Morning all.
Winter truly paid us a visit yesterday, all that was missing was snow flakes. At 11am my car temperature gauge fired out a warning of ice. Still, I love it. The bright sunny winter days are much better than dark, grey and rainy ones. Like today!
Domestic football returns this weekend, Sunday for us with a 1:30pm kickoff down by the seaside. Bournemouth is a lovely place, or it was when I last visited but that was a few years ago now. It’s been a couple of years since Arsenal won down their too. Well, nearly. In January 2017, we looked down and out of the game, losing 3-0 with around twenty minutes to go. Alexis grabbed one back, Perez with a stunning second and then deep into added time and after the home team had a player sent off, Giroud nicked the equaliser. I think that was the day Alexis didn’t like the way some of the players celebrated the draw. Eddie Howe wasn’t happy.
The more recent fixture which took place in January this year, there was no win and no late draw either. We’d taken the lead thanks to a 52nd minute goal from Hector Bellerin but it was us crumbled back then. Four minutes is all took Bournemouth to score two goals which certainly helped in their battle against relegation.
No such fears for Eddie Howes team this season though as they sit sixth in the table, just four points behind us. After a great start to this campaign, they seem to have stumbled a bit. Certainly in the last two matches against Utd and Newcastle as they lost both. In all fairness to them though, they could and probably should have thrashed Utd. Even the undertall horrid one said they could easily have lost 6-2.
We too have hit a bit of a wall. Three draws in matches that we really should be winning but should, could and would’s don’t win football matches. It’s frustrating though to look at the league table to see that had we won them, we’d be just a couple of points behind the leaders Man City.
But we’re not and that’s that. The players have now had a break from club football, some of our ‘big’ players have remained in north London whilst others like Torrieira, Sokratis, Guendouzi and Xhaka etc have been performing for their respective countries. None have returned with injuries so that’s a big plus for us. Seeing Koscielny in the official training photos is a big plus too because so often in the past we’ve seen players return to training after a serious injury only to learn they’ve suffered a setback. Still no sight of Nacho Monreal though. All of our injured are due back this month so fingers crossed for them and of course the team. .We should find out later today if any are available for this weekend.
Finally, there’s a good interview with Unai Emery on Arsenal.com where he outlines what his goals are. I liked this bit in particular.
“We want it to convey energy, desire about winning and also a sense of solidity. And within that we want to see individual footballers growing and developing. We want to create that kind of atmosphere so it’s about both how we finish in the table and also in terms of creating a team both individually and collectively that has motivation.
“We want Arsenal to convey energy and hunger.”
Sounds good to me…
Sky Sports also quote the Spaniard as saying:
“Before Wenger arrived, Arsenal celebrated the 1-0 (win) and was based on defensive solidity. Then with Arsene, joy was turned into attack, with players of good standing, and the perfect combination was ‘The Invincibles’.”
“But over time, only technical quality and offensive freedom were taken care of, and the team lost the defensive structure. “What I want is to unite both essences and be more competitive. The Arsenal was in decline. We had to stop it and start climbing.
And climbing we are I think. Slowly maybe, but the signs are certainly there…
Afternoon Gooners.
Afternoon Rico.
Everything is low key coming out of the Arsenal camp atm, no empty pronouncements from the players is a definite improvement, do your talking on the pitch seems the way to go.
Big game at Bournemouth this weekend, we really need the 3 points to kick off our program leading up to the New Year. I wonder if Emery will include Laurent Koscielny in the squad to travel to Vorskla next Thursday?
Afternoon Kev. Yep, big game and we need a win to stop the jitters which might be creeping in. Hopefully Sokratis will be back.
Good chance for Kos. The others are now now expected to return in December…
Good afternoon to you both, I’m sure there will be more on here later. I don’t want to see Koscielny rushed back, for two reasons, I think Sokratis and Holding are our best centre back pairing at the moment and it would be pointless to disrupt a burgeoning partnership by bringing back a player who has been in decline for some time now.
I’m not sure that Kos should travel to Vorskla either as we need a win to tie down top spot in the group. The League and FA cups will be a good and sufficient test for our returning captain.
Our priorities must be the Top Four Trophy and the Europa League.
Just had a nice lunch in the Earle Arms at Heydon, A bowl of very tasty chicken fried rice and a pint of Raven Porter by the log fire.
Afternoon Cicero, later in the season maybe…. 😜
I don’t think Emery will rush Koscielny back. He’s been training for a good few weeks now and ready to train fully according to the injury update on afc.com.
Afternoon Rico and all. After our recent run of draws I reckon that Sunday’s game is a must-win.
Afternoon Adam. Agree, Bournemouth will be a really tough side to beat I reckon.
Nicklas Bendtner has been gaoled for fifty days for assaulting a taxi driver. Will he never learn?
Pochettino has said that Chelsea, not Arsenal, are their big rivals, really?
I would have thought that Tottenham’s big London rivals would more be Crystal Palace and/or West Ham, as both those clubs, like Tottenham, haven’t won a trophy since before the Boer war…
Sarri actually said that if he’d gone 4 years at Chelsea without winning anything he’d have well got the sack before now.
Maybe the Tottenham Gypsies should focus a bit more on getting the Toilet Bowl finished before making stupid comments.
I did hear that the stadium sponsor of White Hart Lane, being lined up, was going to be Armitage Shanks…
That’s really funny Kev…. 🤣
New post up now.