Tag Archives: She Wore

Out of the EFL trophy, Laurent Koscielny injured & Jack Wilshere woes continue

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Disappointed to see the lads drop out of the EFL Trophy last night.

Whilst I am against academy sides being in the lower league competition, I can see the benefits of getting to see youngsters play against senior players.

Losing 2-1 against Portsmouth is not a bad result. They are flying high in League One this season – having lost just a single league game.

The side Arsenal put was very much a second string youth side, missing the likes of Eddie Nketiah, Emile Smith Rowe, Joe Willock, Julio Pleguezuelo, Ben Sheaf and Xavier Amaechi.

The side contained 7 teenagers, and once you remove Laurent Koscielny – who hobbled off injured, the average age was just 19.

Promotions to the first team of Smith Rowe, Nketiah and Willock meant that a whole host of U18 players were then called up. This then weakened the U18 team, who as a consequence lost 2-1 to Everton.

With 16-year-old Karl Hein on the bench, the squad that travelled down to the South Coast to face Portsmouth had 10 players who were still eligible to be playing in the U18s.

Having seen a dozen youth team graduates make the trip to Ukraine last week, the academy is in a very strong position, with many players performing above their age group.

On Koscielny, it is concerning that he limped off last night.

Following a 45 minute cameo against Derby for the U23s last week, he played 85 minutes last night. It was a step up in his recovery process, with the target being to return to the first team against Qarabag next week in the Europa League dead rubber.

It is not yet clear whether he was taken off as a precaution, or whether he has tweaked something more serious.

At 33-years-old, your body does recover slower and is more susceptible to niggling injuries during recovery. If this turns out to be something more serious, it could be the end of his Arsenal career.

On injuries, it was announced earlier this week that Jack Wilshere has picked up yet another ankle injury just as he returned to first team action following an injury to his other ankle.

Wilshere had missed West Ham‘s last nine Premier League matches due to an ankle injury before making his comeback last Saturday against Newcastle.

After playing only five minutes against Newcastle on the weekend, he had to be rested for the Cardiff game because of an ankle pain.

This season he has appeared for West Ham just 5 times – starting 4 games and playing 339 minutes.

When Arsenal fans announced he was to be let go on a free transfer, a lot of fans responded in anger. Wilshere’s continuation of a poor injury record justifies Arsenal’s decision.

The decision to let Wilshere go is ever more supported in hindsight with the development of Matteo Guendouzi.

Had 26-year-old Wilshere played, he would have taken minutes away from the teenage Frenchman.

19-year-old Guendouzi has started 12 games this season and the extra play time has sped up his development.

Wilshere is the teenage star of yesteryear. Guendouzi is the teenage start of today.

Keenos

Tottenham, Manchester United and the FA Cup

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I am still coming down from yesterday.

Having taken yesterday off work, I strolled in today do 100 questions from colleagues as to how was the game and Arsenal were brilliant.

This time of year the games come thick and fast, and this week we have a mid-week games. Tomorrow it is another huge test with Manchester United away.

Arsene Wenger’s demise was defined by a lack of victories on the road to top teams. Unai Emery has a good chance to chalk up his first 3 points against United.

Jose Mourinho’s team are in total disarray. They are in 7th place, 16 points off top – last season they finished 19 points off Manchester City.

Whilst I am confident about tomorrow, I am also aware that Manchester United – and Jose Mourinho – often raise their game against Arsenal.

Our player of the season this season has been Lucas Torreira. Mourinho will employ the very basic tactic of sticking Marouane Fellaini as a number 10 and hitting him with high balls. Torreira will have no chance and United will then battle for the knock downs.

It is a basic tactic, but one which could work. Especially as we are without Granit Xhaka who misses his first Premier League game since the 2016/17 season.

The big news yesterday was the draw for the Emirates FA Cup third round. Arsenal will travel to either Solihull Moors or Blackpool.

We will find out our opposition for the match on December 11, when Solihull travel to Bloomfield Road for a second-round replay, after the sides drew 0-0 at the weekend.

Solihull Moors, managed by former England goal keeper Tim Flowers, play at Damson Park on the outskirts of Birmingham. With a capacity of just over 3,000, it is likely the fixture will get moved. Gander Green Lane (the home of Sutton United) held over 5,000 when we played them a few years back.

If the fixture is not moved, Arsenal will receive about 450 tickets. It will mean a ballot of the away scheme.

We played Blackpool at home earlier this season when we beat them 2-1 in the Carabao Cup fourth round on Halloween.

An away trip to them would be a good old day, as long as it is not ruined by TV. The last train back to London is at 19:32 via Preston. Easily Makeable if we are Saturday 3pm. But if it is moved to the 17:30 kick off time, it will be impossible to make it home.

On the Sunday we have planned engineering works. That means bus replacement services and 5+ hour journey times.

Friday and Monday would be a day off work and not getting back until the next day.

A night out in Blackpool would not be too bad, if it was not just a couple of weeks after Christmas and New Year.

Hopefully the TV companies take into account the travelling fans. They often point out that the FA Cup is dying, but football without fans is nothing. The TV companies are part of the problem.

So it is a case of cracking through today at work, before settling in to enjoy the game against Manchester United tomorrow.

Keenos

Arsenal show class is permanent

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What a win. What a game. What a weekend.

I got home from the Islington Sports Bar and Grill late last night and re-watched the game. I was buzzing throughout, kebab in hand and content in the knowledge that I had booked this morning off work.

Tottenham fans, as Tottenham fans do, got ideas above their station in the week leading up to the game.

They forgot that they are not a big club, that they had gone a decade without a trophy and had failed to win at the Emirates in the Premier League since February 2010.

Spurs fans believed that two years of finishing above Arsenal made them the superior team. Whilst this temporary rise in form did lead them to qualify for the Champions League at Arsenal’s expense twice, Arsenal always held the upper ground. Always had the class.

A few weeks ago we sang about having our Arsenal back. A few in the media derided this. But yesterday showed exactly what fans were singing about.

The Emirates was rocking. The ground and fans often singled out as being quiet, when the reality is it is no worse than White Hart Lane (or Wembley), Anfield, West Ham or Old Trafford. Yesterday the Arsenal fans were the 12th man.

And on the pitch the players gave as much as the fans did.

When Spurs equalised, Eric Dier ran towards the Arsenal fans shushing them. Stephan Lichtsteiner stuck one on the half dozen Spurs players celebrating. One man standing toe to toe with them.

Then all of a sudden we saw something that had been missing for years at The Arsenal. Passion and togetherness of the players.

The usually quiet Aaron Ramsey got himself involved, looking to swing it out with Dier. Then all of a sudden, from nowhere, youngsters Matteo Guendouzi and Ainsley Maitland-Niles came out of no where to back up their mates.

They were not wearing bibs, they were not warming up. They were sitting on the bench and legged it down the touchline. Guendouzi sticking one on Dele Alli will only further increase his place as a fans favourite.

From 1-nil up Arsenal very quickly went 2-1 behind. At half time, no one was that worried.

Arsenal had dominated the game, unlucky to not have scored 2 or 3. It was only a Son dive that separated the teams.

Son showed Tottenham lacked class throughout the game. He was throwing himself to the floor at every opportunity. Like there were banana skins on the pitch and he kept slipping on them.

Banana skins. Another example of Spurs lack of class. The fan should be banned for life. Sacked from work. I actually hope the black lads who support Spurs stick one on him, make it clear he is not welcome anymore.

Back to Son.

The response to his dive has been odd. There was no contact, yet people still say it was a penalty. He threw himself to the ground. He was not taking evading action. He cheated and should be banned.

In the second half, Unai Emery made changes. Aaron Ramsey and Alexandre Lacazette came on.

It highlights where Arsenal are these days that we had players of the quality of Lacazette and Ramsey on the bench.

The rest of the game is a bit of a blur. Arsenal won 4-2.

There were a couple more flash points. And everytime Spurs tried shithousing, Arsenal players were there, en masse, backing each other. It was a team spirit we had not seen since Martin Keown, Ashley Cole, Lauren and Thierry Henry stuck one on Ruud van Nistelrooy.

The cream eventually rises to the top. And that is what happened yesterday.

Tottenham being better than Arsenal for 2 seasons did not change decades of dominance. Of one club winning trophies regularly and the other winning 2 League Cups in 27 years.

Moving forward, this game could kill Spurs. They are not a very good side, and will end up closer to Manchester United than the top 4.

Arsenal are 19 games unbeaten, making the media and pundits eat their words, and are back.

We really are back.

Keenos