Morning all.
Well that’s Christmas Day over for another year and what a shock it brought to the music world. At 53 years old, George Michael passed away just a few miles down the road from me. A terribly sad way to end what was such a lovely day. The media really are b******s though. We all know he had his troubles and battles in life but the poor guy is barely cold and already they’ve published many of the worst photographs of him they can find…
RIP George Michael, you’ll be missed, as will your voice….
Anyway, further, much much further up the road the Arsenal players were hard at in training, preparing for the visit of West Brom today on Boxing Day. After the last two performances, goodness only knows what kind of display we’ll get to see from team but I hope it’s a very good one.
Arsene Wenger might be tempted to makes one or two changes to the side which looked lacklustre and disinterested against both Everton and Man City with Perez and Elneny just waiting for a chance.
Just a couple of weeks ago, Tony Pulis and his team made life very difficult for Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and only a defensive error made by the visitors allowed Costa to score the single goal of the game so it’s not going to be easy, that’s for sure. After that match Conte described West Brom as a ‘tough team, a physical team who are difficult to break down.’ So it’s fair to say, we know what to expect from them.
Today we need to see a bigger and much better performance from a few who really haven’t been at the top of their game over the last couple of matches and Mesut Ozil is one who has copped a lot of criticism from the fans which has caused Arsene Wenger to leap to his defence:
‘He is a guy who works much harder than people think and his body language goes a bit against him sometimes. We are a team who win the ball back high up the pitch very well, which means he and Alexis do their part of the job very well. We had a deficit in winning the ball back in the middle of the pitch at Manchester City.’
Ozil is an easy target because of his body language and of course his price tag but he’s not the only one whose had an off day of late. Walcott scored early at The Etihad and thought that was his job done, the midfield went walkabout and Monreal, well I really don’t know what’s happened to his defending. If the defence do their job well, the midfield do theirs properly, the likes of Ozil will only shine as we’ve seen quite often.
Arsene alluded to fact that his players maybe a little jaded having given so much in Europe, well the answer to that is he has a squad of players, not just eleven and he has to start using it. Starting the same team each week is no good, not with as many fixtures in such a short period of time and as we’ve always said, if he doesn’t believe in the players he has, why on earth keep them? As said earlier, Perez, Elneny, Gibbs and even Holding might do a better job than a few of our under performers but we/he won’t know that unless he plays them…
We need three points today, we need a performance out of the top draw too as half the season is over and we’re already nine points behind the leaders…
Have a good Boxing Day guys and gals….
Oh, The Mirror reckon Arsenal are favourites to sign Dimitri Payet, why? Because Sky Bet says so….
Morning all
Shocked about George Michael ?
The only singer I have ever bothered to go and watch live, his voice was as good live as in the studio. I always do my planks to a few of his songs and his version of ….” I cant make you love me “…… is beautifully silky smooth.
RIP
Still can’t believe it really Lc…
I was only saying yesterday Rico that I wish he would come down and play at The Eden Project………….feel quite choked up !
Totally get that LC…
Jesus to a child was one of my favs….
Love that one Rico, I have the extended version which goes on just shy of 11 mins !…………love it !
Rico. It certainly feels like a tragic loss, considering his age and despite his well-documented problems.
Sorry !………Careless Whisper extended one is just shy of 11 mins !
Certainly is Adam..
I bet you’ll be playing them today Lc… 🙁
Tragic. December Song a late example of his genius. As for Arsenal, no excuses acceptable. Agree that we have to freshen it up. I’d go with Perez and Rambo if he’s fit. Seasons greetings to the best site on the web.
Just like every day before Rico……………………..need a win today to try and cheer me up a bit !
Welcome DD, thanks for your kind comment..
To be honest Lc, focusing on football is a bit hard today…
I’m either getting old and cranky, or mellowing.
I just had a crack at plenty of FB “mates” for making fun of the fact the man died.
No wonder the media are such pricks-their audience is enormous.
Morning all.
They’ll always be some Scott…
That’s true, Rico.
I really do not understand them, but so be it.
Game day, and though we say this often, today is a must win game-no excuses, as our boys will be fresh and should be raring to go.
Me neither Scott, regardless of what people think of his music or the way he has lived his life, he’s just 53 and gone…
Yep, big win with a top performance is much needed…
I have a meal to cook for a few so catch up later…
Sad about George Michael, very sad.
So long as our team don’t play like turkeys or chicken out at every tackle or confrontation! I think we should win this one quite comfortably. Wenger v Pubis, never pretty! But a win’s a win. 1-0 or more will make my Boxing Day, anything less will send me into a downward spiral of depression and despair!
Have a good day, today. It’s only 364 days to next Christmas!
Here we go then .Beer poured trying to catch a stream.
Good to see Gibbs getting the nod over monreal.. deserves it
The boys had too much turkey
Sounds like a thrilling game….. ??????
Lol Rico.
Have you burnt any of your Brussel sprouts yet?
Up until this afternoon we have had the best conversion rate in the EPL for the year…
We could do with a goal
Why can’t we ever win a penalty?
At least we haven’t lost 3 games in nearly 4 years
Such a borefest tbh….
Not in a steamer Ts… lol
9 points dropped in last 4 games…ffs
We’re just shit aren’t we
Na na, na na na na, na na na na na, Giroud
Get INNNN Giroud
1-0 🙂
Funny how all the time wasting stops now….
Ramsey is a very wasteful player…
Job done, borefest of a game but not all Arsenal’s fault West brom just wouldn’t come out and play.
ufff!!!!
I must post this again: Iwoby and Ozil at the same time doesn’t work.
We have many left foot players in the pitch and play in wrong positions.
Amazing what a centre can lead to as opposed to coming inside all the time.
Well played og12
Can’t wait to watch that match on Sky Sports later 😉 😉
3 points.
Take them and run lol
Exactly, and then just hope we improve…. however… lol
Just back from the game. That has to be the worst atmosphere at the Emirates that I have ever known.
Oh dear….
Rico. West Brom came to defend and defend deep. Add to that the ridiculous time wasting by Foster which was only punished deep within the 2nd half and you have all the ingredients for a tough game. Actually we played ok. A bit too square at times but nobody had a particularly bad game. It was just that only one team showed any desire to play football. West Brom deserved exactly what they got today.
Adam, just what I expected to be honest. It’s Pulis.. Well done to Ollie though…
Night guys…
Rico. He nearly managed to get himself sent off earlier but he kept on going and got a good header in to win the 3 points so well done to him. 🙂
Night Rico.
Thank Dennis we won because none of the other results have gone our way ! 🙁
As underated players go………………….. is Ollie one of the most ?…………..with both hands I could probably name a 100 worse ! 🙂
Merry Xmas & Boxing Day to you all, I saw nothing of the game, but am well pleased with the result. Clean sheet against such a difficult team to break down. An 86th minute goal, they didn’t panic/bottle it.
Vale George Michael
Busy day, kinda forgot about the game, but discovered result about 6.30pm…
Then saw MotD and it wasn’t a classic by any stretch.
Thought that Koscielny got crudely barged over in the box, but we never get pens…
Alexis was unlucky in hitting the post…
Ian Wright did a good job highlighting West Brom’s back 6, midfield 3 and Rondon looking for scraps…
Foster was lucky in their goal as he always is against us.
I’m glad I wasn’t at the game, I certainly didn’t envy Adam, but I’ll be there New Years Day, to suffer, because as night follows day, Allardyce will set up Palace in a similar fashion to Pulis…
It’s what they do…
I’ll happily take the 3 points. It ends a terrible run, but it changes nothing as Chelsea continue to win and win well.
ManUre and ManCity likewise…
It’s gonna take something like a 10 game winning streak in the EPL for me to regain any semblance of belief in Wengers ability to coach/cajole/motivate this team of millionaire chokers back into a realistic and sustained challenge for the title…
Good post today Rico, well done on your constant work on this blog.
Hiya Kev.
Hope you had a lovely Xmas.
I’m watching the replay now and we ripped them apart in stages, though it’s hard with 10 defenders-I’m sure I saw Pulis in there at one point!!!
Damn, managers like him must be made to understand that football is entertainment, and he gets bloody well paid because people pay to watch.
He’s a disgrace to the game.
Once again, I’m having a chuckle reading some comments on here during the game.
I really don’t know what some people expect-the unrealistic, for one!!!
We played well considering WB had no intention to play the game at all.
We created plenty of chances, and I know some just can’t do it-i especially hate it-but credit to WB who did defend bloody well!!!!!
Morning Rico and all. Freezing over this way. 🙂
Thanks Kev…
Morning to you Scott, Adam and all..
A white one here too..
Perez needs to start more games.
Rico. But it is growing sunnier by the minute. 🙂
Agree re Perez..
It’s taking a bit longer here Adam… 😉
Morning guys.
Perez is a real worker and looks the goods.
He could end up a fantastic purchase.
36 degrees here today and no, I’m not boasting as i hate the excessive heat.
He looked good from the highlights I’ve seen Scott..
Rico, you know me and my opinion of lads who work hard 🙂
He seems to make very smart runs, as well.
No white stuff here in Norfolk , Scott , what do expect people to say when stats showed that we had 80% possession and yet we continued to go down the same blind alleys for thebest part of 80 minutes. Eventually we put dangerous cross into their area and lo and behold a goal comes from it. All you hear from our Lord and master is that passing needs to be faster and crisper but what it really needs is to be varied. Adam not suprised that you were bored , I am glad that I watched it from my son’s armchair.
I do Scott.. 😉
I’ve only seen the highlights and thought we played ok considering what we were up against…
New post up now.