Morning all.
Right now, the club is in a mess as far as players being out injured goes. Not only have we already lost Francis Coquelin for three months at least, now our other key midfielder is rumoured to be out for a similar amount of time and let’s be honest, there’s no-one in the squad who can replicate what that pairing has achieved over the last few months.
So, we are left with two fit and healthy midfielders to face Sunderland on Saturday. Aaron Ramsey and Mathieu Flamini and the manager has little choice but to play the two in midfield, despite Arsene’s comments about Ramsey being too attacking. I know he was referring to the ‘DM’ role but technically, he’ll be replacing Santi and we all know how much defending the little Spaniard does on a match day.
I could be wrong of course as Callum Chambers played in the DM role for the under 21’s during the week and did rather well apparently, but a Sam Allardyce side is a very different prospect to an under 21 side.
Theo Walcott could be back on Sunday and if by some miracle both he and Ollie stay fit and healthy until the end of January, I suspect old Scrooge will leave it at that.
Gibbs and Koscielny return too and with Bellerin, Mertesacker and Debuchy all fit, so that’ll no defenders required next month either. Alexis is tipped to miss just three weeks so there’s little chance we’ll see another player coming in for his position. Gibbs will no doubt fill in and then get injured again, but not before Alexis is readying his return.
With Aaron Ramsey very likely to play central, the options on the right look sparse. OC and Campbell are pretty much it without looking at the under 21’s, and neither of those two have set the world alight this season. Poor old OC is again struggling to stay fit enough to get a good run in the side.
But with so many players out injured, the fans feathers getting ruffled and with anyone who is given airtime on radio and television giving the manager a hard time about squad depth, might Arsene Wenger flick the ‘let’s buy’ button and go on a mini spending spree next month? Or will he promote a few like Iwobi, Jeff and Bielik to see us through until the walking wounded return?
Fortunately, we are just two points from the top and perhaps the manager will never have a better chance of winning the league but the way things are going on the injury front, that challenge will be almost impossible with the players we have left fit and healthy. Just two, maybe even three players, the right players in January could just change all of that and it’s not like we don’t need them as we’ve always needed them. Every season we say we need them but now we need them more than ever to win the league and yes, AW may have to pay over the odds to get them because that’s the January transfer window for you.
Lars Bendner and Isco are the forever recycled player names to hit the gossip pages and should both come true, would they be enough?
That’s it for today, have a good one all….
In a particularly amusing piece of crap I just read it appears that Arsene is concerned that he might have to pay ‘over the odds’ for January reinforcements. You really couldn’t make this stuff up.
Tough Adam, it’s down to not signing players in the summer at a time when prices would be a bit more real, that he’s now forced into this position..
So, his saving will now cost the club more. How intelligent eh…. But I promise, I hadn’t read that prior to writing about paying over the odds in January…. Mystic Meg… 🙂
Alexis has returned to Chile for his recovery apparently. Good. lol
He surely hasn’t said that Brudder has he? What a fucking moron he is…
I would really want to have Lars Bender at Arsenal.
Great,lets sign some more non-scoring midfielders then we can turn our club iinto what has always been Wengers plan,Arsenal Globetrotters.”Come see ze magnificent non scoring circus of football.the sideways passing wonder,I give you ze Arsenal Globetrotters.
I’d have thought Sven Bender, Suarez or Carvalho would be better options if it’s a DM Wenger wants…
And Suarez is apparently available for peanuts… 😉
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang would sort the goal drought out…
So boring – the same old story every season. We fail to buy the players that we all know would consolidate a genuine title challenge. We then see an unnerving amount of injuries, suspensions and cruel bad luck. Then, the whole media world screams that we are falling apart.
WHEN ARE WE GOING TO WAKE UP? Anyone who understands football knew that not signing any outfield players in the summer was suicide, but we still did not sign one. AW – once a legend and yes, he has given this club much more than can ever be repaid – but surely it is time to step down? Nobody, unless you are AW, believes you can go an entire season with no injuries.
YES, without injuries we have more than enough to win the league. SUPPORTERS are the long term sufferers, as we don’t have the comfort of mega millions contracts – we just live it, breathe it and writhe in either agony or experience delirious joy.
Morning everyone.
There are two different issues in today’s post.
1) Which team will AW put out on Saturday where options are limited and even Gibbs could play on the flank as he did a few weeks back, but really the three points available are most probably more realistic than winning by 2 goals at Olympiacos, so I think he might take a risk with either/or The Ox and Walcott, but of course they need careful introduction, so possibly on the bench.
2) Will we strengthen in January. As already said we would pay a premium compared to the Summer when we could have bought Wanyama, and at least a proper striker and offered Giroud in part exchange ;). I can never second guess AW but which ever way you look at it this squad is now paper thin.
I have asked this question before.”do some players actually want to come and play underWenger” as we know we will scout a player who plays a defined role and the minute he joins us, Wenger wants them to be able to play in at least three positions, and that doesn’t suit many of them, nor do we see the best of them. A more progressive outlook is needed if we really are going to challenge, but will the manager change his ways, well we all know the answer to that.
Good read Rico…
Rico, I am surprised you are not dismissing Isco for his height?:P
Not sure why sections of Arsenal fans are so facininated with Lars Bender?
The guy was on the verge of world class 4 years ago but since then he has been nothing short of average. Hs career has stalled since he refused to move when Voller accepted our £19m bid 3 or so windows ago.He is not even first choice at Bayer 04 who are imho, sperds or even Everton standard.
Why don’t we go for Kramer arguably the best CDM in the bundesliga outside the well known ones, who we tried to get on loan on 2 occasions
Kelsey who or which striker would you have liked Aw to have used OG12 in a part exchange deal?
I think AW messed up again when he did not take Lucas Silva on loan before he joined OM
tsfg
I would have played Sanchez as a roaming CF and bought another attacker not a CF and part exchanged with Giroud. I never name names as players perform quite differently overseas as they do in the PL. Wenger always says players need a season to bed in when they come from overseas but in fairly recent times there have been exceptions, Sagna and even Sanchez, yet he rarely buys from within the PL as he says they are overpriced.
If you look at the add ons which include England caps, Chambers will cost us between 16 to 20 million and he is still a raw recruit.I said i never name names but someone like Martial would have been an exciting prospect to buy, there are players out there but I think many clubs now have a scouting system to equal ours or even better it.
tsgh, sorry.
Iceman, that’s just it isn’t it… Wih a fully fit squad we could win the league, but we never have one…
Ts, as you well know, I’m not fussed about height with attacking players, just defensive ones…
Re Lars Bender, it’s all about individual preferences and views – some really rate him, others perhaps don’t. A bit like Arteta Ts, who I think is past it and should be a gonner… 😉
Kelsey, I hoped we’d get Turan finally last summer. How long have I been hoping that though? Only you will know the answer… 😉
Whoopie, a new post…
Rico, you’re spoiling us ?
🙂 Kev, won’t be one tomorrow though…. lol
Rico
…but we never have one.’
Scrutinize the common denominator in al of this and there is only one answer and one solution.
As I suspected Rico ?
Iceman, as most will know on here, I blame the entire lot of them, from Kroenke down to Wenger…. But I won’t go there again… lol
It’s Stan’s fault…. ;lol:
rico
You have my sympathies and support. Long live the revolution!!!!
Morning all
we need a cdm like kramer,xhaka and that guy who plays for roma who was once close on being called an arsenal player until lyon came in and made last minute move.
Isco is an opposite player to sanchez…but in a positive way(quick passes and a good crosser)
I’m bored of writing the same old stuff Kev…. 😉
Shame Wenger wasn’t bored of making the same mistakes…. 😉
Don’t get me wrong Iceman, I blame old Scrooge for not making the signings in the summer and all the rest of it ….
Drake, I can’t see Wenger going for Bender or Isco, well, not in January…
🙂 Lee, a great shame…
I never get bored at reading the same old posts Rico…. ?
It’s Chips’ fault….
I’m having those for lunch Kev…. 😉
Drake are you talking about Nainggolan?
I will also take Pjanic as you know
Nainggolan is an Arsenal fan apparently.
I also like Witsel… I know he is one of Adam’s henchmen.. 😉
Carvalho can play CB too so he would be a great option, but I can only see Arsene buying a back up, rather than a direct competitor for Le Coq. He is too set in his ways to do what’s clearly needed.
i can see us getting ripped a new one by City if we have Ramsey/Flamini in the middle, Arsene is dead right, Ramsey will just charge forward and leave Flamini exposed. This is when we could do with older heads like Arteta or Rosicky, predictably they are both injured… again.
Considering the luck involved with making Le Coq our DM and how well Bellerin has worked out, I am surprised we have not recalled Gnabry. That kid is way better than Campbell and clearly not going to get a game at WBA. Give him a chance to prove himself. We could do with another fast forward considering Ox is our last remaining speed merchant and is quite likely to get injured again.
Didn’t Ramsey central with Coquelin at the Etihad when we won 2-0 Allan?
Ts it pjanic we were once on signing him until his father said lyon would better
Drake – Pjanic’s father Fahrudin had given his word to AS Roma that if his son was leaving Lyon he would join them…
It’s Flamini I worry about….
Flamini and Ramsey formed a decent partnership 2 years ago, when fans thought Flamini was world class…
As soon as they state they are Arsenal fans the sooner Wenger can discard them.Just imagine if Wenger signed a player who are an Arsenal fan and he was successful,then Wengers giant ego would be hurt and he wouldnt be number one any more.
lol Dg
Witsel belongs to the First Church Of Appliantology, like me and is a devotee of L. Ron Hoover too.
a new post! Great!
We have to think game by game and God guide us!
At the bench, should sit some young unknow Arsenal players…….
😀 Adam.
I see Lee on a bench often…………….. He is hardly unknown though…!
Have I misunderstood the posties?
Are we going to play postman’s knock………every day?
Rico, you are a true gamesmaster!
Can’t wait till tomorrow! ?
Amen to that JM…
I read Diego Costa was excommunicated by L Ron Hoover too? 😉
TS. The Church is very selective. I proposed Kev and Lee but they didn’t meet the standards of brutality. 🙂
I’ve actually just done a job to Percy Circus.
A very hip part of Kings Cross…
Full of artists, musicians, tv personalities, religious maniacs, cabbies, the usual sort…
It used to be full of riff raff, but now it is quite upmarket…
Anyway, is everybody getting that Christmassy feeling yet…? ?
You always know it’s getting close to the festive period, because Wath turns up and goes ‘Bah humbug’, grumpy sod… ?
I am somewhere between Jabba the Usmanov and the Syrup apparently Kev…. I am pondering….!
As for festive….. bollox to that Kev……………… Now where is my GG
Afternoon all…
Was that you I saw sat next to Lee on the bench Wath…. ?
Jm, Wavy, every other day seems the way to go until January… 😉
Never mind the prezzies Wath, just show me my Christms dinner ?
No knocking postmen ,then? Shame, I almost w……we’ll never mind.There have been some good strings to the conversations on here over the last few days. Quite entertaining really. Roll on January 31st!
And a nice glass of red Kev… 🙂
Not with turkey Rico, good heavens! ??
No, a vintage bottle of Cava, from Lidl’s of course…
Then again, if your having a nut roast ?
Then I guess a red is fine…
But you can’t beat a good Cava can ya? ?
Ok, white then Kev? Lol
No nut roast in my house, I have a nut allergy… Cava from Aldi will go nicely with lunch though… 🙂
Kev 3.04, not until I hear Slade on the radio, then it’s full steam ahead !
Mines Greg Lake Micko and I’ve heard him already….
I remember Greg Lake when I saw him with King Crimson many, many years ago.
Even if you’re not a rugby fan, this is worth a butcher’s….
http://youtu.be/zYIDKj7OvkE
The Christmas tree and lights went up in town today rico, the sound system churning out all the Christmassy songs around the shops for the next few weeks, cheesey but really nice.
Love that Christmas song Adam, and Driving home for Christmas….
Micko, love all that too, Santa is on his way and all that…. Lol
Is that Chris Rea?
Caught some of that on SS’s Lee, I had a bit of a chuckle… Loved seeing so many ‘oldies’ doing the Haka…
Yep.
Lovely song Rico.
Sure is Adam, gets me singing….
A question house mates. Where would Isco come in the squad? I think he’s a CAM – a position Ozil left him in RM. On the Wings I really don’t know much of his contribution – and I’d prefer Reus but if he’s to come for the CM position, well and good.
Had we bought and injured Calvahlo *sp he’d be fit and already bedded in the team. Yes now everybody knows arsenal will be desperate and the infamous £200m so they’ll squiz the club every dollar they can get.
Marshall, if we get ripped off, it’s all of our own making. Who we need now, we needed in the summer…
All quiet here so early night for me…
Night all…
The court of the Crimson King (I’ve still got my vinyl copy!) great lip. But it sounds suitable to lay before Blatter, except of course he’s both innocent and blameless for all FIFA’s ills and corruption!
Emerson, Lake and Palmer…..nice! But not very Christmassy!
I talk to the wind.
I think I’m a tree
A chair is a chair.
And, in this exelstential moment, the ultimate philosophical question:
What is the truth?
red truth
kev,
I think I passed out in a strip club.
Morning Orfeverie and all…
New post up now, it’s a sponsored one. Has to be done every now and again… 😉