Tag Archives: She Wore

Mesut Ozil, Aubameyang v Lacazette & Jose Mourinho

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Mesut Ozil

Sick again, it is hard to support him at times, he does not help himself.

A bit like in the office having a really good employee who you are also mates with, going out a couple of days a week after work for a pint, yet is off sick twice a month.

You want to support and back them but eventually the camels back is broken.

I am getting to this point with Ozil.

Some have said he has a low immune system, others that he has a dicky back. it is then crazy that we gave him such a huge contract if we knew that he had health or injury problems.

I do not believe the rumours of a training ground bust-up. The media are just trying to use The Arsenal name to create hits.

With it being the last week of the transfer window, it did get me thinking.

Should Arsenal cash in on Mesut Ozil if a bid comes in?

https://twitter.com/KeenosAFC/status/1034128211842658304

Aubameyang v Lacazette

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has started the season slowly. He is however still a class act.

Meanwhile Alexandre Lacazette has looked electric every time he has come on, making things happen. Both players seem to also play well together.

So who should start against Cardiff?

https://twitter.com/KeenosAFC/status/1034372714331561984

Jose Mourinho

Watching the Jose Mourinho press conference yesterday was a thing of beauty.

Mourinho demanding respect from the media as he has won 3 Premier League titles, whilst all other 19 managers in the division have only won 2 between them.

It got me thinking about Mourinho’s comments about Arsene Wenger back in October 2005.

“I think he is one of these people who is a voyeur,” he said. “He likes to watch other people. There are some guys who, when they are at home, they have a big telescope to see what happens in other families. He speaks and speaks and speaks about Chelsea.” 

At this point, Mourinho had won just 1 Premier League title against Wenger’s 3.

He showed no respect to Wenger, despite Wenger, at the time, having won more than him in England. In fact, throughout his career in England, he has shown a lot of disrespect to others on the touchline.

Most notably the amount of times he has shaken the hand of an opposing manager and walked off in a strop.

Mourinho needs to take a long hard look at himself. If he wants respect from the media and other managers, perhaps he should start by giving them the respect first?

Respect is for those who deserve it, not those who demand it.

Keenos

Positive, positive Arsenal

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As I sit here on Sunday afternoon writing this I am in a relaxed and reflective mood.

A weekend of seeing family, a BBQ in the sun and then a pub lunch in Epping Forest on Sunday in the rain, I have had a cracking weekend even if it meant I missed going to The Arsenal.

And The Arsenal result has certainly helped with my mood.

After a tough two opening games for Unai Emery, we face West Ham on Saturday, winning 3-1 in what was a fairly rusty display.

Some tried to paint Emery as a man under pressure. I saw one journalist say he was “favourite for the sack race”, and that he was under tremendous pressure from the Arsenal fans.

It was certainly a case of the journalist trying to create a story rather than report the news.

The only people I have seen being super-negative about the start of the Emery-era are attention seeking wankers in social media.

Regardless of whether they were previously Wenger-In or Wenger-Out, there is an equal number abusing Emery for RTs and recognition. On both sides, thy have shown themselves as not true Arsenal fans and are best off ignored.

As for the game, I was not at it as have only seen brief highlights on Match if the Day.

From the 8 minutes of football I saw, the following observations were made:

  • Sokratis is the proper defender we have missed for a decade
  • There is a player in Granit Xhaka; he just needs to be used correctly
  • We need to play Lucas Torreira behind Xhaka
  • Mkhitaryan is a different player when Ozil isn’t playing

There are clearly some huge positives to be taken from the beginning of the Emery-era; even if it has taken 3 games to get the first positive result.

The difference between the Liverpool / Arsenal punditry made interesting listening too.

They heavily criticised Arsenal for sending both full backs forward, but then praised Liverpool for employing the same tactics and saying “thats the modern game”.

It highlights that the “expert” pundits will change their mind on tactics depending on what agenda they want to pursue.

In this case it was criticise Arsenal & praise Liverpool.

What would have been good is for someone to take the time comparing the way both sides set up.

The issue is not that Arsenal’s full backs bomb forward, but the lack of cover they get from their midfielders.

Liverpool played with Georginio Wijnaldum and James Milner sitting.

Both men would cover outwide when their full backs bomb forward.

Manchester City use a different tactic, with Fernandinho sitting between the centre backs creating a back 3 when Kyle Walker and Benjamin Mendy bomb on.

Arsenal’s problem is, and has been probably since Gilberto Silva left the club, that no one in the middle of the park covers the full backs when the go forward.

It just further supports playing Torreira and Xhaka together.

A two man shield will mean that we can have a solid 4 men covering the full backs when the are in the opposition box.

It is all about balance.

Whilst I have mentioned Liverpool. They are top. 9 points from 9; and are being talked up as potential champions. The crown already on their head.

But they have played West Ham (h), Crystal Palace (a) & Brighton (h).

Some perspective is needed.

Last season, Arsenal were awful in finishing 6th. Yet they beat West Ham (h), Crystal Palace (a) & Brighton (h).

So had we had Liverpool’s opening 3 games this season in 2017/18, we would have been top of the league, 9 points out of 9.

This season I would expect Arsenal to win all 3 of the games Liverpool have – we have already won 1 of the 3.

We are 3 games into the season. Just like Arsenal were not a bad team after losing to Manchester City and Chelsea, beating West Ham, Crystal Palace and Brighton does not make Liverpool a great team.

Have a good bank holiday Monday and it is back to football on Sunday with a visit to Cardiff.

Let’s be positive and ignore those negative attention seekers.

Keenos

Match Report: Arsenal 3 – 1 West Ham

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Arsenal (1) 3 West Ham United (1) 1

Premier League

Saturday, 25th August 2018

(4-2-3-1) Cech; Bellerin, Mustafi, Sokratis, Monreal; Guendouzi, Xhaka; Mkhitaryan, Ramsey, Iwobi; Aubemeyang.

Substitutes: Elneny, Lacazette, Torreira, Lichtsteiner, Holding, Welbeck, Leno.

Scorers: Monreal, Diap (O.G.), Welbeck

Referee: Graham Scott

Attendance: 59,830

You really can’t write this can you? Of our first three Premier League outings of the 2018-19 season, two have been derbies – this week we entertain Wes Dam, who despite all their Cock-er-nee bluster and bravado, have only been victorious on one occasion in the PL at The Emirates, back on the opening day of the 2015-16 season; a match not to be reminded of, and certainly one that should be placed firmly and deeply imto the dustbin of Premiership history.

A nigh-on full crowd at The Emirates saw the welcome return of Our Jack, albeit rather strangely attired in an opposition shirt; a peculiar sight these days as we are more used to seeing him in our familiar red and whites, of course. Also to be mentioned in dispatches today is our old friend Łukasz Fabiański, now employed as the man between the sticks for Wes Dam, as well as young Lucas Pérez who has found new horizons for his career in E20 too. Strangely missing from our line-up today was the much-maligned and enigmatic Mesut Özil, an absence due more to illness rather than injury or selection deletion apparently, despite scurrilous rumours to the contrary. As a byword, the two opposing managers today have met before on fields of glory, when they were opposing Misters in La Liga a few years ago.

On with the motley. As befitting a London derby, there was a crackle in the air and a stirring of the heart as the match got underway with both sides testing each other’s defences robustly. Despite a disallowed offside goal from Aaron Ramsey quite early on, our opponents severely tried and tested the Arsenal defence with some well executed “smash-and-grab” counter-attacking that ultimately led to a well-taken goal with some 25 minutes on the clock. Their felicitations didn’t last long, however; within five minutes the scores were level with a superb Nacho Monreal goal taken with some style when the ball found its way to him just outside the six-yard box. Just before the break, we were most fortunate not to concede a goal, and but for the agility and positioning of Petr Cech, we could have been in deficit.

Alexandre Lacazette replaced Alex Iwobi at the beginning of the second half, and almost immediately made a difference to the attack with several attempts over a ten minute period on the Wes Dam goal that led to nothing, unfortunately. It was after such an attack by the opposition that we took the lead for the first time in a match this season, albeit fortuitously. A seemingly simple loose ball in the Wes Dam six-yard box ended up in their goal courtesy of an error by Issa Diap on his debut for the E20 club. A few minutes later a large cheer came up from the home crowd when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was substituted for the popular striker Danny Welbeck. From now on until the end of the match, our chaps gradually took cotrol of proceedings. In injury time, Danny Welbeck received a pass, pirouetted and slotted the winner home with some aplomb, which elevated us to eleventh in the Premier League table. A great sigh of relief resounded around the stadium, as we finally chalked up our first win of the campaign after three very tough matches.

Make no mistake about it, there were some glaring (and on another day possibly fatal) errors by the defence throughout this match. Again, with the absence of protection from midfield, and with no Arsenal players taking reponsibility on the pitch for the third match in a row, we were fortunate indeed not to concede more goals than we actually did. Mr. Emery has all the answers now; our dromedarian defenders need to find their backbone before something truly awful occurs; whilst we know that our bandits will always score goals, and the midfield can supply this (even with the absence of the umlauted one) the defence must surely have the priority for any restructuring here. Aaron Ramsay was just superb today, as was Nacho Monreal, but up front, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang needs to regain his confidence quickly, as he is fading out of matches. It will happen. Remember everyone, keep the faith, get behind the team and the manager, as these early days are going to be crucial for our future success in all competitions. Stick with the winners. Victoria Concordia Crescit.

Steve

Too Dearly Loved To Be Forgotten: Arsenal v Racing Club de Paris 1930-1962 by Steve Ingless (Rangemore Publications, ISBN 978-1-5272-0135-4) is now available on Amazon.