Koscielny

29th November 2015: Triple injury blow as we’re held at Norwich

Posted on by TremendArse

I suppose the first thing to say after today’s 1-1 draw at Norwich is: thank f*ck that was our last fixture of November.

Traditionally a difficult month for the club, the inexplicable trend continued this year, as we picked up just two points from three Premier League fixtures.

And having lost Francis Coquelin to long-term injury last weekend, three more key players picked up knocks today after Laurent Koscielny injured his hip, Alexis Sanchez, who went into the game with ‘a little hamstring alarm’ according to Arsene Wenger, er, pulled his hamstring, and Santi Cazorla sustained a knee injury, finishing the match playing ‘on one leg’ according to the boss.

Next year, I suggest we boycott November football, forfeit all our games and take the squad on a gentle, warm-weather training trip to somewhere like Dubai, just to keep them fresh and fit. It’s not like we pick up many points at this time of year …

On the bright side, we didn’t lose today and Mesut Ozil scored again with a delicious chip from a rapidly-executed through ball by Sanchez, following a poor clearance by Norwich’s keeper after 30 minutes.

Before then, Koscielny had already damaged his hip in what was an innocuous-looking block before we’d played ten minutes. Gabriel replaced him and when Norwich put together a rare first-half attack and the ball found it’s way to Lewis Grabban inside our area, the Brazilian defender was poorly positioned and thus unable to prevent Grabban from coolly sliding the ball past Petr Cech for 1-1 after 43 minutes.

We then wobbled a little and the home side nearly matched West Brom’s feat from a week ago by responding to our opener with a quick-fire, first-half double, but one of their players could only guide a right-wing cross over the bar at the far post. Phew.

The second half began with us regaining the kind of control on proceedings we’d enjoyed for most of the first period, only for Sanchez to pull up clutching his hamstring after an hour, forcing the boss to replace him with Joel Campbell. After that, Norwich grew more confident, forcing Cech into one particularly impressive save low down to the left.

I thought we actually played well for the most of the match, apart from Olivier Giroud, who if I’m honest, may as well have not been there for all he contributed. Maybe it was just a bad day at the office for the Frenchman but as a striker, he needs to take up far better positions in the box to attack crosses and be a little quicker in his reading of where team-mates might put the ball. I thought he was sluggish, to say the least, today and we need better from our front-man than what he offered this afternoon.

In the context of the title race, the draw keeps us in fourth spot, a point behind Manchester United and two adrift of joint-leaders Leicester and Manchester City. After the game, Arsene reflected on his side’s performance, saying:

It was a difficult game. We played against a Norwich side that was at the top level physically and focused. They were well organised and they played every time with 10 players in their own half, and we were not incisive enough. Maybe the turning point of the game was maybe we dropped a little bit after scoring straight away and allowed them back into the game. In the second half I felt we had to dig deep to get though as we were a bit jaded and we lost players. Cazorla played on one leg and of course we played Kosicelny at the start of the game so it was, I would say, a fair point for Norwich and it was on the injury front a bad afternoon for us.

So pretty magnanimous stuff from the boss there and although the result today is far from disastrous in terms of our title ambitions, another trio of injuries to some of our most important players may well turn out to be.

In successive weekends now, aside from dropping five points from the six available, we’ve lost our best defensive midfielder, our best attacker, our best defender and, in Cazorla, possibly also the man who makes us tick from the middle of the park.

At this point I’m not sure what we can say or do other than pray they aren’t sidelined for too long. Because the thought of going into next weekend’s game against a rejuvenated Sunderland at Emirates stadium, before travelling to Greece for our make-or-break Champions League game against Olympiacos, without Koscielny, Coquelin, Cazorla and Sanchez, is pretty scary.

See you next week and try not to get injured in the meantime. Evidently, it’s catching, if you’ve got anything to do with Arsenal at the moment.

19th November 2015: Wenger talks team news, contracts and West Brom

Posted on by TremendArse

Evening all. Arsene Wenger held his pre-West Brom press conference this morning, as we look forward to the return of Premier League football in a couple of days’ time.

Team news is that Hector Bellerin is fit and available again after missing both our trip to Bayern Munich and the home encounter with Tottenham before the international break.

But Aaron Ramsey and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain won’t won’t be risked for the Hawthorns, with the boss saying the pair should be available from Monday. And on Theo Walcott, Tomas Rosicky, Jack Wilshere and Danny Welbeck, he said:

He (Walcott) is doing well, he could be a bit ahead of schedule but still you count a few weeks more while Rosicky, Wilshere, Welbeck will be later.

Following the tragic events of late last week in Paris, Laurent Koscielny was visibly emotional on Tuesday evening as England hosted France at Wembley, and when Arsene was asked if his defender would be in the right frame of mind to play this weekend, he said:

I will talk with him. It’s a big game for us. I have not talked to him yet, but I will talk to him to see if he’s completely recovered and focused.

Arsene also remarked that he thought Laurent was a different player against England from the one he saw enjoy a fine performance against Germany on Friday. He followed up by saying that every player needs to be completely focused on the task at hand in the Premier League, so if there is any doubt at all in Laurent’s mind that he’s ready, the boss won’t select him.

Obviously only the player himself can say how he’s feeling but it’s reassuring to know we have a well-rested Per Mertesacker and Gabriel, in case that’s the partnership we need to go with.

Moving on and there have been reports over the past few days that Alexis Sanchez was nearing an agreement on an extension to his contract with the club and that Mesut Ozil would follow suit shortly. But Arsene revealed today that although he’ll sit down with the pair in the coming months, no negotiations have yet begun with either player:

We have not started to talk about that (a new contract) with Mesut. We are in the same situation (with Alexis). At the end of the year they have two-and-a-half years left on their contract so we still have some time. We are not in a hurry. Of course we want them to stay here at the club and we will start the negotiations at some stage. At the moment we have not started them.

Reassuringly however, Arsene suggested there would be no repeat of players running there contracts down to the last year like Robin van Persie or Samir Nasri, or to it’s end like Bacary Sagna, because the club was ‘in a stronger position to negotiate.’

Finally for today, the boss was asked what he made of Saturday’s opponents West Brom, and said:

I watched them against Man United and they looked a very well organised team which is absolutely – as always with Tony Pulis – fully committed. On top of that they are in a difficult situation a little bit in the Premier League and you expect what you always expect in the Premier League – a committed, physical, fast game and a game where we cannot afford to make any mistakes. I would even say that you don’t even look at the table any more because you know what you get. The difference between the teams has narrowed and today it is more about how much can you be close to your best which will decide the result, more than the team you play against.

I’ll be honest, I’ve paid next to no attention to how West Brom have performed so far this season but they have some dangerous attackers and will no doubt prove highly organised opposition.

That said, we’ve been sensational on our travels in the league so far this term so, as always, I’m confident we can secure all three points.

Back with more on Friday.

Til then.

7th November 2015: Premier League Preview – We should have too much for Tottenham

Posted on by TremendArse

Greetings Gooners. After our obliteration at the hands of Bayern Munich in midweek, we have the chance to prove we haven’t been deterred from our domestic title challenge when we host Tottenham tomorrow.

We’ll be seeking to secure our sixth consecutive Premier League victory by beating Spurs, so cup woes aside, we’re in great form. Our neighbours aren’t in bad nick themselves of course, sitting five points and four places adrift of us in sixth, and unbeaten in their last ten games in the league. So we’re in for a tough game, made all the more testing by our injury troubles at the moment.

I’m expecting Laurent Koscielny to be passed fit given Arsene Wenger gave him such a high percentage chance of doing so yesterday, as well as the fact he was part of full training earlier this morning if these pictures are anything to go by. Whether he comes in to replace Per Mertesacker or Gabriel is anybody’s guess, seeing as neither of them covered themselves in glory with their performances in Germany.

Elsewhere in the team, I think we’ll be unchanged purely because of the lack of options presently available to the boss. That would mean another start for Joel Campbell – his first-ever Premier League one at Emirates stadium – and hopefully he can perform more like he did at Swansea than he managed to against Bayern.

That goes for most of the team though, and against a Spurs side who have the youngest average age in the league at present, we’ll need to match their work-rate first and foremost, which should lead to our undeniably superior quality shining through.

The fixture itself needs no hyping of course, partly because Sky have been doing that for about a month now, but mainly because the two clubs and sets of fans like each other as much as Wayne Rooney does sticking to an athlete’s diet, which ensures the matches are always atmospheric and keenly contested.

The boss has obviously overseen his fair share of them over the years and has been discussing the north London derby with Arsenal Player, saying:

It’s a special game because it’s always special between the two north London clubs. It’s a game with a big importance in the table and psychologically it has a big meaning. It is always a special game and a game where you want to come out on top. I agree about the power, energy and electricity around the game. It’s more the feeling [that stays with you]. I remember when we won the championship there, and our last game in the League Cup was a frenetic game. But the energy, the intensity, the commitment, the happiness when you’re [winning] – that’s what remains with you.

Just very quickly, if I was to name a few of stand-out derby moments they would, in no particular order, be the title-winning game at White Hart Lane in 2004 and the two sublime goals we scored that day, Kanu’s flick and finish in what I think was a 3-1 midweek win in 1999, Thierry’s run from his own half at Highbury, Ian Wright twisting one way then the other, before crossing from the right to Dennis Bergkamp on the left, who took a glorious touch inside his marker before smashing it home, and of course, Tony Adams’ volley in the same game. (Get well soon Tony!)

To be honest, I, like I’m sure you, could go on all day so I’ll leave it there. Alright one more, Emmanuel Adebayor’s flick up and volley at the Lane – WHAT a goal that was, untainted by his subsequent career path, for me anyway. There’s soooo many to choose from dammit. Maybe I’ll dedicate a post to special moments against Spurs before the next derby when I have more time.

Right, hopefully that little trip down memory lane has got you up for the game, not that I’m sure you needed it, and we can add another Gunners victory over our shadow-dwellers to our memories at full-time tomorrow.

Back post-match.

COME ON YOU ARSENAL! 

6th November 2015: Koscielny faces fitness test but Bellerin ruled out of NLD

Posted on by TremendArse

Evening all. As we prepare to bring a marathon run of seven games in 21 days to a close by hosting Tottenham on Sunday, Arsene Wenger has revealed the latest team news at his pre-match press conference earlier today.

According to the boss, Laurent Koscielny has an 80 percent chance of recovering from the hip injury that kept him out of our defeat at Bayern Munich on Wednesday, and along with Mikel Arteta, faces a fitness test ahead of the game.

But Hector Bellerin has been ruled out until after the upcoming international break. Mathieu Debuchy will therefore play in what, I think, will be his first Premier League start of the season, and Arsene says his French right-back is nearing peak match-fitness:

Mathieu needed a little competition. Game after game he has basic fitness and now with another game he should be better.

Let’s hope so. I mean, if we could see the Mathieu Debuchy of early last season, the one with the mohican hair-cut, determined attitude and high levels of self-confidence, as opposed to the sluggish, distant and defensively suspect version we’ve seen this, then that would obviously help our cause no end against Spurs and their youthful, high-energy side.

And perhaps we will, finally. As the boss says, Mathieu is improving physically game by game and now nearing his best shape. I do wonder if all he actually needs is just a trip to the barbers though …

Of course every Premier League game is a ‘big’ one for us at the moment as we try to match Manchester City stride for stride at the top of the table, but being the north London derby obviously gives this fixture added significance, even more so as we look to put our midweek mauling in the Champions League behind us.

Arsene was asked about the rivalry between the two north London clubs and whether ‘the gap’ between them had narrowed but he remained modest and insisted:

They have been a threat every year since I’ve been here. In the last 20 years, they always had very strong teams and let’s not forget that some periods we were eight or nine points behind them in April, so they have had very strong teams. This year they are younger, they work very hard and they will be a tough opponent again – they are every year. I enjoy [the derby] because I believe that what you want in football is to play games that are important and where there is an excitement in the preparation, games that have meaning for everybody. Football can give special emotions to people and you want to be part of that.

As much as I respect Arsene for being typically polite and professional, I’d have loved for him to have just shrugged and said:

Spurs? Well, they’re a bit shit, they’ve always been a bit shit, and they’ll always be a bit on the shit side – the gap’s more a colossal chasm.

But I suppose we have Jack Wilshere to tell it like it is when it comes to that lot, so we shouldn’t complain. Anyway, moving away from the derby for now and the boss has been fulsome in his praise for summer signing Petr Cech.

Calling him one of the greatest ‘keepers to ever play on these shores, Arsene suggested the former Chelsea man could play on for a good four or five years yet, despite being 33 already, and said he wasn’t surprised Cech was closing in on David James’ record of 169 Premier League clean sheets, saying:

I believe that there is no coincidence. What is repeated is not coincidence, it is just class. As well, not only class but dedication and consistency of quality. Knowing him well now after a few months, I’m not surprised by this kind of achievement because he is absolutely dedicated to his job, he analyses absolutely everything and is gifted as well. He is a super talent. He is certainly one of the greatest goalkeepers we have ever seen here in this country. He plays in a position where age is less of a restriction than in any other job. Until 37 or 38 I consider that a goalkeeper can be completely able to play at this level.

To add a bit of context, Cech has managed 167 clean sheets so far from just 337 games, whereas it took James 567 to set his record.

But it’s not just in England Cech’s eyeing top spot for shut-outs, he’s currently third in the Champions League list with 45, behind only Edwin van de Sar who has 50, and Iker Casillas who’s managed 51. Again though, Cech has achieved his haul in far fewer games, having played 107 compared to Casillas’ 153.

There will be those who try to taint Cech’s achievements by pointing out he was massively aided by Chelsea being the most defensive-minded club side in history, over this past decade or so, but that would be unfair.

Yes the Blues have parked the bus most weeks since 2004, but behind that bus they’ve undoubtedly had one of the finest goalkeepers of the modern era. I’m just glad we can now call him ours and that he’ll set those records as a Gunner.

Back with a Spurs-preview on Saturday.

Have a good one.

31st October 2015: Mature Arsenal find it easy in Swansea

Posted on by TremendArse

Happy Halloween Gooners. We suffered a few first-half frights at the Liberty Stadium this afternoon, before emerging 3-0 winners over Swansea City to secure our fifth consecutive Premier League success and stay joint-top of the table.

Olivier Giroud and Laurent Koscielny, who both scored in our win over Everton last Saturday, repeated the feat today to put us two goals ahead before Joel Campbell marked a hard-working, first-ever Premier League start with our third to wrap up the points.

Arsene Wenger picked the expected team, with Campbell playing on the right and those rested for Tuesday night’s Capital One Cup defeat to Sheffield Wednesday returning to the starting eleven.

The game as a whole had more than a passing resemblance with our last away game in the league at Watford; a fairly even first half on a big, slow, demanding pitch, with a couple of chances at either end before we scored three times in the second period, kept a clean sheet and ran out comfortable winners.

As expected, Jefferson Montero was a big threat on the hosts’ left flank but after struggling to contain the Ecuadorian in the early exchanges, a bit like he did against Bayern Munich’s Douglas Costa recently, Hector Bellerin grew into the game and nullified his direct opponent’s threat, this time with a little help from the industrious Campbell ahead of him.

Nacho Monreal had the first clear chance of the game but dragged his shot wide when he really should have hit the target, or picked out Mesut Ozil who was well-positioned in the middle. A superb pass by Alexis Sanchez then created our best opening of the first-half for Giroud, but the Frenchman’s first-time shot was perhaps a little rushed and he stroked it over the cross-bar. Campbell had a similar effort from a little further out but also missed the target.

Yet the best chance in the first 45 fell to Bafetimbi Gomis at the other end. Jonjo Shelvey split our defence with a slide-rule pass as Per Mertesacker decided to step up in an attempt to play offside, ignoring his partner Koscielny’s deeper positioning, and the striker raced clear towards Petr Cech.

But Cech didn’t panic, didn’t slide in or go to ground early to make it easy for Gomis, he stood firm for as long as possible, which meant when the striker eventually tried to round him, Bellerin had been afforded just enough time to race back and intervene, poking the ball away before Gomis could apply a finish.

To be fair, a less cumbersome forward would probably have scored given that much time but Bellerin and Cech in particular, did brilliantly to keep the score at nil-nil. It was another imperious performance by the former Chelsea ‘keeper I thought, as he claimed crosses, dealt with shots with ease and varied his distribution intelligently, to either launch quick counter attacks or delay releasing the ball to allow us time to reorganize and take the sting out of periods of Swansea pressure.

I must admit I’ve never placed as much importance on a keeper’s influence on a side as most, but after witnessing the difference Cech’s made, I say go out and spend big on the best we can find once Petr calls it a day. Hopefully that won’t be for a good number of years yet and in the meantime we can enjoy having arguably, on current form at least, the world’s best between the sticks. So once again, cheers Chelsea.

But on to the second half and we took the lead just four minutes into it. Ozil swung in a corner from the left and Giroud produced text-book movement to bamboozle his marker, taking a few steps towards the front post before checking, which allowed him to nod home unmarked and unchallenged.

Our second arrived after 68 minutes and owed a little to both dodgy keeping by former Gunner Lukasz Fabianski, as well as remarkably sensible officiating. I mean, usually, when there are opposition players within a mile of a keeper as he comes to claim a high ball, he’ll get a free-kick. Not today though, and it was refreshing. The ball came in, Giroud and Koscielny rose, made little or no contact with Fabianski, who flapped, couldn’t trap the ball or punch it clear, and it dropped to Laurent who spun and gleefully turned it into an empty net.

Swansea’s players and manager looked outraged but I’m guessing that on reflection, they’ll be blaming their ‘keeper rather than the referee. Where I would have sympathy for them, is the fact that in 99 percent of instances such as this one, they’d have got a free-kick regardless of whether their was any foul.

Anyway, our third goal arrived five minutes later and no player was more deserving in terms of how hard he worked than Campbell. After neat, intricate passing on our left, Ozil crossed low and found the Costa Rican at the far post, who took a touch and struck it home into the far corner.

I don’t know what it is but I like us having a left-footed player cutting in from the right of our attack, and not just for the symmetry it provides with Sanchez on the opposite flank. It feels we can get more shots off and aide the efficiency of our attacking, not than I have any stats to prove it or anything.

So after going three-nil up, Campbell, by now brimming with confidence, led a counter on the left and let fly from distance only to cut across the ball and skew it wide. There were other chances too, Ozil going close and Sanchez on the follow up, but in the end we had to make do with just the three, which makes it 11 goals scored and just two conceded in our three away league fixtures since losing to Mike Dean at Stamford Bridge in September.

Back with post match reaction etc tomorrow.

Have a good one league-leaders.

24th October 2015: Giroud and Koscielny goals send Arsenal top

Posted on by TremendArse

Happy Saturday Gooners. The clocks may go back tonight but Arsenal continue to march forward in the title race.

Goals by Olivier Giroud and Laurent Koscielny secured a 2-1 win over Everton at a rain-soaked Emirates stadium today, to make the Gunners league leaders for the first time in 20 months.

Of course, one of the two Manchester clubs could dislodge us from the top of the table as early as tomorrow, but for tonight at least, we can enjoy being in pole position in the Premier League.

After Tuesday night’s exertions against Bayern Munich, Arsene Wenger decided/was forced to freshen things up; he recalled Gabriel in place of Per Mertesacker, who was missing through illness, and as expected, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain came into the side for the injured Aaron Ramsey. Giroud started up front at the expense of a benched Theo Walcott for the third and final change to our starting line-up from midweek.

And it was the Frenchman who gave us the lead after 36 minutes. Mesut Ozil drifted to the right and his precise, lofted ball into the centre was glanced home by Giroud. It was a superb assist from Ozil and typified another classy, hard-running performance by our German playmaker.

Two minutes later, we doubled our lead in similar circumstances. Alexis Sanchez was brought down on the left, Santi Cazorla took the resulting free-kick and produced a wicked, in-swinging ball for Koscielny to nod past Tim Howard.

To be fair, for both goals, the Everton defending was woeful, as our Gallic duo took it in turns to saunter into Howard’s six-yard box unchallenged, yet we did look a threat from set plays all game long and it seems being more productive from these situations is something the squad have discussed and worked on in training.

Then, just before half-time, Oxlade-Chamberlain picked up possession on the edge of the Everton box with Hector Bellerin unmarked and in space to his right, but chose to shoot rather than play in his team-mate on the overlap. His effort was blocked and the visitors launched a counter attack which resulted in them pulling a goal back. The lively, if a little divey, Gerard Deulofeu led the break and picked out Ross Barkley with a neat, cross-field pass.

Barkley strode forward and looked to have lost momentum but composed himself to fire a left-footed strike from just outside the area and saw his effort deflected past a helpless Petr Cech off an attempted block by Gabriel. It was unlucky on the Brazilian but meant we went from nearly being three up and having the game won by half-time, to facing another difficult 45 minutes after the interval.

Both sides had chances in the second half; Giroud saw an acrobatic attempt after a headed one-two with Oxlade-Chamberlain saved by Howard, before hitting the bar with another effort. Substitute Mathieu Flamini headed straight at their goalkeeper when he found himself on the end of a pin-point, right-wing cross by Sanchez, and Ozil hit the outside of a post after great individual work on the right.

Everton also hit the woodwork, with Romelu Lukaku’s header caressing the top of the cross-bar for what was the closest they came to an equaliser. Cech once again proved his worth by racing off his line and closing down the angle for Deulofeu when the former Barcelona man had a clear sight of our goal, and Gabriel produced a crucial tackle in our box towards the end of the game before celebrating his intervention like he’d just scored our third.

Despite visibly dropping off physically in the second half, we managed to see out the win and I have to say we have gone from being castigated regularly for supposedly having a lack of ‘know-how’ in recent seasons, to a team brimful of brains. In attack Sanchez sets the hard-working tone, Francis Coquelin and Cazorla are efficient and industrious in the middle of the park and Cech’s presence in goal is huge in more than one sense.

There seems to be a shared vision and determination amongst the players and it’s exciting to see. We now travel to Sheffield Wednesday in the Capital One Cup on, er, Wednesday*, and I’m sure we’ll see wholesale changes to afford most of our first-choice selection a very well-deserved rest after what’s been a perfect week.

Back with more thoughts on the game and post-match reaction on Sunday.

Laters.

* Correction: we play The Owls on Tuesday.

22nd October 2015: Ozil, Walcott and Koscielny disect Bayern win

Posted on by TremendArse

Evening all. The dust may have settled on our brilliant win over Bayern Munich on Tuesday but the performance and result deserve a little more reflection I feel, so it’s handy a few of the players have been doing just that.

First up it’s Mesut Ozil who discussed the match, said he thought Arsenal were deserved victors and praised the support from the stands, telling Arsenal Player:

Firstly we’re very, very happy. To win against Bayern Munich is really hard and we knew that it would be a tough game but you could see during the match that we created a lot of opportunities, especially in the first half, when Manuel Neuer made some superb saves. But ultimately I think we deserved to win. They had more possession but we had the clearer chances and that’s why we’re really pleased to have got the three points today. We concentrated from the first minute until the last minute. We believed in ourselves and we knew that we had made massive mistakes in the first two games. Today was our last chance – we had to win. We did that and now we’re back in the game. We’re all the happier for that. We showed heart and the fans supported us superbly. The most important thing is the three points. We have to believe in ourselves, keep working hard and then we’ll be on a good path.

The German midfielder also discussed his personal form and his game-settling late goal against Bayern, saying:

I’m really satisfied with my performances. I’m on a good way, I feel at ease and you can see that the team and the manager give me their trust. [For my goal] I had a shot at goal and Manuel saved it brilliantly. After two or three seconds I saw that the referee was signalling a goal and I was relieved. It was clear that we had won the game at that point and I’m pleased with that.

That’s two goals and six assists for the former Real Madrid man in all competitions so far this season and after Arsene Wenger suggested his record signing had more goals in him, and could be a genuine contender for Player of the Year in England, Ozil’s made a quietly impressive start to his third season with the club.

But such is the magnitude of his talent, I’m still left feeling he can contribute even more. More goals, more assists and more games where he is the stand-out performer on the pitch. Of course, his laid-back style means he’s often wrongly perceived to not be putting in the hard yards, but a look at his distance covered stats soon dispels any notions of laziness. He works as hard as anybody, links the play, creates chance after chance and is now, alongside Santi Cazorla and Alexis Sanchez, one of the three most influential players in our starting selection.

Meanwhile, Theo Walcott gave his take on the Bayern game, highlighting patience as a key ingredient in securing the win and praising team-mate Petr Cech’s performance in goal, saying:

It was just one of those days when we had to be patient. We knew we were not going to have a lot of the ball and we had to go at them on the counter-attack. You can’t just chase them – if you chase the ball you just get passed around and you are going to lose so much energy. There is no need to do that. You just have to bide your time. Once they lose the ball they pressure quite quickly. If you can counteract that first pressure you have a chance. We were getting at them while we could and dropping back while we had to and obviously the goals came at great stages. Everyone did their jobs really well and I have to say Petr in goal was fantastic and made a number of very, very important saves. Everyone worked really hard and deserved it.

The bit about not over-exerting themselves by blindly chasing after Bayern shirts at every opportunity is interesting because there were times on Tuesday night when I was imploring Theo to do just that as the German’s casually knocked the ball between their defensive line. Now I realise it was a very deliberate conservation of energy which of course makes perfect sense. Shows what I know.

Finally, Laurent Koscielny, who added Robert Lewandowski’s name to a long list of the world’s most feared attackers he’s helped to keep from scoring against us, has also been speaking about the game, discussing collective defending and altering the team’s usual style-of-play. He told Arsenal Player:

Defensively we were together like a unit, we defended to help our team-mates and we played on the counter-attack. I think we were good and we had a lot of potential to score. Bayern hadn’t lost a game this season so it was very hard and tough for us but sometimes you need to play differently and everybody in front [of the defence] did their job well – it was very good and we need to keep this for the season. You can see the team were very focused in their defensive job and it is very important to keep this for the rest of the season because for the first two games of the Champions League we did not play very well. But here we saw a very good face of Arsenal and we need to keep this for the other games because I like I said before sometimes it is more difficult but you need to be stronger when you defend.

Right, time to turn our attentions back to the Premier League and Arsene provided an injury update earlier today which confirmed Aaron Ramsey would be out for a while with a hamstring tear, David Ospina will miss out this weekend with the shoulder injury he picked up on international duty, and the three long-termers, Danny Welbeck, Jack Wilshere and Tomas Rosicky, are still expected back around the New Year.

Back Friday.

8th October 2015: Stars align to create our formation

Posted on by TremendArse

Like lots of things in life, the formulation of a football team owes as much to chance and timing as it does to carefully considered construction. None more so than our current first-choice selection in my opinion, which, when you scan through it, is full of near-misses, unlikely success-stories and unforeseen captures.

Take Petr Cech, who would even have dreamed the Chelsea legend would swap Stamford Bridge for Emirates stadium a year ago? Or Hector Bellerin, how many gave him a chance of becoming our undisputed first-choice at right-back in the summer of 2014?

If you replace Gabriel with Laurent Koscienly from Sunday’s starting line-up against Manchester United, you’d be left with most observers’ best Arsenal 11 and you could say every player’s success, or mere presence on the list, is a surprise in one way or the other.

Per Mertesacker? Written off as too slow for the Premier League only to become one half of arguably the best central defensive pairing in the league. Indeed, his usual accomplice in pocketing attackers, Koscielny, was considered a liability at the back a few years ago, yet is now rated as one of the best in the business in his position.

Nacho Monreal was never a good enough left-back people insisted, myself included, yet a spell at centre-back last season brought out a more tenacious side to his game, improved his aerial ability and now you’d struggle to name a better left-sided full-back in the division.

Then there’s Francis Coquelin. Renaissance Coquelin more like, from on-loan at Charlton and a failed left-winger in Germany with Freiburg, to statistically the best defensive midfielder in Europe. Mind-boggling. Alexis Sanchez’s arrival from Barcelona – if you saw that coming, even at the start of summer 2014, you’re either high up the Barcelona hierarchy or a big, fat, liar. Ditto Mesut Ozil. Completely out of the blue.

Aaron Ramsey struggled in his early years, enjoyed a stunningly prolific goal-scoring season in 2013-2014, which was completely unexpected after failing to convince for a number of years, albeit very early ones in his career, was booed by sections of the home support and is now playing very, very well in a new position on the right, providing our side with vital balance.

On to Theo Walcott. In all honesty, I’ve been championing his cause as a striker for years amongst friends, and for the last few months on this blog, yet even I’m slightly surprised at quite how quickly and smoothly he’s taken to the role. I thought it would take him a longer stretch of games to settle up front than it appears to have done.

I’ve left Santi Cazorla until last because not only has his reincarnation as a deep-lying, game-controlling, creative yet defensive, all-action maestro been startling considering his past as either a more advanced number 10 or wide player, but Arsene Wenger has also admitted he was uncertain whether the diminutive Spaniard was physically compatible with a fast, ferocious English top flight. Speaking to Arsenal.com, the boss said:

You could question whether he was physically equipped to play in the tough Premier League. It’s true that I had that doubt, but his quality was so big that I was ready to take that gamble. His technical quality, his right foot, left foot, his availability, his vision and the quality of his passing made me go for it. I thought, ‘If there is a team in the Premier League where he has a chance to make it, it’s with us.’ That’s why I went for it.

Arsene also revealed he’d been aware of Santi’s talents years ago and that Invincible Robert Pires, who played with him at Villarreal, had raved about Cazorla’s quality:

After that Robert Pires moved to Villarreal and played with him. Sometimes I asked Robert, ‘Are there any good players there?’. He said to me straight away, ‘Cazorla is a fantastic player’. So Robert was a scout for me! He at least confirmed the impression I already had about Santi.

Anyway, whether it’s luck, coincidence, cultivation or a concoction of all three, our current selection have a mouth-watering chemistry if Sunday’s showing is anything to go by and I can’t wait to see what they can achieve assuming they stay fit.

Finally for today, the FA have fined and warned both Arsenal and Chelsea following the scandalous clash at the Bridge last month when Diego Costa cheated his side to victory, and some of our fixtures around the Christmas period have been moved around for television.

Back Friday.

3rd October 2015: Premier League Preview – Win against United long overdue

Posted on by TremendArse

Happy Saturday. Unless your name is Jose Mourinho obviously, because then it’s anything but, and there’s a good chance you’ll be getting sacked in the morning, you specialist in verbal diarrhea you. Is he still speaking?

We host Manchester United tomorrow afternoon of course, and having just checked, I’m slightly shocked to find that our last Premier League victory over tomorrow’s opponents came way back in May 2011, when Aaron Ramsey’s carefully-placed low strike secured us a 1-0 win at Emirates stadium.

Since that game, we’ve played them eight times in the league and lost five of those matches, conceding 17 and scoring just 7 times along the way. Of course those aggregate scores are skewed somewhat heavily by that infamous 8-2 at Old Trafford, and we did beat them in our last meeting in the FA Cup, but still, we’re long overdue to put a few past United. Needless to say, tomorrow would be the ideal time to do it as we look to bounce back from our midweek defeat in the Champions League and keep pace with the challengers for the title.

Arsene Wenger spoke about the fixture at his pre-match press conference yesterday (despite the assembled media’s best attempts at keeping the conversation on David Ospina and the Olympiakos defeat), explained why his team will go into the game in confident mood and also pointed out that no team can be identified as likely champions, given the close proximity in points of the teams at at the top of the table. He said:

It is a special fixture because usually Man United are always fighting at the top. It has an even bigger meaning now because there are three points between the teams, and we play at home in a big game. We have just come from a big win at Leicester and we want to continue our run. We are the only team who has beaten [Leicester], so I don’t see why we should not believe we can beat Manchester United. At the moment it is too difficult to say that any team dominates the championship. It is so tight that one point more after seven games does not mean you will suddenly make a big difference in the league. It is settling at the moment and it is a very important time in the Premier League but you cannot come to a conclusion that one team is above everybody else.

In terms of team selection, Laurent Koscielny is ruled out with a hamstring strain but Gabriel is available after serving a one-match suspension for last week’s win at Leicester so barring any last-minute injury concerns, the Brazilian should play alongside Per Mertesacker in central defence and I’m guessing Petr Cech will have recovered sufficiently from the ‘slight alert’ over his calf to take over from Ospina in goal.

Elsewhere, I think the team picks itself. Our two Spanish fullbacks, Santi Cazorla and Francis Coquelin in midfield, Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil and Ramsey ahead of them with Theo Walcott again leading the line and looking to score his 13th goal in 14 Premier League starts. I suppose Olivier Giroud has a chance of starting in Theo’s place given the fact he was banned for Tuesday’s game and may therefore be physically fresher but I can’t see it. Theo’s in fine goalscoring form and I’d be amazed if Arsene left him out.

As for the opposition, despite Anthony Martial dominating discussion given his solid start to life at United, Juan Mata has been playing pretty well too and Arsene praised the former Chelsea man’s quality yesterday, as well as highlighting United’s other dangermen, saying:

He is an intelligent player and his position is a bit secondary. What is important is the timing of the moment to get rid of your marker and the quality of your vision, and Mata’s quality of vision is very high. Let’s not forget at Chelsea he was twice voted player of the year so that is a quality he always had. United have a few dangerous players. The danger can come from Martial, Mata and Depay. Maybe Mata has been in top form of late but with these types of games it is important you are focused on defending well as a team as the danger can come from anywhere.

Individuals aside though, I don’t think United have been anything special at all so far this season. I saw them host Wolfsburg on Wednesday evning and thought they were very fortunate to win the game. The Germans were the better team. But then when you make as many squad alterations as United have, finding fluency takes time and hopefully we can capitalise on their lack of familiarity with one another.

Despite losing this fixture last season, we actually played very well and Jack Wilshere’s chance when one-on-one with David de Gea sticks out as one that may have led to a different result at full-time. Taking the lead in these big games, as lots of managers often point out, is vital. So if we can reproduce that same level of intensity in our game but take our chances this time, I expecting us to pick up all three points and show that maybe we’re serious contenders this year after all.

Back post-match.

COYG!