Tag Archives: Aaron Ramsey

Stoke City, Songs, Stoppers & Shagging

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Stoke City

A bit like Liverpool, you are left wondering, was it two points dropped, or one point gained?

Away to Stoke City  is never an easy game. In the 9 games since Stoke got promoted to the Premier League, Arsenal have won just once at the Britannia. Losing 5. So far this season, Stoke have beaten Manchester City, Chelsea and Manchester United at home.

So a 0-0 draw, when we were without Sanchez, Ozil, Cazorla, Welbeck, Wilshere & Coquelin, in the freezing cold, is not a bad result.

Where it is a bad result is on the back of a draw at Liverpool.

That now puts us without a win in 2 games. With a game at home to Chelsea next up, that could easily become no win in 3. In a game where momentum and winning runs is so important, no wins in 3 would be presented as a bit of a mini-crisis, a dip in form.

Despite that, it is a hard run. Draws away to Liverpool, away to Stoke City, and (potentially) at home to Chelsea are, on their own, decent results. Good points earnt. But put together in consecutive games will change the press narrative.

Look at it another way, our title challengers this season are Manchester City.

They have so far played Stoke City and Liverpool once. They have two defeats. 0 points. We have played both sides twice. 1 win, 3 draws. 5 points. So even if Manchester City win both their remaining games against Liverpool & Stoke, it is only a net gain of 1 points over us. Not too bad when you think who disappointed we might feel over the last two results.

The other positive is that it is one less away game left this season. We not have just 7 away games remaining. Manchester City have 9.

The importance of this can be seen in the home and away league tables this season:Homeaway

Our home and away form has been excellent. Man City’s away form has been poor. The way games fall could be crucial to the title run in.

Songs

There has been a lot of discussions about songs since the Stoke game.

In the first case, we have Stoke City. Once again, they booed Aaron Ramsey’s name, sung songs about him, cheered Ryan Shawcross, and the sponsors once again named Shawcross as Man of the Match.

I have previously given my opinion on this ‘abuse’ and do not have a problem with it.

The only people it embarrasses are Stoke fans.Stoke

Stoke fans actually show themselves up as being a bit of a joke. Firstly trying to start off “Stand up if you hate Arsenal” – it was the only time other than Delilah that there fans actually made any half decent noise. Then way the way they have responded to Arsenal fan’s having a go at them for abusing Ramsey.

They say Arsenal fans are being oversensitive with the issue. That we are being pansies. Yet the reason they say they abuse Ramsey is because he did not accept Shawcross’s apology. His hand shake. Did not respond to his text.

How sensitive do you want to be? It is the footballing equivalent of “I’m not your friend anymore”. Stoke fans need to man up. Admit they abuse Ramsey because they have deep rooted anger issues. Not because Ramsey refused to accept an apology from a player who nearly ended his career.

And if the later is the real reason for the abuse, it is the Stoke fans who need to be a little bit less sensitive over the issue.

The second part of ‘song gate´ is the supposed stealing of a West Ham song which fans sang about Mesut Ozil. I am not going to go into the debate too much, but both sides of the argument can be found quite easily on Twitter. Will be interested to here what side of the argument you all fall down on.

Should we only be coming up with our own, unique songs? Or is it a case of every song in football is stolen from someone else? Whether it be another Premier League side, a lower league side, or Europe?

Stoppers

Back to the Stoke City game, it was a drab 0-0 draw, lit up by the performance of the two goal keepers.

Petr Cech is a world class keeper. It makes me wonder how many more trophies would we have won had we been able to sign him back in 2002 when his work permit was rejected.

At the other end, it Jack Butland properly impressed me. A few have dug out Olivier Giroud for 2 misses (the usual suspects) but it was two brilliant saves to stop him.

Here is a kid who is getting better and better. Still just 22 (23 in March – does that make him 23 now? I get confused). Everyone has known about his talent for years. Anyone who has read the brilliant Nowhere Men would have been well aware of his talent, and what scouts up and down the country thought of him.

Moving to a smaller side like Stoke was good for his career, as it mean game time. But he surely can not be too far from a move to a bigger club. If De Gea leaves Manchester United, I can see him going there, or if Liverpool look for an upgrade on Mignolet, that is another option.

Could Arsenal perhaps to a deal for him similar to what Stoke did when signing him from Birmingham? Pay upfront for Butland now, but he does not join the club for 2 or 3 years? By that time Cech will be 36, Butland 25 and probably England’s number one. It would be an investment worth doing.

Shagging

There was no shagging this weekend. Although I am sure somewhere in Stoke, someone shagged their sister.

Keenos

Nearly 10 Reasons why we will beat beat Sunderland – My starting 11

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1)  Even tho we were toilet in Europe this week for large spells of the game the players didn’t give up.

2) Sunderland got spanked by Southampton last week, an early goal and they fall apart again.

3) We have a great record both against Sunderland and up at The Stadium of Light, only losing once to them in the last 21 games in the League.

4) Diaby is injured, Jack is suspended but Theo is back and likely to start on the bench,

5) If we don’t win it will the worst opening 9 games to a league season under Wenger, or since football began according to some idiots.

6) Sanchez is our one major bright spark, he looks settled now and could again be the inspiration.

7) With Jack suspended Wenger can’t try playing him and Ramsey in the middle together, a partnership which still looks doomed to fail.

OK I give up, I can’t think of anymore, it’s going to be another tricky game and confidence in the team is almost at an all-time low under Mr Wenger. Fingers crossed the players confidence is higher and they start putting in the performances the wages they get paid deserve.

My Starting 11 – Chesney, Bellerin, BFG, Chambers, Gibbs, Flamini, Ramsey, Santi, Alexis, Ox, Welbeck

COME ON THE ARSENAL !!

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Arsenal’s Injury Crisis – A Simple Solution

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Some players are just more injury prone than others. That’s a fact. No matter how much you think there injury record will improve, it never will. From Darren Anderton and Jamie Redknapp in the 90s to Michael Owen in the 00s, some players always struggle to stay fit.

The key is to not have too many of these said players in your squad.

One of the major contributors to Arsenal endless injury crisis is we carry too many players with poor injury records;

Abou Diaby
Tomas Rosicky
Yaya Sanogo
Kieran Gibbs
Jack Wilshere
Theo Walcott
Mikel Arteta
Aaron Ramsey

8 players in our current squad who, over the last 5 seasons, have missed a lot of games, and will continue to do so. I would bet that over the last 18 months, at least half of that list has been injured continually throughout.

Every side suffers injuries. According to the physio room, each Premier League side currently has out, on average, 5 players. Manchester United have the most, at 9, Tottenham the least, at 2. Injuries are an unavoidable part of football.

Arsenal’s problem is that as we carry so many injury prone players, whenever a ‘normal’ player picks up an injury, his loss is exaggerated.

Look at the players involved in out current injury crisis;

Abou Diaby
Yaya Sanogo
Mesut Ozil
Theo Walcott
Serge Gnabry
Mikel Arteta
Mattheiu Debuchy
Olivier Giroud

The list can easily be split into two. Mesut Ozil, Mattheiu Debuchy and Olivieir Giroud have very good injury records. The rest have extremely poor records.

You can not legislate for Giroud injury his ankle blocking a clearance, or Debuchy being crocked in a horrendous challenge, or even the odd knee or hamstring here and there.

But what you can do is ensure that you limit the effect by having a very fit squad. Unfortunately Arsenal do not have that.

By the time we pick up our 2/3 ‘normal’ injuries that every club suffers, we already have 4/5 long term injuries to our injury prone players. This then puts us in an injury crisis.

At Arsenal, over the last 4/5 years, we have always had 4/5 long term injuries, the same handful of players going in and out the treatment room. This then makes it seem like our injury crisis is never ending, as a combination of the above players will always be out.

So how do we solve our current ongoing injury crisis? It is not by changing the training ground, or the medical staff, its by changing the playing staff.

First out of the door should be Tomas Rosicky, Abou Diaby and Yaya Sanogo. These three have been forever injured. They have missed more games than they have played. The ironic thing is that by selling them, it will actually make no difference on the 1st team squad, as neither will be missed. But what it will do is create a bit of a mental change. It would immediately reduce our ‘injury list’ by 3.

The others create a controversial debate:

Jack Wilshere or Aaron Ramsey

It seems one of either Jack Wilshere or Aaron Ramsey is always injured. In the 90s, we mocked Spurs & Liverpool fans for putting Redknapp and Anderton on such a pedastool, yet both were always injured. No point being a brilliant player if you are injured. Wilshere & Ramsey for Arsenal are quickly falling down a similar slide.

Both are talented, but both miss a lot of games. The harsh side of me says ‘get rid of both, we have the money to buy equally as talented, but less injury prone players’. The more moderate side of me thinks we should dump one of them.

As previously said, you can afford to carry one or two injury prone players. At the moment, Arsenal are trying to carry 2 in the same position. Jack Wilshere’s injury record concerns me more than Aaron Ramsey’s. He has not played over 30 league games since his break through season – 2010/11. Is it time we were ruthless and cut our losses with him? Buy someone better and less injury prone? Think with your head, not your heart

Kieran Gibbs

Kieran Gibbs is now 25. When he is on the pitch, he is a great full back. In my opinion, he is England’s best. His record is worse than Wilshere’s, in the fact he has never played more than 30 league games. He really is made of glass.

He is another one who I always think should we cash in on. He can not even be trusted to remain as second choice left back, as chances are high that if the 1st choice left back was injured, he would be too.

It is another head over heart decision. If Kieran Gibbs can not play over 30 league games, should he be at Arsenal?

Theo Walcott

In his younger days, Theo Walcott had a lot of injuries. Many of these were associated with weak shoulders, which he has since had pinned in. His latest injury is a tad abnormal. I put it down to one of the ‘normal injuries’ that every side suffers during the course of a season.

The question over Walcott is how does he return from his injury. He has already had a few set backs, and a player who relied so much on pace, would he have lost a yard having been out for nearly a year?

If it is clear he has lost something, or he does continue to break down, we should flog him quickly. Cash in whilst his stock is high, and move on. Let’s not carry him. Let’s not hope that one day it will improve. It rarely does.

So who would I ship out:

Definitely out

Abou Diaby
Yaya Sanogo
Tomas Rosicky

On a last chance

Kieran Gibbs
Jack Wilshere or Aaron Ramsey

Give him time

Theo Walcott

Arsenal carrying injury prone players is not a new things. Samir Nasri, Robin van Persie and Thomas Vermalaen all had poor records before we signed them, yet we still signed them. Decisions like this just opens us up to entering an injury crisis.

To solve our injury woe’s, we do not need to reinvent the wheel, we just need to ensure that we have a squad full of players with good injury records. Stop buying players with poor records. Ship out the players with poor records.

It really is that simple.

Keenos