Tag Archives: Premier League

The Arsenal Revival Continues

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What is it about Arsenal performing once there is little else to play for? We have seen it time and again in recent years, a late end of season run when we have a dozen+ points off the title, off the pace from top 4, and then we put a run together to secure Champions League football.

It is almost as if our mindset changes when we start to be written off in the press. Disregarded by the footballing public. The odds on top 4 extending. And this season it is déjà vu.

After we as a club, a fan base, a team, hit rock bottom on a Monday night 3-0 defeat against Crystal Palace, we were all done. It was time to pack up and go home. 4 wins in 12 games, 2 of which were against the might of Sutton United and Lincoln City. After the defeat to Crystal Palace, an FA Cup exit against Manchester City was on the cards.

A month to do the day of that defeat against Crystal Palace and things look a little better. A run of 5 wins in 6 games has seen us get into the FA Cup final and claw back points in the race for the top 4. The only game we dropped points in was that awful defeat against Tottenham Hotspur.

The revival comes as Arsenal moved to the 3-4-2-1 formation.

Personally, I refuse to give Arsene Wenger any credit for changing formation. It is too little too late. And this is where this positive happy blog takes a darker turn.

Just because I am happy Arsenal won, it does not change the fact that Arsene Wenger needs to go.

The fact he took so long to try out another formation is sickening. By the time we moved to 3-4-2-1, the title had gone, finishing ahead of Spurs had gone, we were 6th. Fans have been calling for a change in tactics for years, and it took an awful run for Wenger to react. It sums up Wenger’s second half of his Arsenal career. He is a reactive manager rather than a proactive one.

He follows other teams tactics rather than develops his own. If his side wins a game one week, he puts out the same side the next, not thinking about the opposition. He has struggled. He has been left behind. Winning 5 games from 6 does not suddenly make him a poor manager. Does not justify the 2 year contract that has allegedly already been signed.

Too many of our fans are fickle. The protests have dwindled. The noise on social media hushed. A couple of victories and everyone has fallen back in line. You do not have to be one or the other. You can want the team to win, whilst still calling for the managers head. Still celebrate victories whilst demanding Wenger Out.

I glance across at Juventus and see them in the Champions League final. Their second in 3 years under Massimiliano Allegri. Allegri flirted with leaving Juventus at the end of this season. He has since signed a new contract.

Was it just a power player to get more money from The Old Lady? Or was he genuinely looking to leave? It certainly felt on Tuesday, whilst watching them celebrate making the final, of a bit of Bully “here’s what you could have had”.

Did Wenger’s situation at Arsenal stall the club on making a move of Allegri? How many other top managers will we miss out on as Wenger digs his heels and stays? Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola have already gone, Carlo Ancelotti and Unai Emery also recently made moves. Reports are today that Diego Simeone could be making a return to Inter Milan. Another we have missed out on.

Wenger’s arrogance, his ignorance, his stubbornness is damaging Arsenal. It is meaning we can not move one. Then again, if you were due to earn £19m over the next two years, why would you step down?

Lets turn this blog into a shit sandwich and finish on a high.

Beat Stoke on Saturday afternoon and the pressure is on Liverpool on Sunday when they visit West Ham. Victory will leave us a point behind Liverpool, 3 behind Manchester City (assuming they beat Chelsea in the early kick off).

With home games against Sunderland and Everton to finish the season off, you would not beat against us sneaking into the top 4. 8 wins out of 9 will give us great momentum to face Chelsea at the end of the month. And ultimately that is the real trophy.

Give me the FA Cup over top 4, over progression any day of the week.

We are all in this together.

Ups and Downs – An Arsenal Away Fans Thoughts

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As the season is nearing its end, my mind often turns to the bottom of the league table, and top of the Championship. Thoughts and conversations with pals revolve around who we want to go down, who we want to stay up.

As someone who go’s home and away, with an away scheme membership (away season ticket) I travel the length and depth of the country every week with my pals. No agendas. No BS. Just a good group of lads going to the football.

For us, relegation and promotion into and out of the Premier League is important. Who are we losing. We are we getting?

It is always sad to lose a London club. Since the £26 ticket prices, we save a lot of money with easy trips round the capital. Birmingham clubs are similar. Just a little over an hour on the train, cheap train tickets, Birmingham is always a cheap trip up north.

On the other hand, last season the ‘worst case scenario’ came true when Burnley, Middlesbrough and Hull came up. All rank trip to Northern towns. I actually have not made any of them this season.

So who do I want to go up and down?

With regards to relegation, I am happy with it being as is, with the current bottom 3 disappearing.

I am bored of Sunderland now. Their constant battle against relegation year after year. If they were a horse, dog or fish they would be put down by now. Time to put them out of their misery.

The trip has improved recently with a new train from Kings Cross direct to Sunderland. But it is still a 4 hour trip, with no boozers the other end (unless you go via Newcastle). Sunderland station is in a run down part of the city (or perhaps the entire city is run down?). They will not be missed.

Also in the north-east we have Middlesbrough. Another dump. Whilst I will not be making the Monday night trip this season (thanks Sky!) I have done it before. It is another place that is not high on the list of places to visit in the UK.

Making up the north-east trio is Hull City Tigers. One of only 2 current Premier League grounds I have not yet visited (the other is Burnley). I have no plan to visit it. I went for a wedding in Hull 2 years ago. I do not plan to go back.

I would not shed a tear if all 3 went down.

Also in the relegation dog fight is Swansea.

Swansea is a decent away trip, if you are doing the night out. Full of Welsh slags. But if you are not doing a night out, it is a long old trip up their with Sunderland. Around 4 hours, their is usually delays, often engineering works.

In the last 3 years we have been re-rooted vie Gloucester, held just outside Swansea station for over an hour, and had to get a rail replacement bus service from Port Talbot. A good night out, but a tough old journey.

West Ham and above are probably fair enough ahead to not be dragged into it. Whilst the Hammers going down would be hilarious, going to the London Stadium is the easiest trip for me to do.

Leicester fall into the Birmingham category of being a nice easy, cheap train trip.

Sandwiched between are Burnley and Crystal Palace.

Palace have the London thing in their favour, although it would be nice to get rid of their embarrassing ultras. Burnley can also disappear off the face of the earth. A nasty little racist town.

Sunderland, Hull City Tiger, Middlesbrough, Burnley & Swansea. 3 of those 5 gone will make away days a little more enjoyable next season.

As for who comes up, it looks like Newcastle and Brighton are almost certain to have their Premier League status secured for next season.

Despite my hatred of the north-east , I actually do not mind Newcastle.

Whilst in terms of time the train journey is not too much different from Hull and Sunderland, there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, or a pub at the end of the train journey.

Newcastle has some decent boozers near the station. The ground is a short (but hilly) walk from the station. Plenty of options home (trains back to London every 20-30 minutes). It is a decent away trip. Add in that it is a decent night out too.

I am not so enthused about Brighton coming up.

We have done the trip down to the Sussex coast a couple of times in the FA Cup in recent years and both times, I was not too impressed.

The journey is not the issue, but I just do not like Brighton as a town. It just is not set up for football fans to turn up en masse and have a pint. We are looked at by locals as the scum of the earth. They do not want us in their establishments and seem like they can not wait for us to leave.

Add in that horrible little train to Falmer – Brighton are not actually based in Brighton – and a stadium which comes out of the identikit stadiums that sprung up in the late 00s / early 10s and all in all it is a trip I will not overly look forward too.

Everything could change, however, it we get scheduled to play them in August or September. Bit of summer sun and beers down on the beach.

It looks like a 5-way battle for the play-offs.

Huddersfield, Reading, Leeds, Fulham & Sheffield Wednesday.

Right off the bat, I do not want Reading.

Like Brighton, it is one of these grounds not built in the city or town it resides in. Instead it is build on an industrial estate which you have to get a bus too. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt, not bothered about going back.

Sheffield Wednesday is another I would right off. After the League Cup defeat, I do not have great memories of the ground. It is falling apart. And is a pigs-ear to get to. Trains planes and automobiles come to mind as you have to get a combination of trains, trams, cabs and walking to get to the ground.

That leaves Fulham, Leeds and Huddersfield.

Despite having done Fulham plenty of times before, it is always an enjoyable trip.

Another London day out, easy to get too, plenty of decent boozers. I do not think I have ever had a bad away day to Fulham. Even when it was torrential rain. They would be my favourite.

Huddersfield and Leeds are two trips I have never done before so I honestly do not know what either would be like for an away trip.

It would be nice to have Leeds back in the Premier League. A proper club who were ripped apart by improper owners.

A nice easy journey into Leeds, with a bit of a horrid journey to the stadium ,it would be nice to have a proper club with proper fans back in the Premier League.

Huddersfield, whilst one many have not done in recent years, is probably bottom of the 3, purely because of the train journey. You have to get to Manchester Piccadilly then across to Huddersfield.

I think I will stick to my original thoughts and welcome Fulham back to the Premier League with welcome arms.

Despite everything that is going on at the club at the moment, I go to football for the day out. That involves the train, the beers, the mates, as well as the game.

When you travel up and down the country following your team, there is much more important things that make it a great day rather than just the football.

Keenos

The 0-0, Tight at the top, Alex Iwobi, Nacho Monreal and Two DMs

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The 0-0

As we discussed yesterday, the weekends result was not a catastrophe. As Manchester City dropped points once more (now 5 games without a win in all competitions), it meant Arsenal did no lose any ground in the title race.

A result like this has been coming. We got lucky against Burnley, and Swansea were well worth a point.

The Premier League is the most competitive league in the world. The top end might not be as superior as the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich, but no other league in Europe, or the world, has the depth that the Premier League has.

In the current top 10, only 2 sides picked up 3 points at the weekend – Chelsea & Liverpool. Everyone else dropped points.

We will drop more points this season, it is going to be a rollercoaster. It is tight at the top.

Tight at the top

ONE POINT.

That is what separates Manchester City at the top of the league and Tottenham in 5th (unbeaten yet 5th. AHAHAHA). The fact that 4 different sides could have topped the league at points this week, depending on goals scored, shows just how tight it is.

Spurs were the first to miss out, drawing 0-0 at Bournemouth. Arsenal then topped the league by a point after the goalless draw with Middlesbrough. A late consolation goal for WBA was all that stopped Liverpool going top, and then Man City came from behind against Southampton to snatch a point to finish the weekend how they started, top.

With Chelsea’s result over Man U, this league looks to be anyone’s for the taking. Except for Man U’.

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Alex Iwobi

The leagues breakthrough star. If he was English or played for Liverpool or Spurs, the hype around this kid would be ridiculous. Luckily for him he declared for Nigeria and he has at Arsenal. Who the media hate.

He has been superb this season, but he now needs to be taking out of the limelight a bit.

At the weekend, he started off brightly, but quickly faded, to a point where in the 2nd half, he saw barely any of the ball. We were carrying him. For the good of the team, for the good of himself, he needs a little break. Just a couple of games, nothing too much, let him re-charge the batteries, work on his game, and come back stronger.

Arsenal’s biggest weakness is down our left at the moment. And his lack of cover for Nacho Monreal is causing a few problems.

Nacho Monreal

On to Nacho Monreal. He had another poor game, beaten all too easy, time and again, by Adama Traore.

He could do with some help from the aforementioned Alex Iwobi, but the reality is he is getting beat fair to easily in one on ones.

Whilst Iwobi could do a better job tracking back, very rarely this season has Monreal been caught in a 2 on 1 situation on the left hand side. The majority of the time he has been beat, it has been in one on one situations where he has either got too tight and been turned, or not got tight enough and the winger has just pushed the ball past him and ran.

To keep improving as a side, every year your weakest link in the first 11 should be replaced. At the moment the weakest link in Nacho Monreal.

Two DMs

I have seen a lot of chatter since the Boro result about Arsene Wenger deciding to pair Francis Coquelin and Mohamed Elneny together in the middle of the park. Why did we start with two DMs? Was the question continually asked.

Well, Santi Cazorla was injured, Aaron Ramsey also out, and Jack Wilshire currently on loan at Bouremouth. We did not exactly have many other options.

We could have maybe put Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in the middle of the park, but that would have been a bit of a risk. The majority of the time in his career he has played on the wing, and when he has been in the middle, it tends to be in the Number 10 role, behind a striker, further up the pitch.

Playing The Ox deeper would have been a risk, especially considering the poor form he has been in.

I think Wenger got the team right. Coquelin held, whilst Elneny got forward.

Elneny is not a pure defensive midfielder. He can play. He can create. He is box to box. He is a good player with exceptional passing.

What the weekend showed is how much influence Santi Cazorla has from deep. His two footedness opens up both sides of the pitch. And his passing – short and long – is superior to Elneny. But it is also superior to Oxlade-Chamberlain, Aaron Ramsey & Jack Wilshere.

The team we put out at the weekend should have been good enough to beat Boro, but they defended well, and the Premier League is ultra competitive, shown by only 2 sides in the top 10 winning.

On to Reading.

Keenos