Tag Archives: She Wore A Yellow Ribbon

Arsenal striker “best in the league”

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As expected, many people commented on this mornings blog without actually reading it.

The jist was simple. Arsenal need to keep fringe pair Alex Iwobi and Danny Welbeck. And this was justified by pointing out that they were squad players, and more importantly home grown.

The majority of replies were “they should be the first two out of the club”. It highlights people not reading the blog, or understanding football.

Lets take Danny Welbeck. He is 3rd choice striker. Next season how much game time is he going to get? He will need both Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to be out of the team to get a start up top.

If everyone is fit, we will play 1 up top, so Danny Welbeck will be on the bench. Whoever is not playing between Lacazette and Aubameyang will be bought on before him if we need a goal. Welbeck will be a long way from the first team.

3rd choice striker got me thinking.

Is Danny Welbeck the best “3rd choice striker” in the Premier League? In all honesty, without looking on Wikipedia, I could not name the 3rd choice striker of most times. So off I go, to do some research (in the hope of producing a pretty little spreadsheet). The findings were interesting.

The only other striker other than Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus to play for Manchester City this season was Lukas Nmecha, a 19 year old Englishman who has made 2 substitute appearances after the league title was one. 14 minutes in total.

Chelsea are in a similar position. They have just two senior strikers. Alvaro Morata and Olivier Giroud. They have had Diego Costa and Michy Batshuayi on their books as well this season. Costa has left and Batshuayi on loan.

The reality is, Chelsea do not have a 3rd choice striker currently at the club. Will Batshuayi return? Who knows? Next year it will probably be Tammy Abraham. The youngster on loan to Swansea has 5 goals in the Premier League this season.

Manchester United are in a more favourable position.

After Romelu Lukaku, they have Alexis Sanchez, Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial. If I wanted to be biased, I would claim that Sanchez is a wideman, and that Martial is 3rd choice striker, but in truth Sanchez would be moved upfront if Lukaku was injured.

This leaves Rashford as 3rd choice striker.

Rashford is similar to Danny Welbeck. Infact is he just a young Danny Welbeck? An adequate striker who is often used on the wing and scores 1 in 4.

There is talk of Rashford leaving Manchester United and joining Arsenal. If this resulted in Welbeck leaving, it would be like when a rich middle aged man leaves his wife for a younger model.

Rashford is just 20, so he will still improve (where as Welbeck will not). Certainly one for the future, but Welbeck will start ahead of the youngster for England.

Liverpool are an odd one. Mohamed Salah is the leagues top scorer, but is no more a striker for us than when Alexis Sanchez was when he was playing out wide for Arsenal last season. Salah has played just 3 times down the middle this season.

Despite also not being a natural striker, Roberto Firmino is their out disputed number one. Whenever he has not played, Liverpool have put Dominic Solanke through the middle. He has made 4 Premier League starts this season. That leaves Danny Ings as 3rd choice striker.

Neither Ings or Solanke will go to the World Cup. Welbeck will.

When Harry Kane picked up his injury for Spurs, they pushed Son Heung-Min further forward. This clearly puts Fernando Llorente as 3rd choice, even though he was originally bought as back up to the English cry-baby.

At 33 he is clearly a striker on the wain. He scored 15 league goals last season for Swansea, but found the net just once for Spurs in the Premier League this – although he has played just 226.

The fact that Mauricio Pochettino does not seem to trust him to be 2nd choice striker behind Kane is telling.

Danny Welbeck might not be everyone’s cup of tea, yet he has 10 goals in all competitions this season. He has started just 5 games this season upfront. I would be surprised if too many are in the Premier League.

Arsenal do need a better wide option than Danny Welbeck. 16 starts on the wing is too many. He can not be our first choice winger next season. But up front, as 3rd choice striker, there are not too many better in the Premier League.

Keenos

Another one bites the dust

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After Arsenal Wenger’s surreal send off, was last nights result really a surprise?

I said after the game against Burnley that it was all a little off, the massive goodbye, when there is still two games to go.

It was compared to having a leaving do on a Monday at work, and then still having to see out the rest of the week in the office. Seeing those soon to be ex-colleagues that you slagged off after one too many Carling’s.

Another away defeat, our 54th this season, alongside the 360th red card under Arsene Wenger would have been a fitting way to end his time at the club. But then we still have another game to go.

3 more sleeps till Santa Wenger’s last day.

I imagine the away trip to Huddersfield will be just as surreal as the last week or so.

Even before yesterday, Arsenal could finish no higher than 6th. no lower than 6th. It is probably why Mesut Ozil decided not to play again.

The German midfielder is set to miss the rest of the season with a back injury. That will mean he has not started 27 out of 60 games this season. Even the most loyal Wenger / Ozil defender would agree that being paid a reported £300,000 and starting just 55% of the games is not right.

The fans who go in through the gates, or pay for their TV subscriptions, are being robbed. Maybe Ozil’s new deal should have had a lesser salary and bigger appearance based incentives – like what the club want to do with Jack Wilshere (who has started 29 games this season).

Wilshire incidentally was missing last night, but unlike Ozil he had a decent excuse. The birth of a baby daughter. Congratulations to him, and I imagine this is the reason for the huge recent contract breakthrough.

The run of 0 away points in 2018 continues. It is a run that ultimately cost Arsene Wenger his job.

As an away scheme member, it has been tough going away this season. With the huge amount of Sunday kick offs, and just 3 wins. It has been a struggle to keep going. Hopefully the new manager will revitalise everyone – players and fans.

Last night was like so many other away games this season – a match where we were on the wrongside of poor referring decisions.

It has been the story of our season, especially away trips.

Stoke, Watford, Southampton and West Ham spring to mind. 4 games where poor refereeing decisions directly cost us point. 8 in those games alone.

There have also been countless other decisions that luckily did not cost us.

Last night, Konstantinos Mavropanos was unlucky to be sent off, and it certainly was not a penalty. When decisions  happen that early

“I disagree with the red card because Holding would have caught this ball. [Mavropanos] was not the last man,” Wenger told Standard Sport.

He added of the second half penalty won when Henrikh Mkhitaryan brought down Demarai Gray: “The penalty is a very creative, imaginative aspect from the referee. We watched it again, it’s a nice dive but it’s not a penalty. “[Mkhitaryan] plays the ball.”

Even Wenger’s critics will struggle to disagree with his judgement that the referee affected the game.

So one game to go. That is it. Then it is over.

Keenos

Jack Wilshere contract news imminent

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After 6 months of negotiations, it seems there has finally been a break through on Jack Wilshere’s contract.

Having nearly left the club last summer, Wilshere forced his way back into the Arsenal first team this year. Maintaining fitness, with mixed form, Arsenal were encouraged to offer him a new deal.

Early reports were that Arsenal wanted to pay him a lower basic, with high incentives (ie appearance fees). The net result would be Wilshere earns more than he does currently if he plays, but Arsenal will pay him less than they do now if he does not.

It showed a lesson learnt from the Abou Diaby time at the club, who maintained a high salary regardless of whether he played or not.

From Wilshere’s side, this was not acceptable. He felt he was worth more than Arsenal were offering, and the club reached a stalemate.

Over recent weeks, there have been some wrangling’s, with Arsenal reportedly offering more on his basic wage, but lower incentives. The net result if Wilshere played was the same, but the Englishman would also receive slightly more than the original deal if he failed to play.

Recently married, and his 3rd child on the way, a move abroad was going to be unlikely. Even a move away from London would now be a struggle for him.

My bet is at some point in the last 6 months, his agent has also quietly canvassed other Premier League sides to see what they were offering.

I imagine those clubs above Arsenal failed to give Wilshere the news he wanted.

They were either unwilling to give him (or his people) the huge contract he desired, or the first team football he craved.

The reality is, he would not be a guaranteed starter at any club above Arsenal (nor I suspect will he be at Arsenal next year) so those clubs would have been uncomfortable paying him a huge salary.

Note: I know Wilshere (and his people) were not “allowed” to speak to other English clubs until his contract runs out, but you are naive if you think his agents did not have unofficial discussions in a service station somewhere.

https://twitter.com/AFCfreddie8/status/994129036388524032

The reality dawned for Wilshere, he would have to look below Arsenal to get guaranteed playing time. Everton, Leicester, Newcastle, West Ham, Bournemouth, Crystal Palace. But none of these clubs would be able to match the contract Arsenal had on the table, let alone beat it.

The result is, Wilshere has come closer to Arsenal than Arsenal came to Wilshere, and this was shown in Arsene Wenger’s comments yesterday.

A new 3 year deal on a lower salary but with incentives based on playing time has been provisionally agreed. It is likely to have other incentives, such as salary increase based on game time, and an option for a further year.

All in all, a good deal all round.

Keenos