Morning all.
It’s taken a while but yesterday it finally arrived. A top performance all round against Everton, it really was. From Ospina through the team to Welbeck who led the line, every single player performed. Arsenal were quick with their passing and didn’t give the Everton players time on the ball forcing mistakes from the home team.
The first goal was like the Arsenal of old. Slick passing and great movement from Welbeck who finished the move off with a good goal.
Alex Iwobi, preferred to Walcott and Campbell, proved his ability yet again. His work ethic is incredible as he was all over the pitch fighting for the team. Yes he missed a chance to make it 2-0 and later in the game he over hit or under hit a few passes but his goal was good, very good. On his last two showings, he’s got a big future ahead of him and credit to Arsene Wenger for selecting him so soon after playing against Barca. I thought it was a risky selection but how wrong was I. First Premier League start, first Arsenal goal, first man of the match award which was dished out by Michael Owen. The Academy has produced a goodie, at last!
A midfield of Coquelin and Elneny worked very well. Barkley was kept quiet and each time Elneny pushed forward, the Frenchman was disciplined and refused to follow him and then when Everton did get forward, so often one or the other was involved in breaking the move down. Behind them was a back five who had no interest in allowing Everton to score, despite a nervy opening five minutes. Gabriel kept an in form Lukaku pretty quiet, Koscielny was back to his best and the two wide defenders were equally as good, Bellerin especially. A word on Ospina too, he did well, despite getting clumped by Lukaku.
Alexis looked like his old self too. Busy busy busy and his pass to Welbeck for the opening goal was inch and weight perfect. No Walcott, no Ollie, no Ramsey, no sweat!
Arsenal should have won more comprehensively, not because of missed chances, but chances missed by Clattenburg. Giroud had a goal disallowed but why I don’t know and Alexis Sanchez was denied what was a stonewall penalty shout. He was tripped, of that there is no doubt but like so many decisions, Clattenburg got both very wrong.
Everton aren’t the nicest of sides are they and as said, many other decisions made by the ref were quite odd to say the least. The forearm smash on young Hector by Mori was perhaps up there with one of the most blatant he let go unpunished… Mesut Ozil suffered injury after a stamp on his ankle although I’m not sure that was deliberate by Stones. (I think)
It’s just so frustrating though isn’t it? We’ve waited all year to see this Arsenal team put in a performance as they did yesterday and had they done so since Christmas 2015, they’d be a good few points clear at the top and still in the FA Cup. They might even have toppled Barcelona in Europe and confounded the bookmaker William Hill.
But as so often, once the pressure is off, Arsenal start performing and I hope they continue to do so too as at least chasing down the noisy neighbours is still possible, even if winning the league looks out of reach.
Juve want Ollie apparently….
Wonder if he needs a hand with his packing….. lol
Morning All
Morning Rico
So, it was a penalty, we are all agreed now!
Thank fcuk… ?
That was a pretty good post Rico, and as you wrote, our best performance of 2016.
Why is this, why do we perform better with the pressure off, when expectations are low.
Does it stem from Wenger?
Does he inadvertently pass on his uncertainty to the players?
Is he unable to convince them of their quality, despite endlessly going on about it to the media?
Or is it as simple as the fact that he has unwittingly put together a team lacking in strong personalities because of his own insecurities and lack of confidence in managing strong characters?
As it has been oft repeated, he seems to prefer a dressing room which is calm and film of zen..,
Well zen is no fcuking good when you’re fighting for the title…
Morning Kev..
So many questions which I wish I knew the answer to… Lack of depth to cope on all fronts has to play a big part as does leaving out the players who muck up the way we play.
There’s a few who really need to find another club in the summer imo…
Italy would probably suit Giroud, Rico.
I think this season was his time to silence the doubters about his quality.
And in that he had patently failed.
He’s what, 29..?
A good time for Arsenal to cash in, and probably make a big of a profit on our melodramatic Frenchman…
I think Adam has reached the end of the road with Olivier, and is, at times, incandescent at Girouds pouting and anguished expressions following his customary misses.
The conundrum is that he has scored some great goals, and when he does you wonder where ‘that’ came from…
Yep, part-ex Olivier for a sportier version..
It’ll be like part-ex’ing a London cab for a BMW…
Too many factors to list lol.
The biggest would be squad depth, I’d say.
Morning all.
Kev, what’s so worrying though is Ollie is our highest goal scorer.. I’d certainly sell him if another club really wants him, get a striker in a similar mould of Welbeck. Pace is the way to go, and ability to score goals of course.. lol
On paper it’s a big squad, the trouble is so many are either injured, old or useless… lol
Rico, it’s like Groundhog Day…
Every season we seem to need to ‘move on’ certain players who habitually disappoint…
And we always, always seem to be that mythical 2 or 3 players away from being truely competitive…
Well Arsene has fcuking up big time this season.
It ain’t gonna get any easier for him now.
Next season is gonna be hugely difficult with all our competitors upgrading…
Wengers fault totally…
But they seldom get moved on Kev and that’s the problem. Wenger is far too loyal to too many of them.
Perhaps Wenger will finally spend some money this summer…. 😉
Lol rico you re bad as kev 😀 helping him pack his bag??? That was cold. Morning good people. Still buzzing. Pressure off or not that’s the best footie I ve seen us play in years. That was the arsenal of 2008 all over again. I ve watched that game 6 times since yesterday 😀 and I ll probably watch it again. Like I said no one ll fault the team or abuse wenger if he picks the right players. For once I saw ozil and Sanchez enjoying themselves on the pitch. There was off the ball movement and one touch extraordinary football. We look so good pornhub ll be jealous 😀 COYGS
Signing an upgrade on Giroud is necessary and do’able for a club with our resources Rico. No excuses acceptable if we don’t imo…
Welbeck is very good, but just not prolific enough, although I like him a lot…
Rico, other areas of the team need to contribute to the goal scoring…
Ramsey, Walcott, Alexis, AOC, should a be in double figures.
No excuses again are acceptable imo.
Hmmm !
Not too sure I’d agree with the assumption that the pressure is off – so we start to perform.
You could turn that on it’s head. The club is set up to finish fourth. Our transfer policy is aimed for fourth. The manager and the team are handed bonus’s for finishing fourth. Our manager claims ” fourth is a trophy”
When we were top of the league, we were in no danger of dropping out of the top four and under no pressure – and that’s how we played. But having lost to Man Utd’s youth team and Swansea’s second team we now find for the first time this season we are under pressure from teams like West Ham and yesterday we had to respond.
See what a few tweaking does to a team??? Alexis played on the right and looked twice the player he’s been all season. There was no cutting in from the left and shooting on sight. Stop making us predictable. Our players ain’t shit I ll always maintain that. We just need a different approach and we ll see the same team smash it. I could have sworn I saw ozil smiling yesterday. How often does mesut smile??? Not often that I can tell you 😀
Hiya Brudder Stan
6 times eh?
You must have a lot of time on your hands. ?
Kev what can I say I love me some arsenal 😀
Just think he needs to go Goonie, he doesn’t fit into the way Wenger tries to play on days like yesterday. I know he gets goals but he’s too slow for the PL imo..
Agree Kev, our midfielder’s etc just aren’t chipping in enough with goals unlike Freddie and Pires did in their day…
Steve – the pressure is off regarding winning anything again this season..
But yes, the club is a top four club, of that there is little doubt…
Girouds is frustrating, because he finds goal scoring opportunities so often, it’s scary.
I don’t think it’s a lack of pace that stops him, because he does get those chances.
He just doesn’t convert enough.
Where’s Ginge, by the way?
I just saw the Aussie kid win the game for Celtic with a cracking long range goal, and thought of Ginge, as we’ve discussed him.
Hope he’s ok.
Bit of both I’d say re Ollie, or a lot of both… lol
Rico berbatov was a tad slow too. So was kanu it’s playing the right way that has been our bane for 5 years now. We haven’t got a style. We just hoof it upfront and hopes giroud brings it down and brings others to play. I think there 2 factors that contributes to this one either wenger don’t trust his players enough or he doesn’t have the personel to play the arsenal way. In case you haven’t noticed we stopped playing the arsenal way a while back. Normally arsene plays a conventional winger on the right then and AM on the left for balance. We haven’t had that since the days of hleb and nasri. We have struggled to outplay any team because we keep playing 2 wingers in every game. And they haven’t been good ones too. Theo aoc gerwanko etc. So what we ve been doing for years is hoof the ball up and hope for something to happen. But in iwobi I think wenger has found a gem. He’s quick and very good on the ball. So we can finally revert back to form. Hence the dominant performance we saw yesterday. Iwobi ozil elneny in one team. Wow we ll pass teams to submission. That’s where I have a gripe with Ramsey. With him yesterday we might have won yes but not that convincing and we might have conceded a few too. Our defense looks all over the place when Rambo plays. He gives the ball away and tries to dribble when a simple pass would have suffice. Plus he’s always giving the ball away in dangerous parts of the pitch. Right now stick to this team till the end of the season and during the summer bring in a few players and we might just surprise a few people.
Good Morning Chips and Chops.
Lovely match report Rico. I only watched the first half highlights and then all of the 2nd half.
The penalty was a stone wall one. Even if Alexis took a step too far, it still is a pen by the rules.
If the referee was convinced that it was not a penalty but a dive…..he should have given him a yellow. The fact that he did not was that he chickened out of the decision…..had he given him a yellow it would have meant the moment would have been analysed by everyone…even the ref association. As it is he could say that he was momentarily unsighted…..so he did not give pen or yellow.
I liked what I saw….especially from Iwobi.
The midfield of Coquelin and Elneny looks solid. And now what?? No not for Aaron…but Cazorla. Because while Cazorla has the brains, Elneny has youth on his side. Best of both worlds for us. I would love to see Elneny and Cazorla….I wonder if Elneny would be disciplined to hold back.
But his one/two touches and pass together with his stamina are a coach’s dream.
As it is next season will see a lot of changes….esp in the playing staff. I wonder if it will be in management as well.
So here goes…..
Cech
Ches/Ospina
Bellerin, Gabriel, Kos,Monreal
RB, Chambers, CB, Gibbs(??)
Elneny, Coquelin
Cazorla, Jack (if fit)
Aaron, Ozil, Alexis
Iwobi, Campbell, OX
Welbeck
CF
That means the manager needs a new RB, CB, CM, LB and a striker/forward.
It means that Ollie and Theo need to be moved on. Ox I have my doubts as he is still 22 plus he is English. However, Per needs to be replaced, while we have to take into consideration those who are on loan….especially Toral and Akpom. The others either are too young or else I do not think they are good enough.
I honestly hope that some of them are moved on.
And having seen leceister’s send the spuds last 8 fixtures I believe there’s still a chance. We play 5 of our last 8 games at home. Win those and who knows. Keep the faith. We re still in the title mix 😀
Maybe but regardless goonie, his conversation rate isn’t the best is it?
I know we don’t often play ‘the arsenal way’ but that’s what I believe Wenger tries to do but without the players who can do it. As said yesterday, when did we last have a prolific striker with pace? We haven’t really since Henry imo. Welbeck has all the pace and is very good but we need more than just him imo.
Agree re Ramsey and yesterday, Elneny showed what a more disciplined midfielder can do and he picked his moments when going forward, without neglecting his defensive duties.
Howdy dev 😀 missed you big guy. How’s the little prince? Bet he’s not little anymore? Lol
Maybe Santi will head back to Spain Devil for an easier life in a more attacking role… 😉
Back in a bit….
No way rico 😀 santi stays. His experience ll come in handy and since when is 30 and old age in football terms?? Ronaldo ll be 30 this year I don’t see anyone saying he should retire. Santi elneny and lecoq in the same midfield??? My word we ll kill them 😀
Alex Iwobi’s sublime performances for Arsenal against Barcelona and Everton have earned him the praise of club legend Thierry Henry.
Arsenal legend Thierry Henry believes Alex Iwobi’s recent rise to prominence is down to his mentality and will be a source of pride for the club’s academy staff.
The 19-year-old winger, who made his Arsenal debut in October, produced a lively performance in the 3-1 Champions League defeat at the hands of Barcelona in midweek, before scoring his first goal at senior level in Saturday’s 2-0 win over Everton.
Henry was thoroughly impressed with Iwobi’s performances and has hailed the versatile attacker’s professionalism.
“Watching Iwobi against Barcelona on Wednesday will have been a source of immense pride and joy for academy head Andries Jonkers and all the coaching staff who have worked with him over the years,” Henry wrote in his weekly column for The Sun.
“Alex wasn’t scared against the best team in the world in the Nou Camp. He was brave on the ball, calm in and around the penalty area and justified all the work invested in him by the academy.
“He is the perfect example of how a kid has to behave to make it to the top. He works hard, he listens and he is always on time.
“He has blossomed since breaking into the seniors and his goal and brilliant display against Everton on Saturday underlined his potential.”
From Four Four Two…
That is a brilliant assessment on Iwobi Kev.
shame its only on Iwobi. Why dont other academy guys have that attitude as well?
What do you think of Toral Kev?? Do you think he will be part of the 1st team next year??
Poor Ramsey, still getting stick even when he’s on the treatment table.
I wonder how it is that Ramsey goes back to Wales, spends a week with Chris Coleman and then gives a passing impression of a truly world class midfielder who can play holding or No 10 as required.
Similarly Jack, remember him ?, Runs around a lot for Arsenal and gets himself injured every other game. Again plays his best football for England, of late as a disciplined holding midfielder. Roy wants to take him to France in the summer even though he has hardly kicked a ball for months.
Over to you Mr Wenger !!!!!
Morning, Ever the optimist, I think i,ll reserve Judgement on Iwobi and not get too excited by yesterdays performance, although a lot better than of Late, One Swallow and all that.
The pain from this season just cannot be brushed away by one match,
To me as probably has been said, AW has once again got lucky by the Ramsey injury, as Arteta,s injury gave Le Coq a chance, equally it,s took Ramsey,s misfortune for Wenger to find the balance in this team. Would Iwobi of even got a chance if Ramsey was playing on the Right to allow for the Coq,Elneny pairing, I,m not so sure.
So now AW,s hurt because we fans dare to question his teams mental attitude. With just 2 wins in 9 premier league games before the Everton win, not to mention our cup exploits, A little bit of understanding on he,s behalf on why the fans demonstrate their anger and pain, instead of always taking the moral high ground and reflecting any criticism he gets from the fans as if we,ve no god given right to question the sometimes lacklustre and downright mediocrity of their performances.
Maybe we shouldn,t of been so surprised by yesterdays win, which was against an opponent who have now triumphed in just one of the last 18 league meetings against us Realistically we know the title is all-but gone when it shouldn’t be. And as a result all he is really being questioned on is, Where are are the leaders in the dressing room and why didn,t he invest money on experienced professionals who had the know-how to help keep the nerves at bay during a tough season.
Maybe that is why AW might not want Zlatan. Maybe he is a leader who will question AW time and again.
Do you really think that the reason AW sold PV04, GS, Sol, TH14 etc etc was simply money? And why he never wants Keown as a coach at the club? No. imo they were leaders who questioned him. Dont tell me that ALL of them were inferior to players such as Denilson, Cesc, Nasri, TW14, Song. lol. Joke of the millenium. They were all leaders who would have questioned him. He just got lucky to have them all at the club at one time and with his reputation intact after 2 doubles, unbeaten season and with the prospect of a new ground he saw his chance and got rid of them.
Zlatan would bring that back all again. And with Zlatan being a SENSEI in martial arts and owning 4 dojos and training centres plus his frame no one would dare question him or pick a fight with him. He would just break every bone with just one stare from behind that crooked nose. lol
Unfortunately for us Devil, rightly or wrongly we have a Manager and Board that refuse to break the wage cap, Although he could do a job for us for maybe a season or two, So AW could go out on a high. Ibra would have to almost half his 250,000 a week wage, Won,t happen, will it ?
DG…..the club might offer him 200k weekly plus a hefty signing on fee.
Maybe that is why Ozil and Sanchez refuse to sign an extension….to see who comes in on what wages.
if Zlatan is to get 200k a week MO and AS will want the same.
Imagine five years down the line…..in 2021…….NLD……two brothers playing against each other. lol
Anglo-Nigerian defender Timothy Eyoma made his debut for Tottenham Hotspur Under-18 team in their 7-3 rout of Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier Academy League on Saturday.
The highly-rated stopper played the full game at the Training Centre and was impressive for the Londoners, especially in the first half, until the 80th minute when he gave away a penalty after fouling Allan.
Seventy five minutes into the contest, Wolves had reduced the deficit after the England U16 international was penalized for handball and Carnat stepped up to curl home a spectacular free-kick.
Nicknamed Torpedo for his shooting ability, Timothy Eyoma joined Spurs at U12 level from nursery team Clissold Rangers.
His older brother Aaron Eyoma was on the books of the youth team of Tottenham Hotspur before shifting to Arsenal.
Personally I hope we don’t sign Ibrahimovich for the simple reason that he is an arsehole. A mega arsehole in fact. The Arsenal issue is about the manager and whether he carries on or not after the end of the season.
I would like to see Aaron play the Ozil role with Elneny and Coquelin behind him, plus Iwobi and Alexis on his sides. That would be interesting.
The difference yesterday was that finally we had an advanced midfield of Alexis, Ozil and Iwobi who are all FOOTBALLERS. Not players or good players but footballers.
Theo is a player with speed. End of.
Campbell is a good player. End of.
But Iwobi is a footballer.
Chances are he,ll see out his contract, So lets think short term for a change, instead of long-term, You seen what Ferguson was able to do in his final season with Van Persie, let,s for once think on the lines of a short term fix. Patients wearing very thin, no more 18 year old kids please,
Think in the now, for once, It,s become so Nauseating, seriously, Change needs to happen.
Laters
Adam, I agree he is an arsehole…..but he will give us two good years, and since his body is built the way it is he will withstand the rigours of the EPL.
Much like Cantona and what he did for Manure.
They kicked off when he came there and his legacy lingered on well after he left.
So yes…..Zlatan in our team would give us an edge which neither Cavani, Higuain or Benzema would give us.
Ozil would love it. Sanchez would love it. And so would all the club…..and FANS
We have eight more games till the end of season. I hope Iwobi begins them all. No tinkering from AW. Play the same team as yesterday. Even if everyone is fit. The more Danny, Gabriel, Iwobi and Elneny play the better for the team. Cazorla, Aaron and Jack will have their chance
The reluctance of Ozil and Sanchis to re-sign may have everything to do with the Manager’s future plans. It could be that they will not sign if Wenger hands in his gravy ticket. On the other hand, they may be waiting to see if Wenger decides to stay and, then they will decide not to re-sign! Or vice versa all of that!
Who knows?
One thing does seem fairly certain, our two star men are not happy with the performance of many of their team mates their facial expressions and body language tell the whole story of their dissatisfaction. They just may feel they would be better off at another more ambitious and able club! Like Leicester for example!!
Afternoon all. It’s been a lovely gardening in shirtsleeves day here.
Afternoon all..
Ibra?? No thanks, not in a million years…
Utd 1-0 up.
Totts 2-0 up
Liverpool were 2-0 up but lost 3-2 to Saints…
And again I’m glad Leicester won yesterday… 😉
🙂 Kel.
They’re fighting the fight for us rico..lol would like a draw in this city v utd game.
Keep the wolves from the door 😉
win the League? how? Leicester and Totts had lost just 3-4 games and we lost 7!
Moreover, they don’t dropped points with Swansea, etc…
Ha Kel, that result keeps City away from us for a while… Lol
How have we not smashed this shoddy pl…?
Opportunity missed rico that’s for sure..
Catch up later guys…
Big one Kel..
Night all..
tsgh, if your out there buddy just give us a sign, makes no difference if your stuck in a box in SW6 I’m sure there’s a perfect explanation, rest assured we’ve got your back on here matey.
Ts. We kinda miss your inputs.
Coach, yeah, I do think that Toral has a 1st team future at Arsenal…
I think that he is being earmarked to take one of the midfield spots vacated by Flamini, Arteta and/or Rosicky…
There could well be more than just the spots vacated by Rosicky, Flamini and Arteta, as it goes Coach…
It wouldn’t surprise me if Debuchy, Ospinia, Walcott and Giroud all departed as well…
So we could be looking at as many as 7, 1st team squad players needing to be replaced this summer…
Wenger ain’t gonna buy 7, so there’s scope for youngsters to be promoted, as Iwobi has been since the turn of the year…
So Toral, Maitland-Niles, Macey, Hayden possibly?
Morning….
Morning Rico.
Morning Adam…
Have you seen the ‘I will leave if Wenger stays’ story on Mesut Ozil?
Morning gang..
I just read that Rico, media bollocks?
Did you see on BT Sport the Arsenal fan throw a punch at the wenger out banner holder?
Morning Lee.
Thought the same, as if Ozil would say that to any journo, regardless of whether he thinks it or not…
I didn’t re the banner, shows Wenger still has support I guess…
New post is up now.
Morning all.
No Rico I haven’t but it doesn’t surprise me. It supports the fiction that I wrote earlier about Ozil and Sanchis delaying re-signing.
I know Ozil rarely looks happy but recently, after yet another defeat, his body language seems to have suggested his total disgust and despair at what he has just been party to. To be fair to him he is way in front, in terms of ability and football brain than virtually all of his team mates. I’m not surprised he sucked off! For him the fault obviously lies with the Manager. A manager who promised him success and adulation as well as world class players to support him. Wenger has not fulfilled his promises has come up well short on both counts. I guess if the manager doesn’t go then Ozil will have to find a new guru at a better club, Spuds? Perhaps!