Month: December 2015

11th December 2015: Injury latest, Welbeck on recovery and Wenger on Giroud

Posted on by TremendArse

Happy Friday folks. Arsene Wenger held his usual pre-match press conference this morning, as we prepare for Sunday’s trip to Aston Villa, and revealed the latest team news ahead of the game.

We have no fresh injury concerns following Wednesday night’s win over Olympiacos, but none of our injured players are yet ready to return either. The closest, says the boss, are Mikel Arteta and Alexis Sanchez but the others are some way off a comeback yet. He said:

We came back Thursday morning, so we will see the players today. We have no injuries after the game. (Alexis Sanchez and Mikel Arteta are) short-term injuries, neither will be available for Sunday. No Arteta and no Alexis – who is the shortest one. The others will be (available) after Christmas. If you ask me if he (Jack Wilshere) will be fit before the end of December, no chance. He (Tomas Rosicky) is quite positive. He is running outside but not ready yet. End of January.

There were reports a few weeks ago that Wilshere had provisionally penciled in the Boxing Day trip to Southampton as his comeback game but the boss’ update today was pretty emphatic in ruling the midfielder out until the New Year, so that’s obviously disappointing, particularly with Francis Coquelin and Santi Cazorla ruled out until March at the earliest.

Our only other ‘long-termer’ is Danny Welbeck of course, and there was no word from the boss on the former Manchester United man’s likely return date from a knee injury which had ruled him out for the last seven months or so. But the player himself spoke to Arsenal Player recently, discussing his injury lay-off and also his ‘honour’ at being able to cite both Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger as managers he’s played under. He said:

Both (managers) have that presence and both are legends in the modern game. What can I say? They have won plenty of trophies between them and I have worked under Sir Alex and Arsène Wenger and it is a great honour to say that, but I want to be the best that I can be. I definitely feel free. Before we go out against a team we have analysed before hand (Arsène Wenger) gives the team a few pointers of what he wants us to be doing on the pitch and the lads stick to that. But he also gives you the freedom to express yourself and play the way you want to play. It is my first injury that has kept me out for so long. I had my operation and once that is sorted you can be out for a few more months. For the first month, in a leg brace, not being able to do anything, on a machine six hours a day, it was very difficult. But you have to try and see the positives. Luckily I had my family around me, my friends came down to London and I had my brothers. It was good to have people around me and have that support. You wake up in the morning and know you have double sessions in the gym it is hard but you have to see the positive side and I have learnt a lot more being injured on how to look after your body and prevent injuries. I have to see the positive side and hopefully when I come back, I will be flying.

I have to say Welbeck’s return is the one I’m most looking forward to, simply because I rate him higher than most others seem to and as Arsenal fans we’ve not seen much of him since he joined. He made an impressive start to his Arsenal career, then got injured, came back briefly, got injured again, and we’ve now not seen him play since April. Obviously I’m not saying he’s more important than Sanchez or Cazorla or Coquelin, because he’s not, but I genuinely think he could develop into a prolific striker for us given time to learn under Arsene and providing he can stay injury free.

Speaking of strikers, our current incumbent Olivier Giroud will go into the game at Villa having just scored his first-ever hat-trick for the club, in the most important game of our season so far, and Arsene discussed his fellow countryman’s qualities earlier today, saying:

He has gone through this calendar year with ups and downs but overall it is typical Olivier Giroud. That means when it doesn’t work, he puts effort in. I believe recently he has come back with an improved game and with his finishing. Wednesday was one of his best performances on all fronts, I must say. If you look at his record, I believe he has special qualities that are difficult to find. You want him to be efficient as well. Where he has improved a lot is his link play with the other players, and that’s very important in our team. He’s a guy who wants always to improve and he has a positive mentality, and a strong one. You want him to be efficient as well. Where he has improved a lot is his link play with the other players, and that’s very important in our team. He’s a guy who wants always to improve and he has a positive mentality, and a strong one. I think that’s why he has come back in a very strong way. We are in a job where you have to accept that in every game, you are questioned. In his job, as a centre forward, [it’s] even more. If you don’t score for three games, you’re questioned again. That’s part of the job. If you look at the number of games and the number of goals, you have to give him credit. He’s not only a goalscorer, he’s a guy who puts work in for the team. I think he’s among the best strikers in Europe.

I really like Giroud and appreciate what he brings to our side, but let’s not get carried away, hey. He’s not in Robert Lewandowski’s class, for instance, and probably never will reach that kind of level given his age, but than he’s also not a clumsy lump like some would have you believe. He’s a very, very effective lone striker for us but one I still think can be improved on.

Anyway, given he’s just bagged a treble and played brilliantly to win us a crucial game, perhaps now’s not the best time to talk about his perceived defects as a striker or potential replacements. I’ll just say that with him, Theo Walcott and Welbeck all fit, I’m actually quite content with our striking options, especially with the mercurial talent of Sanchez backing them up from the left. Defensive midfield is where I’d like more options …

Back with a preview of the Villa game at some stage tomorrow.

Have a good one.

10th December 2015: Giroud treble topples Olympiacos to send us through

Posted on by TremendArse

Evening all. So Arsenal, a significantly under-strength Arsenal, traveled to Olympiacos last night, a team who’d won five and drawn the other one of their last six matches against English opposition on home soil, and won 3-0 thanks to Olivier Giroud’s first-ever hat-trick for the club.

Hands up who saw that result coming? I certainly didn’t, not such a comprehensive victory anyway, but Petr Cech says the Arsenal squad themselves most certainly did. He said:

Well, we could! (see the win coming) We were searching for it and we knew if we played our game, if we have a great team performance and great individual performances then we will have a chance, and we did say exactly that. The first goal was important because going 1-0 ahead, they knew that one goal would not take us through and were holding back as one goal can kill the game for them. So there was pressure from both sides and we managed to get the better side of that pressure ourselves. The second goal was obviously an important point in the game and we knew that we would be able to do it.

Arsene Wenger had spoken before the game about his side being prepared for any eventuality over the course of the 90 minutes but as it transpired, there were no complications to proceedings as far as we were concerned as in the end, we killed the game off with plenty of time to spare.

The boss made one change to the starting line-up from Saturday’s win over Sunderland; Theo Walcott came in for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to start on the right-hand side of our attack. Against the Black Cats, Joel Campbell started on the right before swapping flanks with the Ox and went on to get our opener from a left-wing position. But last night, the Costa Rican made the reverse journey, starting on the left before swapping with Theo and both players came to life after that switch.

The game began with the home side on the attack but we grew into the game and took the lead around the half-hour mark. Mesut Ozil, running away from goal, spun and placed a typically inch-perfect pass through to Aaron Ramsey on the left. The Welshman crossed and Giroud guided a header towards the near-post which their ‘keeper could only help into his own net.

We then had a couple of scares either side of the interval. Just before it, they almost equalised, and just after it, Giroud went down in agony clutching his right ankle deep in his own half after clearing the ball. For a few minutes it seemed as though our injury list would lengthen again, but thankfully, the Frenchman carried on after treatment and soon put us two ahead.

Ozil again provided the assist for the assist, this time lobbing a pass over towards Campbell on the right. He cushioned the dropping ball on his thigh and, under pressure, turned back on himself, produced a brilliant drag-back to evade his marker before playing a reverse pass neatly into Giroud’s path as the striker made a run into the box. The weight and direction of the pass by Campbell was so good, Olympiacos’ defenders were totally helpless and Giroud didn’t break stride in guiding a first-time finish low into the corner.

At that point, we were heading through to the knock-out stages but in the knowledge a goal for Olympiacos would see them through instead. So when our third arrived, not only did it effectively kill the contest in our favour, it also saved millions of Arsenal fans the world over from 20 minutes of gut-wrenching anxiety.

It came via a penalty which was given for handball after Nacho Monreal fired in a low shot from the left following a Hector Bellerin cross. Giroud stepped up, sent the keeper the wrong way and completed his hat-trick with a firm side-footed finish.

I think it’s a little unfair to highlight individuals for praise because it really was a collective team effort with everyone playing their part but given how far down the first-team pecking order Campbell was just a few weeks ago, I think he deserves a special mention. He was industrious going both ways, kept the ball well, plugged into our pass-and-move style with aplomb and produced an assist Ozil would have been proud of. If he carries on playing like last night, he’s first choice on the right as far as I’m concerned, even with everyone fit.

The draw for the next round takes place on Monday morning and regardless of who we get (please don’t let it be Barcelona), right now I’m just proud, if a little amazed, that we’ll be in it.

Til Friday, last-16ers.

9th December 2015: Champions League Preview – Walcott option + the Ox is overdue a big performance

Posted on by TremendArse

Welcome back. There isn’t long to wait now before we find out if we’ll be playing Champions, or Europa, League football after the New Year, and I have to admit, I’m as nervous as Wayne Rooney waiting for his pizza delivery. Will one, large, stuffed-crust suffice as a mid-morning snack? Can we complete a minor miracle and make it out of our group?

With a fully fit squad, I’d be very optimistic about our chances, but of course, we don’t have a full selection to choose from, as we’re missing our central midfield pairing in Francis Coquelin and Santi Cazorla and our best goalscorer in Alexis Sanchez. Throw in the fact their replacements have had one game to gel and find collective form and it’s hard not to worry as an Arsenal fan ahead of tonight’s trip to Olympiacos.

In terms of how we’ll line-up, the only change I can envisage would be bringing Theo Walcott in for a start at the expense of either Olivier Giroud, Joel Campbell or Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Based on their respective form in last weekend’s win over Sunderland, the favourite to be dropped to the bench in favour of Theo would undoubtedly be the Ox. Yet barring any late injury concerns, my guess would be that Arsene Wenger will either go with the same starting line-up as last Saturday, or bring Walcott in for Giroud.

The Ox is certainly due a good performance and tonight would obviously be a great time for him to rediscover the sort of scintillating form he showed in pre-season. And the player himself has been discussing tonight’s game with Arsenal Player, highlighting the importance of both scoring early, but also keeping it tight at the back. He said:

If we can get that first goal we will really put them under pressure and we can push on and hopefully get another one. If they manage to score we are not out of it by any stretch of the imagination, we will just have to score a few more. We will see how the game goes but we need to defend first and foremost – keeping a clean sheet is the first task. We have got players in our side that can go and score goals and we will be focused on doing that. Olympiacos came to the Emirates and played really well on the night and showed us what a threat they can be. We have played at Olympiacos a number of times so it is a tough place to go and their fans can create a real buzzy atmosphere. It can be a bit intimidating but we have to feed off of that and go there and get two goals, defend well and get the result. Going into that game with nothing to lose, the boss uses the term: ‘playing without the handbrake on’. I think that is when we play our best stuff and if we do that we give ourselves the best chance.

On the opposite flank to the Ox, is likely to be Campbell, who fresh from scoring our opener against the Black Cats, will line-up against the side he played for, on loan from Arsenal, during the 2013-2014 campaign, scoring eight goals from 32 appearances for the Greeks. And the Costa Rican is expecting a tough battle in what he’s dubbed as our “most important game of the season so far”. He said:

[The win over Sunderland] was a good result for the team. We got the result and that’s what we wanted. Now we have to prepare mentally and physically for Wednesday’s game because it will be very difficult. We already played against Olympiacos at Emirates Stadium. They are a great team, a great rival and especially because they play at home. In the Pireo (Karaiskakis Stadium) it is very difficult to get points but it is the last game of the group stage and we will give our best. It is the most important game of the season so far. It will be a cup final and we have to win to continue in the Champions League.

I suppose it can only be a good thing that we have a player in our ranks who will know some of the oppositions players; their strengths and weaknesses, and also feel at home playing at their ground. But then that works both ways – they’ll also have a good idea of how they think they can stop Campbell from hurting them, having watched and studied his game at close quarters.

My gut feeling is that I need a poo we’ll do it tonight, but then I thought that just before the second legs against AC Milan, Bayern Munich (twice) and Monaco in recent years,  when we nearly manged the requisite result, but in the end fell tantalizingly, agonizingly, just short. Let’s hope tonight’s different and we can get the necessary win to carry us through.

Back tomorrow.

COYG!

8th December 2015: Wenger and Flamini chat Champions League

Posted on by TremendArse

Hello again. So Arsene Wenger was joined by Mathieu Flamini when he faced the media at a press conference this evening, ahead of tomorrow evening’s game against Olympiacos.

The boss seemed in relaxed mood and expressed his belief that should Arsenal manage to progress to the last 16 this season, we’d be a threat to any of the other qualifiers. He said:

We can be dangerous if we go through because we come from far. Overall if you look at the numbers since the start of the Champions League group stage, we have played with 10 men in Zagreb, we scored an own goal at home to Olympiacos, every single game we were a bit unlucky but if we get through we will be dangerous that is for sure. At the moment we have two or three super-favourites [for the competition] and whoever gets through will have to chase them. As long as you don’t win the competition – at any stage to go out is bad. That is basically it. On the other hand, we have gone 15 times out of the group consecutively so you could say that is a good habit.

The ‘super-favourites’ Arsene refers to are obviously the holders Barcelona, Bayern Munich and possibly Real Madrid – on their day – but given we can’t draw the Germans in the first knock-out round, as long as we avoided Barca, I’d take anyone.

But before we get carried away, there’s the small matter of winning for the first time against Olympiacos on Greek soil, and winning by the necessary scoreline of course (anything bar 1-0 and 2-1 will do), but the boss was quick to highlight his team would be mentally prepared to deal with any course tomorrow night’s game might take, saying:

We have to put every scenario in our head, it is important we focus on the performance. The results come if we play well so let’s focus on that. When the goal comes I don’t know, but if we play well we have a chance to score. Mentally, you prepare yourself to adapt to every situation and give the right response to every situation you face. We will have to adapt to what is happening on the pitch and to all of the scenarios, accept them and respond. Ideally, you would like to not have to be patient but we might need to be. What is important is that basically the same for every game in Champions League you attack well and defend well, that is the best way, go into the game with a desire to win it and knowing you need to do both sides of the game well. Of course, we have a history where we have positive results. We know we can do it so the best way to do it is with a top-quality performance and that is what we want to focus on.

Meanwhile, Flamini says Arsenal’s vast experience in the competition can help us progress. He said:

Of course this is an important competition for me personally and for the club. We have a good test to prove we have the quality to go through and continue our adventure. Everyone is focused and I will try to help my partners. We are experienced for the big games and I believe we can progress.

I suppose the biggest concern about potentially exiting Europe’s premier competition isn’t that we’ll be out for another year, but the fact we’ll have to play in the Europa League and the adverse effect that competition may have on our domestic title chase.

I think we have to give it our all tomorrow and the team should be focused on scoring at least three goals. Obviously 2-0 would suffice but if we can get three, we’d have room to concede twice and still be in with a chance.

Back with a preview tomorrow.

Until then.

7th December 2015: FA Cup draw, Sanchez award and Gilberto on staying on top

Posted on by TremendArse

Evening all and welcome to a brand new week on TremendArse. Just a couple of days after we played Sunderland at Emirates stadium, the draw for the third round of the FA Cup has been made, and we’ll be playing Sunderland at Emirates stadium. Weird.

But there’s absolutely nothing weird at all about the next bit of Arsenal news today, which is that Alexis Sanchez has been named the Football Supporters’ Federation Footballer of the Year for 2015, becoming the third south American attacker to win the award in a row after Sergio Aguero in 2014 and Luis Suarez in 2013.

After helping us to win the FA Cup in May, scoring a scorcher in the final at Wembley of course, Sanchez then went off and won the Copa America with Chile over the summer to cap off a brilliant first season as a Gunner.

Then after a slow start to this season by his standards, mainly due to his delayed summer hols, the Chilean rediscovered his best form in our win at Leicester City at the end of September by scoring a hat-trick and pretty much maintained it until he pulled his hamstring at Norwich just over a week ago.

On winning the award, Sanchez said:

I’m delighted to receive the FSF Player of the Year award. It’s been a great year for me on the pitch and I’m thrilled it has been recognised by the fans. Arsenal have enjoyed a good start to the season and it was disappointing to pick up an injury at this important time. But I‘m hoping to be back soon to help my team-mates have another successful year.

Whilst Arsene Wenger offered:

Alexis has had a fantastic year – winning the FA Cup with us and the Copa America with Chile. He has made a huge impact on English football since his arrival and I’m very happy that his skill, ability and dedication has been recognised by football fans across the country.

Finally, Kevin Miles, chief executive of the Football Supporters’ Federation, said:

Alexis is a fantastic player who has lit up the Premier League since arriving in 2014. He’s a constant threat and played a huge role in helping Arsenal win the FA Cup last season, including a goal in the final. Thierry Henry called him Arsenal’s best signing of the past six years – and we certainly wouldn’t disagree. He’s a worthy winner of the FSF Player of the Year award.

I’m not sure who Thierry has in mind when he says past six years because for me, Sanchez is the best ‘goalscorer’ signing we’ve made since, well, Thierry himself.

Moving on now though and lastly for today, former Gunner and a member of the Invincibles, Gilberto has been speaking to Arsenal Player about what it takes to sustain a title challenge, saying:

The hardest thing when you achieve this level in your game is to maintain it. To keep it up is the hardest job because it doesn’t depend what you do on the pitch, it depends on injuries, suspensions and also the focus from everyone. It’s important for everyone to be focused on what they have to do, to keep doing their job at the highest level they can. Everyone wants to beat you and of course you want to beat everyone. The confidence is high but you must be careful and not let it go over the limit of what is necessary. You keep going and do your job the right way. It’s important to keep your focus at the maximum level that you can, to maintain it’s very hard, but I hope they can keep it up and end the season with another trophy.

With Francis Coquelin out, what Arsene would give to have a Gilberto in his prime available right now and I guess that’s his challenge in next month’s market – finding a defensive midfielder of similar quality to the Brazilian.

Right, back tomorrow when I’ll start to look ahead to Wednesday night’s make or break Champions League trip to Olympiacos.

Laters.

6th December 2015: Wenger and Ramsey on Sunderland win

Posted on by TremendArse

Welcome back. So another weekend of Premier League football comes to a close and looking back, it was almost the perfect set of results from an Arsenal perspective.

Manchester City and Liverpool lost, Manchester United and Tottenham drew, whilst we managed to beat Sunderland despite having to come to terms with a much-changed line-up because of a spate of injuries to key components of our first-choice selection.

I would revel a little more in Chelsea’s hilarious defeat at home to Bournemouth but a) the Blues are in a relegation battle, not the title race and b) I genuinely expect them to lose every match they play between now and when Jose Mourinho gets handed his p45. When they evade defeat, it comes as more of a shock these days …

Anyway, moving on from London’s worst, to the capital’s top-flight finest, and Arsene Wenger has been talking about his pre-match nerves before yesterday’s game at Emirates stadium and hailing his side’s victory as ‘pivotal’, telling Arsenal Player:

In my mind I was a little bit more nervous than usual because I felt it was a pivotal game. It was our first game without the injured players and we absolutely had to win. We played against a difficult team who were well organised and good on the break, so all the ingredients were there for a disappointing result. Because we hadn’t won for three games people would have said we were in a crisis, so it was important to get the win. We were a bit edgy, a bit nervous, in the first half but in the second half we played with more freedom, fluency and incisiveness which is how we won the game. It was a tough one and if you look at the results in the Premier League it was like that. It’s been a good day for us, because we have won the game and that makes helps us prepare for Olympiacos. Secondly it puts us in an interesting position again and that’s all positive. The squad that was out there for Sunderland – the good news is that we won and that we don’t have any injuries. It makes it obvious for the media to guess who will go to Olympiacos.

Meanwhile, Aaron Ramsey, who marked his return to central midfield with a goal and an assist, discussed the win over Sunderland, the title race, and surprise league-leaders Leicester City, when he spoke to reporters yesterday, saying:

It was very important to get the win after losing one game and drawing another and it was important to get back to winning ways and close the gap on the top and it was nice to do it at home in front of the fans. It (the title race) is really close at the moment. Teams are taking points off each other so it is going to be tight all the way through and it is important to keep ourselves in the race for this busy time and into the New Year and it was a good way to start ahead of December. It felt really good today. I feel a lot more comfortable and it (playing in the middle) suited my game a lot better, I could time my runs into the box and get on the end of things and I could have had two or three goals but at the end of the day I’m happy. It is quite a surprise Leicester are there but full credit to them, they have been exceptional but it is important for ourselves and what we have done today.

A lot was made of Ramsey’s re-stationing in the middle in the build-up to the game and although I felt the team stuttered and failed to find the kind of fluency we’ve become accustomed to seeing from Arsenal these last 12 months or so, that’s to be expected as the balance of the team readjusts.

A bit brief this evening but that’s all for tonight folks.

See you next week.

5th December 2015: Win over Sunderland sends Arsenal second

Posted on by TremendArse

Saturday night salutations. We secured our first Premier League win in four today, as goals by Joel Campbell, Olivier Giroud and Aaron Ramsey helped us to a 3-1 win over Sunderland at Emirates stadium to lift us up to second in the table.

I didn’t catch the opening half-an-hour of the action, thanks to a failed ignition coil in my car which resulted in me having to drive at Per Mertesacker-pace as I returned home from the shops, but from what I’ve read and heard, that wasn’t such a bad thing as the visitors enjoyed the better of the opening third of the match.

Just as I’d found a stream and settled down, Mesut Ozil picked up possession and sliced Sunderland’s defence wide open with a perfectly-weighted through ball on the left, to allow Campbell to guide home our opener without breaking stride after 33 minutes. Apparently, the Costa Rican had begun the game on the right but had swapped flanks with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain shortly before scoring, so it was a timely switch of position to say the least.

From the 15 minutes or so of the first-half I saw, Sunderland were far more adventurous than I had anticipated before the match and drew level on the stroke of half-time as Giroud found the net at the wrong end, clumsily slicing his attempted clearance into his own net following a Sunderland free-kick from our right. It was unfortunate for the Frenchman if I’m honest, with one of their players stepping over the delivery, leaving Giroud with little time to adjust his footing.

Thankfully for the striker and us, he made amends by heading home our second just past the hour mark from a left-wing cross by the typically-industrious Ramsey. After that, Sunderland looked dangerous and created a few openings as the game swung from end to end and both sides gave the ball away with regularity in midfield, but we settled the contest in stoppage time when substitute Calum Chambers fired in a cross-shot from the right and the ball eventually fell to Ramsey who scored via a deflection off their keeper from close-range.

Cue a little hop, skip and jump from Arsene Wenger on the touchline as the Gunners leapfrogged both Manchester City and Manchester United, who lost and drew respectively today, in going second in the table behind an annoyingly consistent Leicester City, who swept aside Swansea thanks to a hat-trick by Riyad Mahrez.

After the game, the boss discussed the game as well as the surprise league-leaders Leicester, telling the BBC:

We started a bit nervous and edgy in the first half. We were unlucky to come in at 1-1, so I was positive. I told the players they still had 45 minutes to win the game, and play with more pace and different angles. You see this Premier League is a battle. Sunderland played a dangerous game on the break. It could have been one of those days, but we kept our determination and the mental aspect was good. We have lost players in the heart of our game, so we had to find a balance again. It took us time to get going. [Premier League leaders] Leicester have been very impressive. The best you can do is to win games, and hope that they drop points, but that is not happening. We go to Olympiakos in midweek, which Leicester don’t do, so they have an advantage in that way too.

I have to say, as much as I’ve been impressed by the Foxes this season, I really can’t see them keeping up this form for the rest of the season. So in terms of the title race, I think it was far more important that City lost, United drew and Tottenham also dropped points today, because I think those teams will eventually prove the bigger threat to both our title and top-four hopes by the end of the season.

Time will tell obviously, but for now, we can stay upbeat, despite all our injury woes, as we look ahead to our crucial midweek date with Olympiacos in Greece.

Til tomorrow.

4th December 2015: Premier League Preview – Ramsey’s return to centre stage

Posted on by TremendArse

Welcome back. We’ll get a first glimpse of a reconfigured Arsenal when we host Sunderland in the 3pm kick-off tomorrow, as we adjust to life without the injured Santi Cazorla and Alexis Sanchez for the foreseeable future.

Taking centre-stage in midfield alongside Mathieu Flamini, will no doubt be Aaron Ramsey, and for the Welshman, it’s a chance to start showing why he deserves to be first pick in the middle of the park, even when everyone is fit again. He’s a different player to Cazorla of course, but what Aaron perhaps lacks in ball control, passing and vision compared to the Spaniard, he can make up for through his greater stamina, goal-getting capabilities and overall dynamism.

The team will need to adjust, either by playing more directly overall, or ensuring Mesut Ozil drops a little deeper to dictate our play in Cazorla’s absence. I read somewhere that no two players in the Premier League have passed to one another more than Cazorla and Ozil, with the Spaniard assisting the German’s assists, as it were. Kind of like Alexander Hleb used to do for Cesc Fabregas several years ago.

Yet when Ozil first arrived at Arsenal near the start of the 2014-15 campaign, the player he seemed to ‘click’ with more than any other was actually Ramsey, and that period coincided with the Welshman enjoying the best form and goal-scoring run of his career to date.

At the time Mikel Arteta was chief distributor alongside Ramsey in the middle, with Ozil ahead of them, so it won’t be quite the same, but if they start to combine as they did in that spell, we might not miss Cazorla as much we think. Ball circulation remains my main concern, as Flamini’s more Gennaro Gattuso than Andrea Pirlo, which is why I’m expecting a slightly deeper Ozil to pick up our Santi-less slack.

In term’s of replacing Sanchez’s qualities, Alex Oxlade Chamberlain needs to start showing the kind of form he did in pre-season and the Community Shield, because to be completely honest, he’s been awful by his standards when given an opportunity to play so far this season.

The boss said a little while ago that the Ox was too critical of himself but he needs to banish the self-doubt and produce what he has shown he’s capable of, which is being a nightmare for opposition fullbacks and an energetic, effervescent, penetrative, goal threat. He also needs to put in the sort of work-rate Sanchez does and show more defensive awareness.

The other options on the left are Joel Campbell and Theo Walcott, although my guess would be that Theo will be eased back into competition with a place on the bench tomorrow. We should be at full strength at the back, which at least gives us a solid base on which to build a slightly new style/system, given the changes in personnel compared to the majority of the season so far.

I’d say my overriding feeling about the team right now is anxiety tinged with excitement. I’m worried by our big-name absences but excited by what the likes of Ramsey and the Ox might produce. And Arsene Wenger highlighted the fact Arsenal remain close to the top of the table, despite being without a win in the league in three matches, and suggested our injury woes were ‘a challenge’ to the rest of the squad to show we can cope. He said:

We have gone through a little bit of a bad spell in recent games, but we are two points off the top. The great opportunity for us is that, despite that bad spell, we are very close. That’s why it’s important that we keep our confidence and our determination very high, and start winning again. It’s always a disappointment to lose players at an important moment of the season. But on the other hand, it’s a great challenge for the team and a great opportunity to show that we are ready for a fight and can deal with it.

The boss also discussed the Black Cats and the impact of their new manager Sam Allardyce, saying:

He has made them much more solid defensively, and much more difficult to beat. That is always very important when a team has a lack of confidence. With Sam Allardyce, you know that you will be confronted with a resilient team, who are quick on the break. They used that well against Crystal Palace for example, when I saw the game, and they have made results recently.

Getting the first goal is always important in games against teams like Sunderland, even more so when they’re managed by arch-pragmatists like Allardyce, because it forces them to come forward once in a while, as opposed to spending the whole game in their own half, time-wasting, spoiling, fouling and hoping for a lucky break from a set-piece to win them the game.

So a fast start and an early goal would be perfect and set us up nicely to hit them for six, which would send us top after Man City succumb to Stoke, United get hammered at home by West Ham, and Swansea burst high-flying Leicester’s bubble thanks to a Jonjo Shelvey-inspired supershow …

Back after the game.

COYG!

3rd December 2015: Arsenal send Dead Snake to scout Porto teen Ruben Neves

Posted on by TremendArse

Boa tarde. With the January transfer window on the horizon and Arsenal now just one injury away from having to play Ken Friar as our defensive midfielder, I suppose it’s inevitable transfer links to players from all over the place will begin to burgeon like Diego Costa’s waistline during the off-season.

Supposed interest from the Gunners in Porto’s 18 year old central midfielder Ruben Neves has been reported several times since the summer, but today, an article in Portuguese publication O Jogo claims our former winger Luis Boa Morte has been to watch the teenager on Arsenal’s behalf and that a move next month is on the cards.

For a bit of background, Neves is currently enjoying his second full season with Porto’s first-team, having scored and been named man-of-the-match on his full debut in his club’s opening league fixture of last term. Aged just 17 years and five months at the time, that strike made him his club’s youngest ever league goalscorer. This season, he’s broken another record, becoming the youngest-ever player to captain a side in the Champions League, when, aged 18 years and 221 days, he helped Porto to a 2-0 win over Maccabi Tel Aviv a couple of months ago.

Christian Tello, on loan at Porto from Barcelona, has likened Neves’ style of play to that of Sergio Busquets, whilst the youngster has also drawn comparisons from some quarters to his compatriot Joao Moutinho. If I’m honest, I haven’t seen him play, aside from a few short YouTube highlights, but judging by his standing in Portugal and the fact he’s reportedly being tracked by most of Europe’s leading clubs, he must be quite a talent.

Having dug around a little online, his standout qualities seem to be his maturity, despite the tender years, as well as his passing, tactical intelligence and aggression. At 18, he’s still got growing to do both in terms of his physique and his overall footballing ability but perhaps he’s the perfect age to share the defensive midfield role with Francis Coquelin.

No matter how good Neves already is, were he to make the switch to north London, he’d learn not only from one of the best managers in the world for young players in Arsene Wenger, but he’d also benefit from working alongside arguably the best out-and-out defensive midfielder on the planet right now in Coquelin. Okay not right now, because he’s done his knee ligaments, but you know what I mean. And yes, that’s how highly I rate Francis.

Neves has a contract with Porto that runs until June 2019, with a release clause of 40 million euros, so if we really, really want him, we can in theory have him, provided we cough up the requisite cash. That’s the good news.

The perhaps not-so-good is that his agent is Jorge Mendes, who Arsene recently revealed he’s never dealt with since narrowly losing out on signing another of his clients, a certain Cristiano Ronaldo, 12 years ago. That said, the boss didn’t rule out future deals with Mendes, suggesting he’s never shown real interest in any other Mendes-managed players since.

The other issue is the likelihood of fierce competition for Neves’s services from other clubs, including Spain’s big two, who you’d imagine would have a far greater pull for a Portuguese player than us. In a way then, this coming January might actually represent our best chance of buying him given how interest will surely only heighten from elsewhere if he continues to progress as a player at his current rate.

There’s also the fact that Porto’s president is on record as saying:

We would like to keep him (Neves) at FC Porto, as a kind of Joao Pinto. That is, he was a symbol and legend of the progress of the club for several generations. I never want him to leave Porto.

With Neves responding:

To hear the president say that he wants to make me a symbol of the club? It’s fantastic. This made me feel very proud. I am under contract until June 2019 and, at the moment, I am only thinking about the club achieving its goals.

‘At the moment’. It’s still all speculation of course, but at the very least, I think we can add Neves’ name to the list of possible defensive midfield purchases alongside the likes of his compatriot William Carvalho, Barcelona’s Sergi Samper, Bayer Leverkusen’s Lars Bender and Sevilla’s Grzegorz Krychowiak, having had to scrub off Geoffrey Kondogbia and Morgan Schneiderlin after they changed clubs last summer.

Elsewhere, the boss ‘updated’ us on team news via the official site, revealing Laurent Koscielny and Theo Walcott “could both make the squad” for Saturday’s game against Sunderland, Kieran Gibbs will be available but how long Alexis Sanchez, Mikel Arteta and Santi Cazorla are out for is still unknown.

I guess we might get more information at the boss’ pre-game press conference tomorrow, as well as his thoughts on lots of other stuff, maybe even Ruben Neves.

Back on Friday.

2nd December 2015: Cazorla woe, Monreal on London and Gabriel talks Wembley

Posted on by TremendArse

Evening all. Although not yet confirmed by the club, widespread reports today claim Santi Cazorla’s knee injury will keep him out of action for ‘at least the next three months’.

There’s not much more to add really, given the news is far from unexpected and I’ve gone over what our Santi-less options are over the last couple of days.

All I will say is that Aaron Ramsey now needs to really step up in the Spaniard’s absence and prove he’s worthy of playing there long-term, by helping us win enough games to sustain our title challenge for the rest of the season. One man’s misery can be another’s opportunity, or something.

Moving on from our injury woes and onto something a little more positive now, and Nacho Monreal has been speaking with the Arsenal Weekly podcast about how he’s settled into life in London following his move from Malaga almost two years ago. He said:

Everything feels right. I can say that I feel at home on and off the pitch. If you don’t feel good off the pitch and in life in general, obviously you can’t give 100 per cent. However, at the moment, I love England, I love London and I love my team-mates so everything is positive. When I arrived here I knew that the first thing I had to do was learn English because, if you want to speak to your team-mates, the staff and anyone here, you need to learn the language. It was difficult for me because I’m very bad with different languages but I am trying. Mikel, Santi and Hector were very helpful for me because I didn’t speak English when I arrived, I didn’t understand anything, so every time I had a problem or didn’t understand something they explained it to me. Even in the evenings, sometimes you have nothing to do and you can spend your time with them. They helped me a lot.

Meanwhile, Gabriel, who like Monreal the year before, joined the club in the January transfer window last season, has been discussing his stand-out memory of his first year in North London. He told Arsenal Player:

It is something I’ll remember for the rest of my life, winning my first trophy with Arsenal, and the most important of my career. I spent a whole week just thinking about this game, and the fact that it was at Wembley, a stadium that everyone around the world knows. The thought of setting foot on such a legendary pitch, in this magnificent stadium, was amazing. I was lucky enough to play in the semi-final and the final was very emotional for me too. It was great to win a trophy so soon after arriving at the club, and also very important for my family. It was great to see the whole squad so happy at achieving our goal.

Although managers often bemoan the lack of options available in the winter window, Monreal and Gabriel are proof that quality can be purchased if you look hard enough and do your homework before hand. Considering how stretched our squad has become in recent weeks due to injuries, we clearly have an urgent need to strengthen in midfield in next month’s market.

With Mikel Arteta and Mathieu Flamini in the final year of their contracts, there’s no worry over becoming over-stocked in that area once the likes of Cazorla, Coquelin and Wilshere regain full fitness. We need at least one new central midfielder, lets make sure we pay what’s required and get him in as early as possible after the New Year.

Back tomorrow.