K a week. Negotiations are disasterous and the team is playing the worst football for years.We have so many problems and even those who protest and march and wave banners seem to realise it’s a lost cause.We really need about 6 or 7 good players and every month AW stays knocks us back years.Kroenke knows he has a full season ticket allocation and a waiting list but he is ultimately responsible and is ruining our great club quicker most ever thought.Remember we are the 6th richest club in the world.You couldn’t make it up.
I get that Potter but all I was saying that is if Wenger wants to play the ‘perfect’ game, he needs the right players, or know how to get the players we do have to play that way..
Why Scott threw his toys out of the pram I really don’t know.
Morning Kelsey.
Your last sentence is so true. It’s like a soap saga with the same story being repeated year after year..
We are all saying the same thing just with different emphasis . The buck has to stop at the top but not in my opinion solely at Wenger’s door . Kelsey is right about Stan and so is Scott .he leads from the back , definitely not they guy to go to war with.
Just seen Palace score a headed goal, against Leicester from a whipped in cross at speed . Woy Hodgson seems to be getting results that the previous hot-shot foreign manager was unable to do and Woy is just keeping it simple.Sometimes that pays better dividends than trying to copy Barcelona !
Hi Rico and all you lovely Arsenal supporters. It certainly is a roller coaster ride watching Arsenal.
Like Kelsey said, one is never confident anymore no matter who we play. The midfield find it impossible to protect the defence and the team in general lacks width. It all goes through the middle……
Potter: I remember watching 14 stone Alan Skirton thundering down one wing with Geordie Armstrong on the other putting in tempting crosses…
Alan Skirton when he got moving he was hard to stop ,you wouldn’t want to have stood in the way. But we had wingers then and his supply to David Herd was all tat cheered us up when the lot up the road were lauding it.
Long time ago.
memory fades I’m afraid.
Didn’t we replace Herd with Joe Baker ? He knew where the goal was too.
Anyway enough nostalgia , lets see what happens today.
Arsenal: Cech, Bellerin, Koscielny, Monreal, Maitland-Niles, Xhaka, Wilshere, Iwobi, Ozil, Alexis, Lacazette
Subs: Ospina, Chambers, Coquelin, Kolasinac, Elneny, Welbeck, Giroud
Maitland-Niles, Xhaka, Wilshere, Iwobi, Ozil, Alexis passing amongst themselves whilst Lacazette tries to find space against two or three markers.
Nice goal from Mesut..
Hi Marinello
Gilzean to Arsenal potter…;-)
Could be 2 or 3 up but the team is unbalanced. Miles must play in the middle; Kolosinac (and his left foot…) could playa in the left.
Hope we score the second or more quickly.
The match win at the “engine room”. Our is not strong enought.
and we repeat the same mistake: play with Ozil and Iwoby at the same time.
Jm, I don’t see what Iwobi brings to this team, with or without Ozil being in it.
Rico. Iwobi’s always good for the first 5 minutes. After that I don’t know what happens.
JM
(up the road Medwin and Jones feeding Bobby Smith and Alan Gilzean ).
I was pointing out that good wingers and good headers of the ball win matches when you get the ball into the box )
When I was little away travel was impossible for a child. So I used to go to the Arsenal with my Uncles one week and Spurs the next with my mates. That was at the time of the Spurs double team and they were good to watch . They had some excellent players , John White being one of the best players I have ever watched. It wasn’t until Brady came along that we had anything comparable. Gilzean in the air was capable of playing flicks and passes at all angles , was a tank that took ball , man and keeper into the net.
Bobby Smith was the tank.
Today was typical of Arsenal, all over the oppo and unable to put them away and then spend the last 20 minutes hanging on. We are not ruthless we don’t convert our pressure into goals. “Why can’t he play Giroud and Lacazette together ? Why does it always have to be one or the other ?
Thank you Rico.
The Bastard Gilzean broke Bob Wilson`s leg !……………………..Bob didn`t know about it until years later having a check up for something else, the doctor inquiered to Bob how did he break his leg years ago ?…….which confused Bob !
Gilzean also didn`t like it that Bob Wilson played for Scotland, didn`t think he was sweatty sock enough !
AsI said months ago, the summer transfer window is going to be the most interesting ever with contracts up and so many players leaving with hardly any funds coming in from outgoing players !………………………..how the fcuk will we be able to afford to replace 8 players if they leave with no money coming in for outgoing one`s ?…………………………..only Mansour City could afford to do that with an owner who has a personnel fortune of £20M and part of a Royal Family worth £1 Trillion !
We need an owner who will invest heavily in the team and a manager not scared to spend it……………..on the right players for a right system……………….unfortunately we have neither !
Any win is good after our last 3 games.
Mkhitaryan !…………………….must admit I was one of those who wanted him and I cant remember which blogger it was, but they were saying how better he was than Ozil !………………………………I want both !
Morning all.
My comment earlier about wingers was a truly general question about Football, and the absolute last thing on my mind was defending Wenger for not having decent crossers-it honestly never entered my mind at all.
I saw a player like Di Maria as someone we could’ve went for a few years back when Real sold him as he’d have served the ball up on a platter for Giroud several times a game, and Wenger had, IMO, a striker who has been damn effective, all the while being used the wrong way so I can only imagine how good Giroud could have been for us.
Quick and with great delivery-cut the diving and what a player he could’ve been for us.
Anyway, the last thing I intended was to blame other coaches for Wengers faults.
He has too many now to be anyone else’s failing.
First half decent enough. .partly because Newcastle didn’t show any ambition.
We were tedious 2nd half, Newcastle got more of the ball and our midfielders ran out of gas!
As in most occasions the subs didn’t bring anything to the team and we hung on!
Really poor showing from arsenal , but at least we got the 3 points albeit against struggling Newcastle.
Hardly inspiring !
Good tekkers……………..
https://twitter.com/xArsenalTerje/status/942054190435749888
Well a win is a win but we were just as dreadful as against WH and Southampton.I would drop,Bellerin,Xhaka and iwobi for a start and when can we pronounce tippy tappy as dead.Never or not whilst he is in charge.Liverpool will murder us. I would at least try and enjoy a game occasionally instead of this rubbish.
Potter I don’t remember goal posts on Hampstead Heath as that was my manor 😉
Adam, he’s dreadful..
And your abusive comment to me Scott? Bang out of order..
Kelsey, wait until Liverpool turn up. Klopp wont park the bus as he doesn’t have one to park…
It’ll be interesting to see how Wenger stops their forwards… lol
Can anyone top Brian Marwood, left foot, right foot, it didn’t matter, he could cross a ball with both.
Lockjaw means never having to say sorry rico, not that I’m making excuses for anybody.
Didn’t he break his arm celebrating Micko?
I know what you’re saying btw…
You sure your not thinking of Steve Morrow after the cup final rico ?
Oops, you’re right Micko. Doh!
Night guys.
Kelsey on parli hill we used to carry the posts out before matches . But on the extention near golders green near the refectory they used to leave them up.
You said once before that you thought you knew me. I am now approaching 70 .If you played locally who was it for .?
Potter,we are the same age. I lived in Belsize Park and played for Mayfair Casuals and then Brady Maccabi at Hendon.
No connections there I played for Oak United on Sundays but in Rickmansworth in Herts County League and North London Under 23 . Saturday. I used to take my wife to the Witches Cauldron later Conrads Bistro and drink from the Roebuck to the High street after training at Haverstock school. Maybe there is a schol connection or maybe not. Mine was near Lords,Cricket ground.
Witches Cauldron,know it well. School Quintin or kynaston ? I lived in Belsize Avenue.
Quintin
That’s the connection. Mr A.J.Holt our headmaster.We were in the same year so we must know each other.I played inside left or outside left in the school team through the years. Do you remember Hart very skilful player,Buskell and Hodgeson. I was completely left footed lol. There was a potter in our year but he was a redhead and didn’t play football.
Oh Cliff Gudgeon is a friend still and he’s a gooner. We represented the school at Tennis.
Potter is a,nom de plume and I dont recognise those names. Boys that I played with were Coxon, loucaides, fairhall,the master in charge was neddy. Websdale and sometimes the chemistry master mansell
Taxing my memory now.
I remember Mansell,the pervert, didn’t think he coached football. There was Mr. Cox the art teacher .Mr Wood the woodwork teacher.and I remember other teachers but not their names.
.I think I might have been a year ahead of you at school,but never mind there is a link re school.
Do you remember Andy Zimbler ? He was older than me but used to use the same bus . He played too I believe.
Potter, I was laying in bed thinking last night, I was thinking 36 24 36, and I couldn’t get off to sleep either.
Should have counted the grains falling in the hourglass.l
Morning all.
Wenger is blaming the heavy schedule for our lackluster performences, obviously all the other teams haven`t been playing and been recuperating on a hot beach somewhere.
He will use the same excuse if we get tonked by Bindippers on Friday by blaming our midweek game with WHAM in Carabeo Cup, even though the team that plays the Scouse gits will bear no resemblance to the team that play`s WHAM……………………….never no one elses fault !
Sorry………….always someone elses fault apart from his own !.
City won again, won every game apart from dropping 2 points in a draw, I bet they are livid about that one !.
🙂
Good morning Rico
I am sure you agree with me if i say Matiland is someone is growing in stature.
There is something special in that guy and i am sure timidity is keeping him aback.
Did you see that surge and dribble and pass ??? Waawww…..
Le Prof …..if you see what i see what is taking you aback to jump with joy and encourage the youngster rather than to shove him left and right and playing him out of position ?
Correct me on this but few years back i remember parents of Matiland was on the headline.The rumors was her son was not given enough opportunities or something.
Matiland was outstanding since his birth with the first team but yesterday he did everything but no one looked after him.
Specially Sanchez ignore Matiland every single time.Put it this way Sanchez was in no time thought about Matiland.
The youngster was there for Sanchez to clear his mess but ignored totally.
One blogger said this about the us :
‘”The last 3 performances are not a hang over from the United loss, they are the best of what we have to offer from a deluded manager and sub par players who have lost their faith in Wenger and possibly the club”.
Perfect to me
Morning Alex, Lc and all..
Yep, it’s always someone else’s fault bar his own…
The story goes that whilst on loan at Ipswich Mick McCarthy tried to toughen him up but Maitland’s mum didn’t like it and had a row with him.
New post up.
Yes I remember Andy Zimbler.