Tag Archives: England

10 Reasons why we will beat Norwich + starting XI

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1.. Szczesny was in line for some much deserved praise yesterday by Wenger and rightly so as he has never played so well for so many games running. Is this due to him finally having a back four he can trust?

2.. I was well pleased to see Gibbs get a call up for the England squad, it is no more than he deserves. Yes he has Cashley and Baines in front of him at that level but it does give him even more of an incentive to have a good season if he knows he is in the mind of the England boss. PLEASE STAY FIT!

3.. Captain Vermaelen made a bit of noise this week about not playing enough games and it was easy for the jorno’s to write stories saying he wants to leave. Would be very unlike us to have a captain leave eh..

4.. Mertesacker and Koscielny are the reason our captain will keep bench warming, the centreback partnership is the most important partnership on the pitch. Campbell and Toure, Adams and Keown, Adams and Bould, Adams and anyone. If they keep this up they will be spoke about in the same terms.

5.. Sagna is also having a great start to the season, defending strongly and getting up the pitch. He’s had some horrific injuries over the last few years and now has young Jenkinson a England Under 21 player snapping at his heels but I do feel if he keeps this up we will be daft not to hand him a new 2 year deal.

6.. The one downside for The Arsenal players in the last international break was Jack Wilshere, it seems he is falling out of favor with Woy. I’m not that surprised either as he is being eclipsed by the form of Ramsey who scored a great goal for Wales. Wenger’s daft idea of playing Jack wide left for a few games hasn’t helped but if Jack fancy’s smoking outside a few nightclubs in Brazil this summer he better start fighting for a regular place at ours first.

7.. Ozil picked up a knock on his knee playing for Germany but seems certain to start, he should rip Norwich apart today.

8.. I used to have a soft spot for Norwich as a kid, the first football team I played (badly) for used to play in a Yellow and Green Norwich kit. But I now find it very hard to even tolerate them due to their manager, Chris Hughton. Hated him as a player, a number two, a manager and I wish him nothing but relegation and the sack.

9.. Norwich have played 7 Prem games; winning 2, drawing 1, losing 4, scoring only 5 and conceding 9. If we get an early goal it could be a cricket score.

10.. Wenger knows this is another game we should pick up all 3 points on if we are going to mount a challenge this season, we have had an easy run of games so far in the Prem the real test will come next month.

Predicted starting XI – Chesney, Sagna, Per, Kos, Gibbs, Flamini, Arteta, Rosicky, Ramsey, Ozil, Giroud

COME ON THE ARSENAL !!

The Arsenal and Me – Paul’s Story

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Tuesday 11th May 1999.. a day that changed my footballing life forever..

For 17 and a half years i had been a massive Nottingham Forest fan, enjoying many a day out at Wembely, FA Cup finals, Rumbelows Cup finals, still basking in the glory of being the only team in Europe to have won the European Cup more times than their domestic league.
Then, that fateful Tuesday, a friend of mine at school, a season ticket holder with his dad at Highbury, came into the common room & announced that his dad couldn’t make it to the Arsenal away game up at Elland Road that night and was there any takers? Well, being a die hard football fan i thrust my hand into the air & the ticket was mine.
We made our way up to leeds & I was really excited about the game, it was the first time I´d been to a game that Forest weren´t playing in so I remember thinking that I just wanted to see a bloody good game & I didn´t honestly care about the result. It wasn´t great, Arsenal lost 1-0 to a late Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink goal after Leeds had missed a penalty in the first half & as I left the ground with all the dejected fans, I kind of felt like someone leaving the house of their lover after having cheated on their wife… almost ashamed. The game had been pretty poor but after having seen the likes of Dennis Bergkamp & Patrick Vieira playing, did i really want to go back to my wife at home after having just been with a supermodel?
Of course it wasn´t an instant thing, I still renewed my season ticket at the City Ground & I still was a big Forest fan, but I always found myself checking the Arsenal scores when I got in, being delighted if they´d won & down if they´d lost. Little by little I found myself taking less interest in Forest during the week and more & more interest in how Arsenal had gone on, who they were playing the next weekend, any signings they were making etc..
Within a year or so I´d made the permanent move. I´ll always have a place in my heart for Forest, they´re like a first girlfriend, you never stop thinking about them or wishing them the best but ultimately, you don´t want to spend your whole life with them. Since then I haven’t been to as many Arsenal games as I would have liked. Living in Nottingham, studying in Sheffield & emigrating to Spain hasn’t helped but nowadays whenever I´m in England I try to catch a game. Villa away a couple of Christmases ago, Wigan last Christmas and this summer I’ve been lucky enough to see them play in Japan.
It´s weird because I got/still get loads of abuse from my friends and family, no one could believe what was happening but whenever people ask me about it, to this day (over 14 years since the first seed was planted in my mind) I give the same response.. football is like love, you can’t choose where and with who it takes you..

Walcott v Townsend (and Sturridge, Welbeck, Ox & Bale)

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After 6 goals in 2 games, a lot of England fans have been asking the question “Will Walcott get back into the team.” Well, here is some breaking news. Yes he will.

The player currently occupying his position on the right hand side of a front 3 is flavour of the moment Andros Townsend. Some have claimed he is already better than Theo Walcott. Others say that he will become better than Theo Walcott. Both statements are a fallacy and as likely to come true as me getting below 12 stone. Do not believe me? Theo Walcott is currently 24, Andros Townsend 22. So that no one moans (usually from up the road in North London) I have made a fair comparison. What had Theo Walcott achieved up to the season when he was 22 years of age, due to turn 23, in comparison to Andros Townsend:

Walcott-Townsend

There is nothing to show in Andros Townsend past to prove the statement “Andros Townsend will become better than Theo Walcott”. And taking into account that the year after 2011/12 (my cut off year for Theo Walcott), he went on to score 21 goals and get 14 assists, it is also a fallacy that “Andros Townsend is better than Theo Walcott”. Townsend has 14 career goals. Walcott scored 21 in 1 season. I think some people need to learn the definition of the word ‘better’.

For a final note on this, Theo Walcott has had a ‘terrible’ start to the 2013/14 campaign, whilst Andros Townsend has had a brilliant start. Yet they have both scored just the 1 goal in all competitions, whilst Theo leads the assists 2 to 1. Just shows, Theo being useless so far is still better than Townsend’s best season so far.

Expanded this a little more, there are 3 attacking positions up for grabs in the England squad. In the last 2 games, they have been occupied by Danny Welbeck, Daniel Sturridge and Andros Townsend. Now some are saying that these 3 will be the front 3 for the World Cup, and that all 3 are better than Theo Walcott. Well, lets look at some more stats: England Striker

For the 3 forward positions, there are 5 players in contention (Sorry Manchester United and Manchester City fans, but Ashley Young and James Milner are useless, as for Lennon, if he gets in, Townsend, the future of English football, won’t be there). I have also stuck Gareth Bale in the comparison just to see how the English players compare to the most expensive (and therefore surely the best?) player of all time.

What is obvious from the statistics is Daniel Sturridge is by far the best goalscorer and his lightning form justifies his selection. 17 goals in his last 2 seasons (28 games) is a decent return and whilst he might not be a World Class striker, he is certainly the best England have. As for the wide positions, the one that stands out, obviously, is Theo Walcott. The two statistics a wide forward needs to be judged on his goals and assists. In his career, he is pretty much level with Gareth Bale, and last season they also averaged a similar number. So how much does that make Walcott worth?

It also makes a mockery of people saying he will not get into the side. Last season, Townsend, Welbeck & Chamberlain scored 4 goals and got 9 assists between them. Theo got more than these on his own. Walcott has made the right wing his own at Arsenal, and will be one of the 1st names on the team sheet for England.

The other interesting comparison is between Welbeck, Townsend and Oxlade-Chamberlain. Welbeck currently has the left hand side, but he showed against Poland he is useless. Townsend is left footed, played most of his youth career on the left wing, but he broken through this year playing right wing. And Oxlade-Chamberlain played left wing at the last European Championship for England. It is clear it is between these 3 for the left wing position. So what do the stats say?

Over his career, Welbeck is the more effective, but interestingly, they all averaged around 5 games per goal/assist last campaign. When you consider Walcott averaged 1.3 and Sturridge 1.5, it is clear England’s left wing will be the week side of the attacking trio.

What is also interesting is how poor Oxlade-Chamberlain’s stats are. I have felt since joining Arsenal, his hype does not come through on his stats and 3 goals and 5 assists in his career perhaps highlight this. Although he is just 20 so the youngest of the group. And he has still got more goals and assists then the future of England, Andros Townsend, despite him being 2 years younger (which again makes a mockery of people calling Townsend ‘England’s Future and saying he is better than Theo Walcott).

If England can get the left wing sorted, and with Rooney playing in the hole with 3 ahead of him with pace and finishing ability, England could surprise a lot of people in Brazil. It would be a fairly exciting forward line!

Theo Walcott is nowhere near losing his England spot, least of all to Andros Townsend. And what is clear by the comparison’s is that he is every bit as effective when it comes to playing as a wide forward as Gareth Bale.

Keenos