Morning all.
Arsenal travel to one of most hostile stadiums for todays early evening kick off to face Red Star Belgrade. I didn’t know that almost almost half the country of Serbia who support a football team, support Red Star. Their stadium seats just over 55,000 fans and I doubt they’ll be too many Gooners amongst them.
Who plays for them? Well I don’t even know their names let alone spell them so I won’t even bother going there but the club itself is no stranger to playing in Europe although like us, they’ve hardly set either European competition alight.
At the moment we are sitting pretty at the top of our group having won both opening fixtures but tonight opponents are hot on our tails so one could say we need to win this game. However, we’ve got many injuries and barely a fit centre back available for selection. Many of the so called first team have been left out of the travelling squad, So it’s going to be a mix and match team on show later but to be honest, it’s pretty much been that anyway in Europe so far. Mind you, so far they’ve done ok.
Mathieu Debuchy is expected to start his first competitive fixture for a long time, Jack Wilshere will no doubt start too as will Walcott and Giroud. Alexis was on the plane apparently so it looks like he could be involved as might Ramsey if he travelled, especially as both missed the game at Watford. Francis Coquelin could also return from injury for this game as like Debuchy, he got through an under 23’s fixture a few days ago unscathed.
Petr Cech will be our keeper although I’m not sure why Wenger doesn’t play one of our youngsters but I guess with the expected hostility, it might be a bit daunting for a lesser experienced player in such a key position.
As for the rest of the team, it’s anyone’s guess really but if we are to go by who played in the first two fixtures we can expect to see a few younger players involved, certainly Nelson, Maitland-Niles and Willock. After all, it’s highly unlikely that Wenger will have watched much of Red Star and field a team which is set up to nullify theirs strengths and expose their weaknesses is it?
Regardless, I’m enjoying us being in Europa, not only because we get to see how good, or bad, our younger players are but we’re facing teams we haven’t played before or certainly for a long time. It’s new, and after twenty odd years of being thrashed by Bayern, Dortmund, Barcelona in the knockout stages of the Champions League, we can be quietly confident that none of them will drop into the so called lesser competition to repeat history. Good news too is that the English clubs are doing well in the Champions League so they should stay put and not drop into this one. The thought of coming up against City or the Totts was not a pleasant one.
Of course we’ll face some really tough opposition as we progress and tonight is one of those games I suspect but this group of ‘second string’ seem to at least be up for the challenge. Maybe that’s because a vast majority of them have something to prove, not only to themselves but to the manager.
Whether or not he takes much notice or not is a different matter but considering the way the ‘first string’ of players are performing in the league, perhaps he should.
Enjoy the game guys, don’t forget it’s an early kick off at 6pm. I’m looking forward to seeing another master display from Jack Wilshere.
Catch up in the comments….
Morning all.
Yes, the Europa League is letting the kids get a chance they normally wouldn’t.
We need to find a positive in it 🙂
And the fringe players.
True, Rico.
Let’s hope they’re motivated and step up.
Morning all.
Youngsters, fringe players, excellent place for them to show off their talents. Plus a few others who may be playing their way out of the club, like Debuchy. Isn’t his contract up in June? He will be able to escape, at last. What did/has Wenger kept him? Was it to punish him for having the temerity to complain to and about the old wrinkly one? On that theme, I notice Walcott has hardly had an outing since his criticism of Wenger at the tail end of last season.
It’s little wonder we aren’t going anywhere, when our manager seems to have vendettas against his own players and exacts a revenge policy that is hardly designed to enhance our performances or results. It’s what you do when you get old…..you hold grudges and just can’t get past them!
Dull, grey, damp and relatively mild here. Just like London Town!
I don’t think Debuchy is a bad player Wavy, we could get better but I don’t dislike the guy..
Me too neither Rico. At the time he was a good and reliable replacement for the money grubbing Sagna. Had Arnautovic not given him a sly but ‘deadly’ push he may still be our no1 rb. Bellerin would have been packed off to Burton on Trent or somewhere equally dull. Never to have a tilt at a first team place. He got lucky and Wenger got out of jail………again.
Debuchy, in the mean time has gone nowhere and achieved nothing, sadly. A loan to Lyon? Came and went and still he found himself drawing cash from the Arsenal coffers because he could no escape from the Arsenal stranglehold that his contract tied him to!
Actually I’m doing Sagna a bit of a disservice here. I think he too, like RvP could see the club and Wenger were going nowhere. When citeh came calling and he was a free agent as his contract had been allowed to run down, (how unusual) he took his opportunity to escape and did so. He won a few medals too, I think. So it wasn’t a bad move for him, wash it’s? Same with Clichy.
I mean, these two are just examples of how we can’t keep our players. Possibly because they just aren’t treated right!
And perhaps because Wenger makes all sorts of promises and assertions that he is forging a new winning formula when in reality he’s no nearer achieving anything any more than he was in 2006! 3 fortunate FA cup wins excepting! Lucky, look at the team’s played in the finals, maybe Chelsea were a bit of an achievement in a one off game. But, they only just beat Sutton and then Lincoln!
Wenger. Out
Morning All, good post Rico
What’s happened to David Ospina, is he injured?
Good luck to Mathieu Debuchy, wouldn’t it be just typical for him to get a run of games at centre-back, really impress and then walk away on a free in the summer…
Is Theo out of contract in 18 months time, he seems quite content to see out his deal and will walk away on a free, just as most of our players seem to do under this regime?
I’ve avoided watching the Champions League myself, why would I want to make myself anymore miserable than I presently feel about football in general and Arsenal in particular?
Seeing the free flowing football dished up by Man City last weekend was enough to enjoy and suffer in equal measures when compare to the Luddite offerings of Wenger and his assembled group of bottlers….
allezkev, Wenger typically refused to comment on the bottlers allegations made again against his players after the late Watford capitulation.We don’t pay attention to what others think says Wenger we just concentrate on what we do. Well some might say that this approach by Wenger of ignoring criticism is one of the reasons why the same problems keep on occurring . If you don’t learn anything from having made mistakes then you are doomed to repeat them. Wenger also says that Debuchy is playing tonight adding that the problem with him is that every time that he makes a come back he gets injured again ! This sounds familiar . You could add a few others to that including Jack. He has been getting a bit worked up over the bottlers comments so a good chance tonight for him to lay down a marker to back up his talk. As for Wenger yet again it appears that he doesn’t really have any idea of what he is doing with all sort of ambiguous comments coming from him .Without those Champions League games to cover up for his failures he really does look like le emperor with no clothes.
Here, here, Kev.
CL games watched including highlights 0.
MOTD highlights 3
Half the last Ropey cup game, second half. Forgot it was on.
Arsenal in general and Wenger in particular are really damaging my so far, lifelong interest in football.
What’s the point of watching a crab at work?
Jeff the current Arsenal squad is an extension of Wenger…bottlers,under achievers, over paid, losers etc the list is endless!
Afternoon Rico and all..
I am actually relieved that Debuchy or the under 23 right back kid could play ..because at the moment they couldn’t do worse than Bellerain. .
Here is hoping anyway!
That sums it all up Lee .The fear in their eyes comes from Wenger’s lack of any way of motivating them .His half time team talks only make things worse !
I just realised that Debuchy would be playing in a makeshift back 3 .with Nelson and AMN as wingbacks. .
Great! Not..
Afternoon and thanks Rico.
The length of this walk to the pitch could see some regular sickbay customers knackered before kick off !………….Theo will definately be sweating by the time he gets there !
🙂
Afternoon Kev, Lc, Kk and all..
Thanks Kev..
Any team news in?
Evening Rico and the House,
Tonights team is Cech, DebuchyElneny Holding,Nelson Coq NilesWillock, Wilshere Wallcott Giroud
Subs are
Macey, Dasilver, Nkteiah, Akpom, Mcguane Tutu.
, and Ben Sheaf
Evening Rick, thanks for the team.. that’s a young bunch..
Rico 8 of them are from Hale End.
So, deliberate hand ball is not a booking?
How good does that sound Rick?
Theo two good chances . Rusty.
Yep.
We are so disgraceful!
Not sure it’s disgraceful Jm, just a tad boring….
Omg! What a goal from ollíe….
Great result.
Winning in Europe is all about winning, getting the job done, I don’t care about entertainment in Europe, it really doesn’t matter, you pull as many strokes as you can, con the referee if you have to, because that’s what everyone else does.
Well said Kev. To be fair it was men against kids and the latter won. Well done I say…
Nighty all..
Jack should be first pick in our midfield for Everton. But we’ll no doubt see the dynamic duo of average instead.
Spot on Kev
I don’t care what anyone say’s
Tonight I have watched Jack almost back to his best and 5 of our u23 side playing for the first team
Very warm feeling to see Mcguane and Ben Sheaf make thier debuts,
Only downside Niles and Nelson are not w/backs.
Well said Kev, and Rick.
The result was decent, and the opportunity for kids and fringe players to strut their stuff means the whole excercise was a good one.
Arsenal have had 6 U23 players make their first-team debuts this season:
Reiss Nelson, Joseph Willock, Eddie Nketiah, Josh Dasilva, Marcus McGuane and Ben Sheaf.
At last our Academy is earning its keep, with a few more set to make the breakthrough possibly in the League Cup?
Rico, Scott, Rick, I’m really enjoying the European games, the mix of experienced players and youth players are refreshing, I’m quite looking forward to the Norwich game next week, but frankly the thought of seeing overpaid tosses like Ozil at Everton this Sunday leaves me totally unmoved.
The sooner he fcuks off to ManUre the better, if Jack could stay fit I’d have him in my team over Ozil every time.
Debuchy did ok, from what I saw and it was pleasing to see Holding getting in another good 90 minutes.
Elneny at the back?
The jury is out on that one for me, but a clean sheet is a clean sheet….
Morning Rico. Not a game that will live long in the memory. But a great, improvised goal and a bit of a mix where individual performances are concerned.
Wet here.
Morning Adam and all.
The goal was pretty special wasn’t it. Ollies only contribute to the game wasn’t it? ?
Just about I think. Apart from conceding fouls for making a back for his opponent and arguing with the ref. All done at glacial pace of course. Still, Ozil has apparently decided to move to Man Utd at the end of the season. How nice for him. 🙂
Morning all.
If nothing else, the Europa League is showing us we do have life after Ozil and Sanchez if our coaching staff look after these kids.
There’s some serious talent amongst th we lads, and if they’re nurtured well, we may finally see a group of ARSENAL players who actually love the club.
That’d be refreshing, and the fans would get back to supporting them, IMO.
A good goal from Olly but difficult to draw too many conclusions over all when taking account of the poor oppo .Red Srar are not Real Madrid or even Athletico come to that and they look likely to be in the Ropey in the KO stages with Costa up front. So Wenger wil need to wake up and smell the coffee regarding team selections when that sort of opponent appears on the scene. On another note I thought the sending off helped us we did not look like scoring until Red Star went down to 10 men the red card looked rather harsh and le Coq did a bit of play acting which after all the fuss that Wenger made after the dodgy penalty at Watford it was a bit ironic that he got the refs call this time .Roundabouts and swings really. Wenger needs to shut up moaning when decisions go against him and get over it. Anyway another Ropey Cup side to play next up in the Prem and another moaning manager to face for who is under the same stress that Wenger is, well almost – it should be fun !
You wait and see, we’ll do Koeman a favour on Sunday lunchtime. It’s what we do best..
Jeff, play acting?
Did you see the egg near his eye, or the trickle of blood?
Rico, I fear you’re right.
We seem to help teams find form 🙂 🙂
He’ll love life in Manchester Adam. I wonder if his game will improve under Mourinho….
Rico. Yes I’m sure he will be doing his fair share of defending under Mourinho. He is, after all, the best number 10 in the World.
? Adam
I see Tony McCoy has endorsed Ozil’s greatness this morning.
What’s he said Adam?
It looked accidental to me Scott it’s a man’s game – or it used to be that is.In all physical contact sports you get injuries and unless they are caused deliberately then players should just get on with it .I stick with my view that le Coq play acted to make the most of the incident .I didn’t think it even a foul just two players going up for the ball and a coming together it was not a deliberate elbow type of thingy. I have no problem with the ref awarding a red card because some of these decisions you win and some you lose. You would have thought by now that Wenger would have realised this .
Jeff, I never said it was intentional.
I question how you can say Coquelin play acted.
He copped a decent knock, and the second yellow was awarded-I didn’t see the second yellow, but the commentator stated that was the case-so an elbow to the face isn’t a yellow, in your opinion?
New post up now.
Good morning Rico
At least yesterday there was someone in that midfield area a player that tried to give shape to that disjointed and disfunctional midfield.
Willshere was good not excellent.
But then by whom is surrounded ?
I think Willshere needs a powerfull no nonsense ala Wanyama type around him and we could have xomething i guess.
Feo
I really felt sorry for Giroud Willshere and specially the youngsters that they play along with this donkey.
Willshere threaded a nice pass Feo being Feo lost it.
I do notice after that Willshere do not want to pass ball to that donkey and it was absolutely right to ignore it.
Giroud waits to receive just a normal pass and what he get is 100M/h shoot.
Look how Giroud has to adjust his body from the pass of Feo to score that goal.
Only a disgracefull manager like the one we have will try forever and unquestioned by anyone to allow this donkey footballer to stay in the pitch.
Scott I didn’t see it as being an elbow to the face incident it looked accidental so no yellow card involved and it it was intentional then under the laws of the game it should have been a straight red. Wenger’s whinging after the Watford game probably had more to do with the ref ‘s decision with him not wanting to upset the tetchy old codger !