Match Preview, Transfer Rumours

Winger set to sign? Reus wants Arsenal move. Will early kick-off catch us out?

Posted on by rico

Morning all.

The only gossip this morning relates to Theo Walcott who according to reports is set to be offered a new five year contract. Five years? Sign it Theo before Arsene changes his mind….

Oh, and there’s some old tosh about Maro Reus who will reject advances from all other clubs but Arsenal as he wants to work under Arsene Wenger.

Wonder if we’ll get another player in before 11pm tomorrow night….

Sir Bobby in training…

Bobby

During our last match against Brighton, things got a bit sloppy when it came to defending, maybe that was down to Mathieu Flamini not being as switched on or disciplined as Francis Coquelin, who seldom strayed from his own half at The Etihad.

We defended well and from the front against City, every player wanted that victory and they got it because of that. Silva and Aguero were given no time on the ball whatsoever and very often there was two, maybe even three of our players hounding them and winning the ball back. It really was an outstanding performance by most on the pitch.

That’s the benchmark set and today we’ll need more of the same kind of attitude and discipline.

Villa maybe having a stinker of a season but we know what happened last season in this fixture and we sure as heck know how it happened. Anthony Taylor and he’s back today!

Aston Villa have gone seven league matches without a win, the worst current run in the division. They have scored one goal during that spell – Christian Benteke’s strike against Manchester United on 20 December. Their goal drought in the league now stands at eight hours and 42 minutes and they’ve managed just four goals away from home.

They haven’t managed to score more than one goal since the 18th January 2014..

But the boys need to stay focussed and not go into the game thinking it’ll be easy because do that and it won’t be. Benteke, Agbonlahor and Fabian Delph on their day can cause the best sides problems, although the latter two are both doubts through injury. New signings Scott Sinclair and Carles Gil will be out to prove a point on their league debut.

Enough of them eh.

Alexis is expected to sit this one out and new signing Gabriel should be on the bench, perhaps our other new signing, Krystian Bielik will be alongside him having trained with the first team squad last week.

Welbeck  Wilshere, Diaby,  Arteta , Oxlade-Chamberlain and Debuchy remain on the treatment table.

Despite so many injuries, the only real decision for the manager to make today is who replaces our Chilean? Does Mesut Ozil get pushed out wide, leaving Santi to continue his fine form or will it be the Spaniard who makes the move? Either way, both will need to roll up their sleeves and put a shift in. They all need too.

Ospina should keep his place in goal, Bellerin is back fit so that’s the right back sorted and Mertesacker, Koscielny and Monreal should complete the rest of the defence. Ramsey, Coquelin and Santi in midfield all being well and with OC out, Walcott should start again with Ollie and Ozil filling the other two places. Well, that’s my thought.

It must be so tempting for the manager to start with Rosicky after last weekends performance but he needs to be handled with care at his ripe old age.. The rest can make up the subs bench and hopefully we’ll see more of Akpom if the game goes as we all hope it will.

We need a win, a big win and we should get it, despite kick off being a 1.30pm..

COYRRG’S!!

Have a good Sunday….

rico

244 thoughts on “Winger set to sign? Reus wants Arsenal move. Will early kick-off catch us out?”

  4. Hell Raising Devil says:

    That is a good post Boss. But why not play TR07 from the beginning??? He played last a week ago. Surely he has rested and recovered well. Imo the midfield should be Coquelin, TR07 and Caz the gasssssss. Ramsey to be on the subs bench and come on. Theo should begin the game as well with Ozil playing on the left (although I am not an advocate of that). He should be coming on as a sub for Cazorla.

  8. scottfromoz says:

    Hi Devil,
    Just start with Aaron and the others don’t matter 🙂
    Nah….Santi, Tommy and Coquelin.
    If not, Aaron for Tommy.
    Either, either at present.
    Aaron still isn’t at his absolute best, so I’d be happy with TR7 who’s in form.
    Mate, I’m leaving you to it as well…….very tired so catch you all later and enjoy our victory 🙂

  9. Hell Raising Devil says:

    Enjoy the snug then mate.

    Is your pillow made of mud??? 😛

    lol

    Had the OX been fit I would have begun him on the right with Theo on the left and have them interchanging sides at will.

    Ozil and Aaron I would have bought on later in the game for TR07 and Cazorla around the 70th minute. Paulista later on in the game for the last 10 minutes if we are cruising and play with three at the back and push Gibbs and Bellerin slightly up towards midfield.

  10. allezkev says:

    Morning All

    Morning Rico.

    Morning Coach

    Morning John Boy

    Yeah Rico, that team seems obvious, makes sense after such an accomplished performance at Wastelands…

    Rosicky will get plenty of game time this season, as will Gibbs, Gabriel and the rest.
    Wenger will need them all…

    It might be a bit of a grind today, but 3pts and no injuries is all that matters.
    Even a cheat like Anthony Taylor, cannot transform Villa into a decent side on his own…

    2-0 to the Gunners for me…

  12. allezkev says:

    Welbeck, Sanchez and AOC back for the Spuds?

    That’s a big big game on many levels…
    The Spuds are on form, Kane is gonna be a real handful…

    But if the win at Man City meant anything, a positive result at the Slum could cement the positive mindset around the Grove and our team could really kick on…

  13. allezkev says:

    Ah BT, don’t, it’s too painful mate…

    Wenger really missed a trick not swooping for Darren in this window…

    The missing ingredient…!

  14. Hell Raising Devil says:

    Morning habib.

    A game at a time habib. We need to win today 1st. And Southampton to loose as well. That will take us to 4th equal points. And if we hammer Villa with a good score we might even be above Southamton on GD.

    Then we hope that the spuddies loose their 24th league game to the tune of 5-0 before they play their next game against us. 😉

  16. Bt62 Gooner says:

    Kev, the last time i saw us play Villa, was last home game a few years back, a win would have gave us third, but Darren and Villa put an end to that….

  19. Hell Raising Devil says:

    Sanchez rested completely. Not even on subs bench. Good. We will see how the team moves on without him. He will also get a rest for the next game which is very important. I hope TR07 plays against the spuds since he likes playing against them and usually gets on the score sheet or assists.

  24. Bt62 Gooner says:

    Another ripper from the whole team….

    Three points today, nothing else will do, keep it tight from the off, head to the Drain next week full of confidence….and smash some spuds..

  25. allezkev says:

    Bloody BBC5Live.
    Rangers vs Celtic…

    Yeah, it’s important to Scotland, but not to me…

    Where’s the commentary for AFC vs AVFC?

  43. Hell Raising Devil says:

    4-1-4-1 seems to be working brilliantly. especially when they have the ball. Coquelin is forming the triangles well and is closing options. We need to score another and keep that shape and stay disciplined.

  45. allezkev says:

    Seems as if the team are still playing a similar game, to that that they used at Wastelands.
    Not playing reckless gung-ho football, even at home…

    Good to see (or hear)…

  60. allezkev says:

    Sounds as if that old lack of cutting edge has raised its ugly head again…

    Ospina made a good save, by the sound of it…
    What is Spanish for ‘Safe Hands’…?

  61. Hell Raising Devil says:

    Villa are leaving a lot of open spaces. If the team can exploit that and bury the chances then it would be a tanking. However they need to take them. Theo seems that he has lost half a yard of pace. I would put on Gibbs on the left hand side, put Ozil on the right and sub Theo.

  84. Hell Raising Devil says:

    Good for Theo. Got a goal and 70 minutes under his belt. However now that his speed has gone down a bit he needs to work on his awareness much more. He has to rethink his game, and begin to think more about tactics and movement.

    Clever Akpom. Lost cause and won a penalty.

  90. Hell Raising Devil says:

    Taylor has had a good game. Maybe you are right…..he needs therapy. And fast.

    Goal difference up to 18 now. Hopefully we get another or a couple and suddenly Southampton’s GD looks within arms reach.

  108. tsgh says:

    Night Scott…

    What a win today! SC19 and AR16 were sensational. I am pleased for Theo and Ozil too…

    I was at Bayer vs BVb game yesterday and the BVB fans believedt Akpom was joining them… pleased he played today.
    Catch up later..

    Afternoon all btw…

  114. AndrewH says:

    Evening rico, house. Great game, about time we turned it on like last few weeks. Didnt look a one man team either, like press said three games back! Coq solid again, Montreal deserving of his place, santi terrific again. And Walcott and Ozil back at right time for injured players.

    Wow, if Welbeck and Ox fit next weekend, we have competition for places at last, even for the sub’s bench. Chambers, Gibbs and Gabriel subs today, looks much stronger.

  117. rico says:

    Evening Andrew – yep, great to see us get goals without Alexis, that should shut the idiot pundits up. But hang on, they’ll say it was only Villa…

    Would still love to see AW snap up Morgan tomorrow…. Lol

  119. tsgh says:

    Rico, I guess most fans will love that; Morgan will take us to another level…

    I am glad fans rate Morgan now. I remember saying on here when we beat the saints at the Ems.(Gervinho hat trick) 3 years ago on Morgan’s premier league debut that he will be the best DM very soon…

    I am, still not convinced on Le coq… his figures today were not impressive..

  121. rico says:

    Ts, 3 years ago, you sure? Lol

    He’s good, and I too think he’ll improve our midfield dramatically and like you, a long way to go before Coquelin convinces me but I didn’t think he was bad today and he’s certainly much better than Flamini…..

  126. potter says:

    Le Coq made some important tackles early on and it was noticeable that a couple of Villa players ducked out of going 50 -50 with him as the game wore on. Villa were poor but for once we put a team to the sword , shame Akpom didn’t get one but I got the feeling that Santi and Ozil were trying to set him up

  127. allezkev says:

    I remember telling Adam, about 7 years ago, that Costa was shit…

    I never miss a chance to remind him, even though I didn’t know him at the time… 😉

  129. allezkev says:

    Good point that I read elsewhere, in that injuries to Debuchy and Arteta, may have given chances and secured the futures of Bellerin and Coquelin (who I’ve read, has signed his new contract)….

  135. Adam says:

    Lovely afternoon at the game. Lots of excellent performances. Ozil’s balance is quite unbelievable. I remember telling Kev that I had heard Costa was shit years ago, just after he did a U-turn in front of me in Percy Circus.

  138. Adam says:

    Hi BT. For a while after we scored and at the start of the second half we looked a bit lethargic but Ozil’s great goal lifted everybody. With options available we look a different team. I even ate a cheery drop.

  142. Adam says:

    BT. I noticed auto correct made it a cheery drop. 🙂
    Something more uplifting very soon though, after a bit of dinner. Same for you? Drop by if you like. 🙂

  149. Bt62 Gooner says:

    Adam, a similar evening awaits me and as you know if it wasn’t for the logistics involved, you may well have had a lodger, by now……lol

  151. Adam says:

    Rico. He’s playing for a manager that condones his behaviour and even takes every opportunity to condone it. But he’s still shit. Just like so many others. No Arsenal players obviously. They are all Gods of the game.
    BT. So true. 🙂

  152. rico says:

    Adam, I don’t like him or his manager. Actually, right now, you are right about the arsenal players, apart from flamini of course… Lol

  153. Hell Raising Devil says:

    Are you sure Gerv got a hat-trick??? of what? A hat trick of goals? Of Posts? Of crossbars? Of missed chances?

    lol

    Southampton lost to the Swans as well!!!!! Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

    this is a good weekend.

    By the waaaaayyyyyyyy. A super great post today Rico since we won 5-0. I forgot my manners.

    Hiya Lads and lasses……what do you make of Merts turning into a winger and providing a peach of a cross for Akpom to head???

  163. Micko says:

    tsgh, seem to remember you taking quite a bit of stick for posting a few video clips of Morgan last season, you’d definately have the bragging rights if he turned up on the doorstep tomorrow, still think there’s more chance of you successfully baptising a cat.

    Seeing our players getting off the coach today rico, I sometimes forget how many class players we have, we should be winning a lot more games, looks like we’re on the right track again.

  165. rico says:

    Micko, Scott has said the same recently, our squad is full of many many super players and yes, they should be winning more. Seems like the missing link was at Charlton as his return has improved us…

    Weird or what?

  167. Snaparse says:

    Great win I really enjoyed it….. Seems carzola is playing as a cm instead of a cam…have been really really impressed with him….. Nice to also see bellerin score he has been on great lately…… Nice read Rico and good evening to the house

  168. Hell Raising Devil says:

    Top four battle is on they say???

    Well after today I would say even 2nd place is reachable. AW seems to think we can come back and there is a chance for the EPL title, but 11 points is a bit too much. Man City are more reachable with just 6 points away.

    Anything can happen (but I prefer to be realistic). Imagine Cesc’s face if we manage to claw back 11 points and win it on the last two days. I can dream cant I?

  173. Micko says:

    Kev touched on it earlier rico, out of adversity comes opportunity, Le Coq got his lucky break and a nice pay rise to boot !!!

  175. Hell Raising Devil says:

    Imo AW should still try and sign another player. A versatile one who can play as a defender or as a DM. Yes, we have good cover once Debuchy comes back, seeing that RB= Debuchy, Bellerin; CB=Merts, Kos, Lurch and Chambers; LB=Monreal, Gibbs; DM=Coquelin, Flamini, Arteta; AM=Cazorla, Ramsey, TR07, Ozil, JAck; Attack=OG12, TW14, AS17, Ox, DW23. Akpom.

    Did I forgot anyone???

    Ahhh yes Diaby.

  180. Hell Raising Devil says:

    Er well Bt…let me try to explain.

    Diaby is a player who likes to play a lot lying on the couch, earning around 60k a week just for twiddling his thumbs, gets up to kick a ball when he feels healthy (a rarity), sometimes he pulls some part of his body (and that is a rarity as well since he takes very long to heal from the previous one) and he also has an invisibility cloak which occasionally comes off.

  185. scottfromoz says:

    Morning all.
    The single that impressed me most in that game…..the finish of Bellerin.
    How many young guys or fullbacks, let alone a young fullback, would try and belt the cover of that?
    He slotted his chance brilliantly.
    This kid will bea. Superstar, have no fear.
    JM….thanks, our Socceroos performed admirably and their courage won through.
    If you get to see the game, take a peek…..it was an epic 🙂
    Wath, I keep reading it….Schneiderlin in the off season is done and dusted.

  189. scottfromoz says:

    Ginge, either your stats or mine are very wrong…..I stand to be corrected here, though.
    Coquelin…..92.6% passing accuracy, 5 tackles, 5 interceptions is what I’ve read.

  194. Hell Raising Devil says:

    Night Lady Boss.

    Ginge…..I go with Scott. Le Coq had a good game. Give him time. He will develop well. Bellerin as well. Sometimes adversity does push fringe players onto the limelight. It is up to them to grasp the opportunity.

  199. Bt62 Gooner says:

    Micko, it works both ways, another thing that helps is she does not watch soaps, result…..

    Well, Neighbours being the exception…..lol

  200. Micko says:

    Me to Bt, I have to suffer “Fairly Shitty” on a weekly basis but it’s a small price to pay as I’m sure Joe will agree.

    Smash the Spuds, loving it !!!

    Nite matey.

  201. Bt62 Gooner says:

    Micko, remember “Fairly Shitty” and every other soap, from a previous partner, that was hard work……lol

    Night Micko….

  204. Hell Raising Devil says:

    Bonjour Spring chickens and Stewed Bunnies.

    yesterday should have been 7 or 8 nil. but we have to settle for 5. just two more and we would have been sitting 4th.

    I was impressed by the whole team however certain players have made the way the team plays possible. It is easy to give MOTM to Ozil, Cazorla, Ramsey or Giroud. However, Ospina and Coquelin must get a mention as well. The former has instilled a calm factor in the defence. My Pa has pointed out two of his qualities…..up till now he always seems to be in the right place at the right time and he decides quickly the right decision. Infact there was a situation where he stayed on his line during a cross when there where a lot of bodies in the small area, then when the ball went out of the pen area and was then lobbed back in he came to collect it from the top of Benteke’s head. Now we all know what monster strength Benteke has, however Ospina did not flinch and picked it cleanly from above his head.

    Coquelin imo, is humble enough to provide the platform for Cazorla, Ozil, Ramsey and Theo to break forward while he stays back protecting his defence. He seems to have a good tactical knack of providing supportive triangles behind the advanced four. He wins the ball and gives it to them. But he can play a good pass or two. And is not afraid of taking risks. His tackling is good as well and I noted that in the second half the Villa players were trying to play the ball away from him going from side to side to avoid his tackles. Like he did against Shitty, he hardly ventured more than 15 yards away from the defence and stayed at the back to protect them. Even when Bellerin broke forward one (sometimes Monreal as well however the former was more adventurous than the latter) could observe that Coquelin was protecting the rest of the defence. A goal to Coquelin would certainly contribute to his confidence level.

  206. tsgh says:

    Hi Rico and Dev..

    What a boring transfer window… arguably the most non-eventful window in the last 10 years… but at least we got ourselves a very decent defensive player…

  207. scottfromoz says:

    Morning all.
    Devil, I reckon Coquelin is already a very confident and happy lad.
    His performances show that and he will get even better.
    I’ve watched two replays so far and we didn’t do much wrong at all.
    8 shots on goal and winning 5-0 says a lot, though 3 or 4 times players were probably guilty of not pulling the trigger, though that’s searching for negatives.
    We moved the ball around brilliantly, as well.
    If that performance was two weeks ago, we’d put it down to a Villa side sadly long confidence and that’s still a relevant call, but we did beat City comfortably so I’d suggest we are in super form.

  209. Wath says:

    Morning,

    Lets make no mistake Scott, Villa were utter pants……

    At times in the first half we were pissing about like we did at Brighton after going two up…. “this is way to easy we are far superior so lets try and score the ultimate pretty goal”…. We are way to guilty of this when we are well on top but we forget to look at the score only being one nil…..

    We need to be way more ruthless and put the game to bed before we try the exhibition stuff and try to score with the one yard tap in after 76 passes….!

    Apart from the above the second half for me we were more ruthless more direct and played at a higher tempo. We just still have that tendency to take out foot off the pedal when we think the game is a walk in the park.

    Great to see Bellerin score and also agree the Dev, Ozil and Santi will take the media love in but Ospina did what he had to do and also Coq again did a lot of the graft to allow the others to shine.

    Ts, have a look at those stats and see how Villa had more of the ball more passes etc etc and then tell me they were the better side………….. Just saying 😉

  210. tsgh says:

    It’s like deja vu re. this Le Coq loving.

    I hope this post does not get me in trouble.

    Last year around this time the pundits and several Arsenal blogs were telling every reader how Flamini was the best defensive signing and the reason why we were doing well in the league…; back then as the Lady of the house rightly pointed out I was getting on the wrong side of folks by continuing asserting that Flamini was awful and that it was all due to Ramsey why Flamini looked good.
    I also said then that I will change my views on Flamini when he plays well without Ramsey…
    Oddly enough Ramsey was injured and it was left to JW and Flamini to shield the defense they got exposed…

    My point is that, when pundits and so start commenting and alluding that we are playing well and not conceeding goals becuase of Le Coq, imho it is completely baseless.
    Le Coq is doing well but it is my view that lets give him time as the whole team is playing well.

    As Potter mentioned above at 5:17, Le Coq made some important tackles in the early part of game…
    Scott, also mentioned some stats which made Le Coq look impressive; so referring to those stats it appears Le Coq is the answer as he exceeds JW and Flamini’s contributions by almost 100% in the defensive area of his game.

    In my view and based on the data I have access to; after evaluating Le Coq’s performance over the last 3 or 4 games; someone like Ramsey who is not acknowledged for his defensive contribution still exceeds Le Coq…

    At the moment, I still hold the view that AW should have bought another DM or someone who can play both DM and CB as Dev has alluded to earlier as Le Coq’s stats show that over 60% of his tackles has resulted in a foul against him.. if you factor in the fact that he wins less than 28% of his tackles as compared to Ramsey and even 12% less than SC19; the distance he covers in teh game at 24 y.o has not even been factored into this assessment yet…

    My fear is that based on this figures when we start playing 3 games a week; this percentage will drop and the team might get exposed defensively again…

  215. scottfromoz says:

    Wath, I know they were average mate…..as I said, if that game were two weeks ago, we’d question the performance but on the back of the City game, it’s fair to say we are in form, I reckon
    Ginge, TELL ME WHO FAILED TO ACKNOWLEDGE RAMSEY……
    Go on 🙂 🙂

  217. scottfromoz says:

    Coquelin, imo, is doing as much off the ball, if not more, than he is on it.
    He’s shutting things down simply with positioning.
    I reckon you’re being harsh, Ginge, but time will tell 🙂

  219. tsgh says:

    😀 SCott, well there was a man I know from Oz who claimed to have a Ramsey tattoo but when I met him and asked him to show me the Ramsey tattoo he blushed.. 😀

    I admit I am probably harsh on Le Coq…
    Now if it is Bellerin being lauded then he needs all the loving…
    I suspected he would work better with BFG than Debuschy and Chambers because of his starting position as compared to the aforementioned 2…

  220. scottfromoz says:

    Mate, I reckon Bellerin will be an out and out star down the track.
    A Ramsey tat……I’m a clean skin bud 🙂 🙂
    Word has it when the tattoo artist inked Schneiderlin across your arse he only had room for Schneider lol

  227. frednerk says:

    Morning All,
    People see what they like in players,some continue to debate
    how good this one is and that one is..Thats football.
    Have to agree with Devil..
    Ospina and the Coq have given us a balanced look..
    Thats what I see.

  234. allezkev says:

    Morning All…

    I really cannot remember the last transfer deadline day when I felt so relaxed…

    The team is looking competitive.
    Most of our key players are fit.
    Arsene is rotating intelligently.
    Coquelin is a find.
    Bellerin is a find.
    Ospina is a find.
    Gabriel will be a find.

    Transfer window, huh, I couldn’t give a feck… 😀

  235. tsgh says:

    Hi Kev…

    Well, how can you be relaxed when Harry has not chatted to Jim on sky sports news yet… more twists and turns.. 🙂

    I am awaiting the chavs to complete the biggest signing in this window…

  236. tsgh says:

    Rico, this made me chuckle …you locall team:- 😀

    Readingfc are trying to sign former efc and portsmouth striker Yakubu. He can’t surely still be 32 y.o?

  238. tsgh says:

    local* even..

    As an outside; I wonder why no team has given Michael Bradley a chance… his dad moaned AW pulled out of signing him instead of Kalstroom last January…

  240. tsgh says:

    From bbc..

    Fifa about Sakho-gate:

    “We can confirm, that disciplinary proceedings were initiated against the player Diafra Sakho (SEN) and the club West Ham United for a potential violation of the FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players. Please understand that at that stage we can’t make any further comments.”

    Looks like the Hammers could be in a spot of bother for playing Sakho in their FA Cup win over Bristol City. He scored the winner as well.

  242. potter says:

    If you want Akpom to stay then you have to show faith in him. Yesterday he got some first team football with us , it’s the way it has to be . Send him on loan and he will feel unwanted and will leave. It’s the cleft stick that Wenger finds himself in , he needs points but needs unpressurised situations to give the kids a chance . I thought yesterday that Ozil and Cazorla were looking for him to get him a goal, which suggests that the players can see a diamond in their midst and don’t want him going anywhere.

  243. frednerk says:

    Hi Ts,
    How as fat sam got away with that.

    Hope Akpom signs,it looks like he has wenger over a barrel,
    wenger seems to have cleared the decks Ts for him.

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