Tag Archives: She Wore

Senior THREE set for Reading return

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imagesTonight Arsenal will look to increase their 11 game undefeated run to 12 in the League Cup against Reading. It will be the usual run out for 2nd strings players, to keep them sharp and match ready. We will also likely see the return of Aaron Ramsey, Olivier Giroud and Carl Jenkinson.

Ramsey has not been seen since the opening day 4-3 defeat against Liverpool. Hobbling off after 61 minutes. The negative nancies moaned that he was rushed back from the European Championship – whilst also moaning that Laurent Koscielny did not play.

His return to full fitness has been slow and calculated. Until yesterday, his drive in the middle of the park has not been missed. So good has Arsenal’s form been since his injury that Arsenal had no need to rush him back. Wenger instead deciding to give him a full pre-season.

Ramsey’s return will be well timed. With Santi Cazorla picking up a late, and not yet disclosed, injury which ruled him out of the Middlesbrough game, it is not fully clear how long he is sidelined for. With tough games against Spurs and Man U coming up, Aaron Ramsey’s extra defensive attributes will be well utilised.

Olivier Giroud is finally set to return from being out with a broken penis toe.

Whilst he is not everyone’s cup of tea, he was missed again Boro at the weekend. His return does give Arsenal a plan B, or an alternative plan A. His strength, aerial ability and hold up play is something that no one else in the squad provides, and he is a welcome return.

It will also be good to finally see Carl Jenkinson make a return in an Arsenal shirt. He might not have the talent to ever be first choice right back, having a player who is Arsenal through and through in the squad is a benefit. And he is good enough to play against 60% of Premier League sides, as he showed for West Ham.

He has not played since January, and it will be good to get him back to full fitness to provide cover for Hector Bellerin. A popular member of the squad, his return will give the side a boost.

Alongside the returning 3, it will be the usual suspects in the other positions.

Cup keeper David Ospina will once again be in goal. Rob Holding and Gabriel will play between Jenkinson and Kieran Gibbs at centre back.

Francis Coquelin and Mohamed Elneny will continue in the middle of the park, with Ramsey playing behind Giroud up top. Oxlade-Chamberlain and Lucas Perez will be the wide men.

Probably line up:

Ospina
Jenkinson Holding Gabriel Gibbs
Coquelin Elneny
Ox Ramsey Perez
Giroud

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

How does Theo Walcott rank amongst Arsenal GREATS?

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The man of the moment. The phoenix from the flames. Lazarus himself. Theo James Walcott.

He is in a superb being of form. Much has been written about it. Many have apologised. Although Lily Allen has yet to apologise to him on behalf of the entire country. He is back to the form of 2012/13 when he scored 21 goals in 43 games. The same season Gareth Bale had his glorious season for that lot up the road, scoring 26 in 44.

Then it went down hill. 2 years of injury followed by last year where he looked done, shot. Over. RIP Theo Walcott. Sleep with the fishes.

And then we come to this season. He has already hit 7 goals in just 9 games. He has hit 5 league goals in each of the last 3 seasons. He already has 5 this season after the first 5 games. In fact, this is already his 4th highest scoring Premier League campaign. And the clocks have not even gone back yet.

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Over 2 years ago, I wrote a blog about Theo Walcott. Would people love Theo Walcott if he had red hair?

Whilst the title was in jest, the comparison between Freddie Ljungberg was clear and obvious. A nice little table I did at the time highlighted how close they are in terms of out put.

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Theo Walcott is just 7 goals off the century. 100 goals for Arsenal. He has currently scored 21 goals more than Freddie Ljungberg. He is just 6 short of Paul Merson (who frustratingly fell 1 short of being able to raise his bat to the pavilion).

So just how does Theo Walcott rank amongst the best and brightest of Arsenal goal scorers?

top-scorers

Walcott is currently Arsenal’s 20th highest all time top scorer. Scoring more than the likes of Alan Sunderland (92), Robert Pires (84), Charlie George (49), Ljungberg (72), George Armstrong (68), Liam Brady (59), Charlie Nicholas (54) and Kevin Campbell (59).

But he has played sooooo many games you all moan. Here’s another pretty table:

goals-to-games

Out of the 47 players who have scored over 50 goals for The Arsenal, Theo Walcott is 33rd on the list when it comes to games to goals.

The might seem lowly, but it does not take penalties, has rarely played as a striker, and his 1 goal every 3.8 games is still better than other wingers such as Merson (4.3) and Ljungberg (4.6).

So where does Theo Walcott rank?

The answer is a lot better than some would think. He is certainly not one of the worst players to have played in an Arsenal shirt that some make him out to be.

If he continues current form, there is no reason why he should not break into the Top 10 Arsenal goal scorers in the next 18 months. Could he possibly make Top 5? Potentially.

Enjoy Middlesbrough. It’s my first game in nearly a month due to circumstances within my control. Will be good to have a booze up in the usual haunts with my pals.

Have a good weekend.

Keenos