Same old Arsene, sign them but don’t play them…..

Jeez, a one nil loss with 10 men.

It was bad, but not the catastrophic performance plenty suggest, though the result itself borders on that description.

No contact at all on Costa. None and I think that anyone suggesting a player can “avoid” a “suspected” foul is kidding themselves. It’s cheating, and nothing else. It’s a cop out, and the fact Costa took one and possibly two steps after they came close to contact before falling proves his intention to dive was clear.

I mean, would people saying we should accept it as part of the game also suggest drugs are part of athletics or cycling? No, of course not.

I don’t blame Clattenberg though as I maintain he is the most honest official in the PL and at first glance, I was comfortable with the red card. We must remember that referees do not have the benefit of 4 different camera angles at slow motion to make a call. This was the perfect triple pike with a twist, time beautifully with an entry nearly guaranteeing a sending off and free kick but I don’t blame the referee.

This time, Arsene Wenger messed up. Rico and I have been on about Merts for weeks now…..good game, bad game, good game, bad game etc etc. His lack of pace also means he should simply never play against certain sides yet when fit, he starts, regardless of who the opponent is. What has Gabriel done wrong? Why buy him? The guy has huge talent and he has fire in the belly. He also has one major asset that stands him above Merts for a game like this and that’s speed. I’m stunned this guy isn’t selected ahead of the BFG regularly, let alone in games such as Chelsea.

Next point…..

Why buy Elneny if he isn’t ready to start? We needed someone brought in for now, not for in 12 months time when he’s settled in. Coquelin is out and we needed someone to do his job now. I don’t get it at all. I’ve little doubt Elneny will end up being a tidy player but we needed strengthening right here and right now, so if he’s not that guy, why has Arsene Wenger bothered spending the cash now.

People have singled out players for yesterday’s result/performance but this one sits squarely on the shoulders of Wenger imo.

Now for the positive.

From 1-0 down, we were terrific. We had some great chances and certainly better ones than the opposition. Each time we thought the gods were smiling down on us, we quickly realised they were actually laughing as Flamini missed some attempts that Giroud would almost certainly have buried.

Alexis was rusty, but still dangerous at times, so good signs from him. The defence was simply better after BFG went off.

Theo – disappointing, but it was a tough situation for a striker.

Now for the fans favourite – Aaron Ramsey. All the critics are out in force again as he remains a favourite when things go bad, and as Giroud wasn’t out there for long, we can’t blame him. Seriously, the simple fact is his workload, especially when down to 10 men, is absolutely huge, but that’s easy to overlook, I guess.

Also, the amount of times he was cornered buy 3-4 Chelsea players with no help to be found, but that’s no excuse, right?

How many of those critics blasted Ozil on the numerous occasions, and I do mean numerous, he turned the ball over, and never tried a yard to chase back? He’s now off the critics hit list though and so seemingly immune to criticism.

It was a great effort, if not performance by all, imo but at the end of the day, we have accrued 2 points from the last 9.
If we’d beaten the Scousers, which we most definitely should have, it’d be 4 from 9 and we’d be equal leaders.

As it stands, we are 3rd and we need a win urgently. We also need Coquelin back ASAP and if he’s not, give Elneny a chance as do I dare suggest he’d be as effective as Flamini. Get Gabriel on too, as I guarantee he’d be more effective than BFG.

Let’s not write this season off just yet as there’s a long way to go, and we do have the fire-power.

What we need is Wenger to stop showing faith in players who’ve failed in the past, and trust in those players he has brought in.

That’s my rant over..

By Scott..

168 thoughts on “Same old Arsene, sign them but don’t play them…..

  1. Lewis says:

    I understand Wengers reticence to start Elneny in this game but you are spot on, we needed someone in midfield that could slot in immediately and if he’s not that guy why bloody buy him?!

    Gabriel should start every game ahead of Merts, that is a no brainer. Lets be honest he couldn’t be worse……Could he?

  2. rico says:

    Morning again all.

    Thanks for the post Scott – although I don’t agree with all of it… 😉

    Apart from the Gabriel bit… lol

    I thought we were awful. No midfield, no real treat on their goal, a penalty not given against us and Merts was beaten by a conman and fell for it. But who was marking Fabregas before then?

    Flamini is clearly another player who like Walcott, wants to play centre forward. Does AW not instil any discipline in these guys….

    Really naive performance by so so many experienced footballers…

  3. scottfromoz says:

    Rico, down to ten men……I reckon you’re being harsh lol.
    I reckon most won’t agree with any of it Hahahaha.
    Cheers Lewis.
    I was truly hoping Arsene had saved Gabriel for the return bout with Costa.
    I can’t blame Merts and think he can do a great job but only against certain sides.

  4. malaga gooner says:

    morning rico and the house

    how long is this latest rebuilding of the squad going to go on, why dont we buy players that can go straight into the 1st eleven.

    this should be Wengers last season, he has failed us again.

  5. rico says:

    Before the sending off though Scott, no-one was on Fabregas – he was being allowed all the freedom in the world. Had someone taken responsibility to protect the back four, he’d had never got the ball through to the cheating Costa and one has to assume that job is down to Flamini but perhaps it was all a bit too much to get at his old mate.

    But, as you quite rightly say, and especially after Alexis came on, we had the better possession and perhaps chances but not one person could buy the ball past their keeper who was all over the place imo..

  6. SDLondon says:

    Hi all,

    So what, we lost to Chelsea so what? I don’t care really because we don’t need to beat them to win the league anymore, yes our fortune has changed and how are the mighty fallen. Chelsea is falling and I am enjoying it, they could only win with us having one man down.

    I suspected they came for a draw but as always they were up to their tricks and we fell for it and I only hope we learn and stop allowing Chelsea to get under our skin, they were scared of us and even after scoring they were not brave enough to add to the tally.

    Terry made me laugh when he was talking about winning the champion’s league yesterday, he was funny.

    As per Arsenal, it is good we lost, then we can go on 6 games unbeaten run from here just like last year, then people will know we are title contenders.

    Yes Arsene made a bad substitution, but this morning I heard he removed Giroud because he might be injured, I choose to believe Mr Wenger because he has been getting most things right this season.

    So go on boys , start beating crap of teams now, Sanchez is back, Ozil is back, Coquelin will be back soon, heck! Rosicky even might be back soon and we got Eleny, the PL don’t know what’s coming.

  7. tsgh says:

    Very good post…

    A good rant too.. lol

    I agree with all folks that Per is not suitable to face most of the teams we face…;

    On the other hand I am not sold Gabriel is better than Per as a defender; I think what may influence AW’s selection especially without someone like Sc19 in the team who is that we will have nobody comfortable on the ball to start attacks from the back…

    That is may also play a role in AW’s hesitation in starting Elneny…

  8. Lewis says:

    It was set up for Gabriel to get back at the cheating fuck wit wasn’t it.

    Instead he had to come into the game late and got caught a little cold. Was solid after that though.

  9. rico says:

    Ts, the way the defence faffed around with the ball at the back at the start, I’m not sure playing the ball out of defence is a good idea… 😉

  10. allezkev says:

    Marshall, yes I saw that as well…

    Flamini running one way, waving at the defenders and pointing, I’d like to know what at?

    Then running the opposite way, pointing, getting in the way and adding to the confusion…

    Again, Koscielny as the senior defender should have organised things and told him to get the fcuk out of the way.
    But he didn’t…

    Merts is slow, but he organises the back four, nobody else does it.

    Koz is too quiet, Gabriel cannot communicate yet, it’s gonna be interesting.

  11. tsgh says:

    Spot on Kev… ”Merts is slow, but he organises the back four, nobody else does it.

    Koz is too quiet, Gabriel cannot communicate yet, it’s gonna be interesting.”

    You have a point Rico; but as you know route 1 football is not our forte even with OG12 at the spearhead..

  12. tsgh says:

    Marshall, Flamini has been doing that since he arrived at the club…
    Unfortunately, his antics have gone from him rolling up his sleeves and clapping to flapping his hands like a traffic warden in Mumbai…

  13. potter says:

    Our set up was flawed from the start . Playing only one up top played into their hands from the start and as soon as Giroud went off Terry and Zouma got the deckchairs out ,lit the cigars and ordered their Mojitos.Mikel was doing their job all they had to do was wander around behind him and pick up the loose bits.Did we try to exploit the wide open spaces on the wings ? Hell no , Theo went inside and stood in front of them couldn’t win a high ball and miscontrolled everything that came to feet. Ozil turned in circles holding the ball hoping for someone to give him some movement but it never came, he must have been giddy by the end of the match. One thing that I will agree with was the effort put in certain players that never stopped running , chasing shadows as Willian and mostly Cesc ( why did we not buy him back ? even if only to stop them getting him ) ran the midfield , I can’t fault Flamini he never stopped but in this company his limitations were there for all to see . Monreal the Lee Dixon of the modern era put in his usual shift and Ramsey was on his knees at the end. They obviously had orders to sit back and try to score on the break , well they got 50% right and they sat back but forgot the last bit until Alexis came on and despite his better efforts he looked like a man that hadn’t touched a ball for a few months but at least he injected some pace and a few half chances got spurned. In hind sight perhaps Giroud should have stayed on, I said at the time that we should have gone 3 at the back as they only had Costa up front, bought on Elneny , taken Theo or Campbell off and tried at least to upset their control of the midfield but no ! Arsene only knows one way and that works 70% of the time . Doing something radical doesn’t equate , making Terry think and have to react is not in his mandate . Once again we played Chelsea exactly how they like us to play , our midfield was wide open and once they had exploited their space and got Mertesacker off , the game was up. We now have more red cards against them than shots on target this season . Champions ??? if we do mange to be , it will be by default and hopefully will not mask the problems that haunt us year after year.

  14. rico says:

    I can’t even see Marshall… 😉

    I thought we were too Scott…

    SD, good. Chelsea’s failure doesn’t make me feel any better about our performances though…

  15. allezkev says:

    Tbh, I thought that Chelsea looked calmer and controlled the early part of the game, long before we went down the 10 players.

    By comparison, we were all over the place, lacking discipline, giving away possession and looking edgy and nervous…

    Chelsea definately have the upper hand psychologically and maybe that comes from Wenger himself?

  16. Steven says:

    I couldn’t of wrote this better myself. I really did enjoy our efforts when we went down to 10 men, well especially in the second half… I thought we could of done more to stop the cross for the goal and if we went 0-0 at half time brought Alexis on took Flamini off I think we would of won the game because Chelsea would of had to come at us.. disappointing result but hopefully the fringe players like Gabriel & Elenry (whatever is name is) will showcase their talents… as much as I like Flamini as are arsenal guy he shouldn’t be anywhere near this arsenal team along with Mikel… John Stones with the Kos would be some partnership but we won’t go to match the valuation of players like that..6 days till the window closes.. not feeling positive about it

  17. allezkev says:

    Scott, we had a better 2nd half, that’s for sure…
    Was that down solely to Gabriel, or did we just ‘go for it’ in classical Wengertactic?

    I did hear someone say, after the game, that last season’s Chelsea would have won 3-0… I think it was Henry.
    You know this ain’t no great Chelsea team Digger.
    But this is Arsenal mate, remember that awful 6-0.
    No wonder we got pissed afterwards…

    We could also have been 2-0 down after Kozzer barged over Fabregas.

    We were all over the place…

  18. allezkev says:

    I’ll tell ya what Digger, going down to 20 men was a regular occurrence and it never bothered us in the past, I remember outplaying the Scum with 9 men, losing 2-1 when we should of won and the Scummers celebrating beating 9 men as if they’d won the league.

  19. Dwayne says:

    Arsene is stuck in his ways the Campbell sub was very poor he has been one of our best players since he was given the chance. Walcott shows no growth but Wenger will continue to play him and Campbell’s expense and I agree why buy Elneny if he isn’t to jump right into the team

  20. Adam says:

    Have to agree Kev. We did run about a lot in the second half but the team was shambolic throughout the game. A horrible performance all round. Spirited, but without purpose and focus.
    Quite why we have to constantly drive forward in such numbers eludes me. We did the same away against Southampton when all we really needed was to keep calm, maintain a decent shape and draw them onto us so their supply lines were extended. But no. Here we go again. Fly forward, lose the ball and then scramble to recover when the inevitable long ball catches us out. That Southampton match was pathetic and we’ve been pretty crap since. When was the last time we played really well? I cannot remember. We seem to lurch from one crisis to another with the players and Wenger telling anyone who will listen that this time the team has learnt their lesson. But the harsh reality is that they never, ever do. Something surely has to give before it’s too late.

  21. Marshall says:

    Am here Rico, abit calmer though. Nice read Scott. Problem is AW puts too much faith till the players feel untouchable in the squad. Someone like Ramsey knows he’ll be in next week’s line up no matter how badly he cocks up. Gabriel and Joel have to sweat blood in training to get a starting position.

    Gabriel can grow to be a better defender that Per. He can actually jump to get a header and not be bullied by a beast of a foward like Lukaku.

    Flam shouldn’t be let in our box while defending. Always shouting instructions and he’s standing on the wrong position…

    “Unfortunately, his antics have gone from him rolling up his sleeves and clapping to flapping his hands like a traffic warden in Mumbai…” lol that was funny ts

  22. rico says:

    Me too Marshall – just…

    There was one clearance Gabriel made which was just ‘wow’… straight through a line of players and headed clear… not many do that for us all too often…

  23. tsgh says:

    Scott your 11:39am says it all…

    Even our subs have become luxuries that need to be carried by the replayers already on the pitch…

  24. Michael Wallace says:

    Good article totally agree with the why buy them if they ain’t going to play statement especially in regards to elenhy I honestly don’t think flamini is up to the job in the middle him and Ramsey don’t work as neither of them have enough discipline to decide on which 1 sits or goes. Numerous times flamini is in the box his role to to protect the back 4 not score this happens far too often I blame wenger because the issues are clear to see but nothing is done about it.

  25. franc ole says:

    Wenger not different from LVG, who thinks that that guy with a bush head can play Center Forward (Fe”’n), how on earth can you think that Fla mini can play Center Forward.

  26. Marshall says:

    I think we (the club management) have the mentality of a mid table club. If for example a player like Neymar was to be sold, you’d never hear Arsenal being named as a possible destination, nor would we place a bid. Don’t get me wrong not that I want us to splash like LvG but these cheap bargains sometimes costs us more in the long run.

    We are always having players who are luxury in the team. By checking the line up you can see we were already handicapped even before we were reduced to 10 men. The passengers should be dropped, but they’re AW’s favorites. If AW was to walk in August doubt if they’d ever wear the club colors again.

  27. allezkev says:

    Adam 11.42

    Hi mate, couldn’t agree more, and it brings me back to what Vieira said last week…
    Maybe Wenger gives the players too much freedom to think for themselves, but are they tactically proficient enough to think on their feet?
    If yesterday was anything to go by, then obviously not…

    Coquelin brings stability and discipline to the midfield.
    Cech and Mertesaker bring organisation to the defence.
    Alexis brings drive and dynamism to the attack.

    Not sure if the others think deeply enough about the game to bring anything?

    They seem to spend too much time on Twitter, Snapchat and taking selfies

  28. Joaquim Moreira says:

    On the sent off: we lost the ball in attack and a few of our players completey stopped defender and claimed for something . Na highroad was completely open nad our defenders were not in the right positions.
    Wasn’t fault? I this ut was so the referee decision was correct. Mets is slowly and besides, look first to the linesman nas lost his position…
    New players: they will play next game versus Burley. Gabiel ,elhany, maybe Rosicky Don’t forget we have Southampton next tuesday.
    Next fixtures: we have, in theory, hardest fixtures tem the others. My concers is about Leicester and Totts. they had lost minus games then Arsenal, m.city … and that will be important at the end..

  29. rico says:

    Marshall, I think that comes from the top, Kroenke. He’s happy with his lot, or he certainly appears to be..

    No really ambitious owner would settle for top four each season….

  30. allezkev says:

    Yeah, I remember that game at Anfield, Rico. Christmas 2001.
    Can Bronckhorst got seem to off, but that team dug in, no Joe Allen type flunky late goal.
    And that team won the Double vs a top notch ManUre team…

    This season the league could fall into our laps, if our dopey, undisciplined players can only just get their airheads around defending as a team and not all charging into the attack like the Light Brigade…

    Strewth… ?

  31. allezkev says:

    I wish I could say the same Rico, I can barely remember what I did last week, but I know Arsenal won the league in 1931, with 66 points scoring 127 goals…

    I gotta sort myself out… ?

  32. Micko says:

    Too right Scott, too many doomers on here, lets not write the season off just yet, we can do that next month eh……….Leicester, Barcelona and Man United to look forward to.

    Same ole faces knocking Flamini as well, you don’t get the captains armband for the last 15 minutes if your crap, take heed tsgh !

  33. rico says:

    Hi Micko, we’ll be all right against Leicester, they’ll come at us so we can hit them on the break. Utd are woeful but I worry just a tad against that Spanish team…

  34. allezkev says:

    Mick, I always said, and Adam will back me on this, that February is month where we’ll know where Arsenal and Arsene stand…

  35. dutta12302 says:

    It’s not Flamini, or Per Mertasecker, how many more times we are going to see Wenger making this kind of decisions, Now the Arsenal board is thinking to renew his term for 2 more years.
    It’s time for a change. Pep Gardiola can be persuaded to be our new manager.
    Rana

  36. Adam says:

    Micko. We should be several points ahead by now. Some of our results have been very Wengerish. Yesterday was a nightmare really.

  37. Micko says:

    Adam, I wouldn’t have seen that coming from a mile off, I really thought we’d do em yesterday.

    How did you rate our new number 9 Ozil…..very Wengerish indeed.

  38. allezkev says:

    I’ve often said to Adam, he will back me on this ? , that Ozil would make a fantastic centre-forward, very much in the Duncan Ferguson mould….

  39. Lee says:

    With Coquelin on the pitch this season we concede a goal every 178 minutes and without him it’s every 69 minutes…… what fucking moron decided not to buy a back up or completion for him???

  40. rico says:

    That’s shocking – just can’t believe AW didn’t sign someone else in that position back in the summer.. Mind you, he’s been tracking Elneny a year.. That must be the longest ever for a deal to be done…

  41. Lee says:

    My interest in a Wenger run Arsenal is waning…..the repetitive mistakes that everyone can see but Wenger can’t are draining me of all enthusiasm.
    I really thought this was the season we’d push on but another capitulation looks on the cards….yet again!
    The walking wounded returning will be like new signings…..yawn fucking yawn!!!

  42. Lee says:

    I don’t know if I should cry or laugh Brudder? How has come to this? I see Wenger’s whinging face on tv and would love to slap him, I used to really respect him but now…..

  43. rico says:

    Take the non signing of players last summer out of the equation, should Flamini and Ramsey not know how to sit back and be disciplined?

    Should both of them not know what their job is?

    If either or both had sat back a bit and got up Fabregas’s nose, they’d never have scored…

    Does Wenger really need to spell it out to them at their age?

  44. Lee says:

    Gung Ho midfielders just what’s required when we’ve got a 2 metre 3 toed German sloth at the heart of our defence…..fucking marvellous isn’t it?

  45. rico says:

    And as much as I respect the views about Merts being an organiser in defence, I don’t see it.. If it was down to me, we’d get John Stones and let Merts go in the summer….

    Kos blows hot and cold too….

  46. rico says:

    Another thing that irks me is how often our players get tackled, think it’s a foul and instead of getting up and doing all they can to get the ball back, they just sit there, hands in the air whilst pleading for a free kick..

    Walcott does is so often and as Scott said today, Ozil was doing it yesterday and I love both players. But both need to man up!

  47. Adam says:

    In the sense that Wenger just likes his players to pour forward as they don’t seem to have received instructions to sit, stay organised and very tight. Ex players have often said that he never prepares the players for the specific challenges any single team might offer. Hiddink, Bilic and Koeman, to name but 3, had Arsene on toast this year as they set up to tactically nullify the gung-ho approach that we have always taken. Perhaps tomorrow’s top teams and their coaches will be far more adaptable tactically. After all, Pep devises specific set pieces for individual teams. We have difficulty clearing the first defender.

  48. Lee says:

    Rico, it’s all to easy at Arsenal for these pampered players…..I mean we don’t win the PL just achieve a top four place and that’s deemed fine!
    The knock effect is massive for the team.

    No real leaders on the field, no one to answer Wenger back or question his decisions……

    It really needs overhauling big time, next season our competition surely won’t be as dire as they are now! Massive missed opportunity IMO!

  49. rico says:

    Yet Arsene Wenger said publicly that Ramsey needs to forget trying score and concentrate on his defensive duties didn’t he? And not that long ago…

  50. rico says:

    Lee, I totally agree, but who is it thats happy with top four each year?

    If Kroenke wanted more, he’d have sacked Wenger a while ago.

    Imo, it’s all too easy for Kroenke, all too easy for Wenger and certainly all too easy for the players. Again, and as Scott said in his post and so many have said before, Wenger picks the same old usual players regardless of how they have played the week before or the week before that too…

    Wenger cheeses me off so much but until he has to answer to someone, I’ve just got used to expecting the expected…

  51. Micko says:

    Kev, your a card !

    rico, didn’t Chelsea supposedly go in with a 40 million bid for Stones in the summer, ain’t gonna happen.

    On Ozil, he spent most of the afternoon getting bullied off the ball by Oscar, both similar builds, he probably should have stayed in bed, was definitely off colour.

  52. Micko says:

    And what with John Terry out of contract this summer, still waiting on a new contract, Stones will probably make the move to West London.

  53. rico says:

    Of course it won’t happen Micko, Arsenal are skint and the owner is rubbing his hands together whilst working hard and trying to keep the club afloat….

    If only Arsenal could get an ambitious multi millionaire on board eh…

  54. Micko says:

    I’m with you Scott, don’t wanna mention any names but Lee is all mouth and no trousers !

    Nite Gooners, keep it real.

  55. potter says:

    As an aside I was fed up with the booing of Fabregas yesterday , it was Wenger that turned him down perhaps thats where the boos should have been aimed. He ran the show yesterday and would have been terrific with Ozil and Sanchez in my opinion.

  56. bradster says:

    Morning all,

    For me the best Box to box mid I’ve seen in the prem this season is Emre Can. he reminds me of Viera and would bolster our team in controlling the midfield.
    I guess there’s the difference between Fergie and Wenger, the players feared not doing what Fergie instructed, they know there’s no repecussion if they ignore Wenger.

  57. scottfromoz says:

    Lee, it wasn’t aimed at you.
    You are not known for your sarcasm bud lol
    Bradster, no question that Wenger trusts his players too much.
    Sometimes, they need a kick up their arse.
    I wonder when the last time they copped one was……

  58. bradster says:

    Anyone see the interviews with Klopp? What a likable and genuine guy. He’s a real fan of football first and manager second.
    i think him, Renieri and Bilic are the most interesting interviewed managers to watch.

  59. scottfromoz says:

    Bradster, ask Ginge….he reckons Klopp is a Wemger clone or disciple.
    One thing nobody could ever question is Wenger’s love of football.
    Funny….their teams defend in a similar fashion lol

  60. scottfromoz says:

    Potter, that’s a given, but he’s not been outstanding….the little bastard saved that for us lol.
    Then again, how good was he, really?
    With the time and space he had, I’d have created chances.

  61. scottfromoz says:

    Adam, so are mine hahahahahahahahaha.
    Hey, you know me.
    I say it as I see it.
    I’m Newley always wrong…ask Lee….but I don’t kiss arses when I comment.
    I’m not suggesting people do that here, but I say what I believe is true.
    Yesterday’s post was the most damning comments I’ve offered up on Wenger ever, and most accepted the post in its entirety.
    Let’s face it…,posts are almost a starting point for a topic.
    Not too often would everyone agree with everything someone offers up, if ever,
    To have someone pick one, soliterary point out was disappointing.
    Anyway…..have we signed anyone 🙂

  62. scottfromoz says:

    Bradster, I doubt Klopp would arrange things any better though.
    Seriously, watch Norwich bang in 4 and be unlucky not to score more…he loves the beautiful game.
    I can’t condemn him for that.
    This League will make him pay, though.

  63. allezkev says:

    Morning All…

    It’s a very clear day out here in London Town, apparently there’s a storm a brewing?

    When confronted with sarcasm, a very good friend of mine recommends a vape…

  64. scottfromoz says:

    I’m not brudder, but damn, Jack must be a chance of leaving, surely, Adam.
    He’s a Diaby.
    When he plays, he offers plenty, but how often does he play?
    What happens if we sell him and he suddenly stays healthy, though?
    Who’s to blame?
    I’d sell him though.
    Kev, that’s why I luv ya hahahahaha

  65. Lee says:

    Brudder who gives a fuck, he’ll come back and get injured again, it’s written in the stars!

    Walcott embodies all that’s wrong with Arsenal, over paid mediocrity bit like Wenger imo.

    These questions/decisions about our perma crocks should of been made a while ago….

    Welbeck was out with a bruised bone…..what a fucking joke!?!?

  66. Orfevrerie says:

    Fade To Black – Metallica

    Now I lost the will to live…………………………………………………………..

    So depressed right now. Someone get me beer, please.

  67. Lee says:

    One of the biggest games of the season and we have the German sloth plus Flamini in the side…..£200m in the bank and we’ll only sign super quality.

    We then sign a £5m unknown Egyptian….hmmmm!!

    Don’t get me wrong I hope he’s the nuts for us but…..

  68. scottfromoz says:

    Lee, there’s bruises and then severely bruised bones,…believe me.
    Greyhounds taught me that.
    Still, 2 months would be acceptable, but so many months seems a wee stretch lol.
    Our medical room are back…..

  69. Adam says:

    Brudder. I remember a couple of years ago when you and I were having lunch. I had risotto and you had an antelope’s flank. You asked me that day whether I would keep or sell Jack. You were unequivocal in your opinion. I am wondering if he has played since.

  70. Lee says:

    Brudder I think he’s a solid player when fit but he’s never fit for a long period of time so…….

    The whole squad needs to be looked at with a more ruthless approach not this reward mediocrity with bumper contracts….

  71. scottfromoz says:

    Playing for their country, they should never lose interest.
    They forget their privileged position.
    Funny, but some Arsenal boys are guilty of that.
    Morning Rico.

  72. potter says:

    As always as we drift toward the end of a season the question of the squad for next year comes to mind . We have to be pretty certain that Arteta , Flamini and Rosicky have run their couse, Debuchy will be off which leaves 4 places to be filled with existing youth players as there will be little money coming in for them and only wages saved.
    What do we need to change from the perennial bridesmaid to the bride herself ? Can we rely on our English contingent to stay on it’s feet for half a season ? Walcott , Wilshere and Welbeck , 3 players that would generate cash but are they replaceable without having to dig too deep into the coffers. Apart from Jon Toral none of our loanees are knocking down trees , Gnabry seems to have gone backwards and Zelalem playing in a pub league is lauded for his skill but criticised by the fans for not being strong enough physically which doesn’t bode well when you want a midfielder to play against the Stokes or even Chelseas of this world.
    We are faced with buying and not just one stellar player probably 2 or even 3 ,, something I can’t see Kroenke sanctioning.

  73. bradster says:

    Haha Rico, we will at least win this test match.
    Bring it on! I’ll be there to watch your lot lose. We beat India in their back yard in the T20 and one dayers.

  74. Lee says:

    Our English contingent? Yeah for that reason only, not because they are quality footballers. They are either injured or playing sporadically well…..

  75. potter says:

    Just a thought about Toral , like Cesc , Bellerin and Sanchez he is a product of La Masia. Gibbs , Wilshere, Walcott , the Ox , Welbeck, Chambers , Gnabry , all seem to be going backwards.

  76. scottfromoz says:

    Lee, UTD, Chelski, who knows how many overseas clubs.
    Potter, I wouldn’t say they’re going backwards, but they aren’t improving, either.
    Then again, I guess it’s the same thing.

  77. potter says:

    Monreal , Bellerin are Spanish ( as is Toral ) Giroud is French so it makes you wonder if it’s a culture thing . English players are a protected species and it’s not just at Arsenal , how many young English players do you see bursting through into the premier league , that really look quality.

  78. allezkev says:

    Well you lot might be erring on the the side of negativity, but I’m looking forward to seeing how a years worth of coaching at Ajax, under the watchful eye of Dennis Bergkamp, has improved Yaya Sanogo…

    He could save us a fortune next summer.

  79. allezkev says:

    How many English players do you see playing in Serie A, La Liga, the Bundesliga or even in Ligue Un..?

    Gareth Bale is Welsh and an exception.

    But I would guess less than half-a-dozen.

  80. scottfromoz says:

    Potter, I’ve offered this theory before…..English coaches at all levels are hell bent on winning games, and NOT producing good footballers down the track.
    Same with Australia….at a different level again, naturally.
    Youth coaches should focus on teaching players the correct technique, first and force worst, but how many do?
    Results are what counts in too many cases, IMO.

  81. scottfromoz says:

    Kev, I remember a while back responding to someone who put shit on Australian football.
    I asked why it is the best two British footballers in the world are both Welsh.
    The silence was deafening 🙂

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