Tag Archives: Theo Walcott

The Win, The Defence, Theo Walcott and The Arsenal

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The Win

2-0. It could have been more, it should have been more.

It was one of those situation’s where the game was so easy, rather than being ruthless, the players tried to create something special every time. A couple more goals would have been nice, but the keeper played well, and we sit top of the group after two games.

Beat Ludogorets in the next round of games and we will be on 7 points. With PSG likely to beat Basel at home, that will leave both clubs 6 points ahead of 3rd place. We than have the away games against the two weaker sides before finishing at home to PSG (I think).

It is always nice to get some early European wins under your belt, as it takes the pressure off in December when Premier League games come a bit thicker, a bit faster.

By not slipping up last night, and if we beat Ludogorets, we will practically be through.

The Defence

For a so called panic buy Shkodran Mustafi has settled in nicely next to Laurent Koscielny. He looks defensively strong, quick and good on the ball. Everything you need to be a defender at Arsenal.

And Laurent Koscielny seems to have grown into a new beast this season. It feels with the extra responsibility being France’s senior centre back this summer and being Arsenal’s leader at the back, he has grown. It leads you to the question as to why Laurent Koscielny was not made Arsenal captain?

I think we can now call an end to Per Mertesacker’s Arsenal career. His contract runs out at the end of this year, and with Mustafi and Koscielny on current form, I can not see him getting a sniff back in the team.

Rob Holding seems to be developing well, and Gabriel has always had all the physical making to be good, just not the mental. We are moving forward with a new batch of mobile, strong, quick defenders.

The line of succession is there. Koscielny and Mustafi for the next 2/3 years. Than Holding (who will still just be 23 in 3 years time) comes in for Koscielny.

Theo Walcott

Another great performance by Theo Walcott.

I have spoken about him a few times this season but he continues to go from strength to strength. He needs to keep it up, but the signs are positive.

Remember, this is a guy who scored 21 goals in 43 games in the 2012/13 season. He clearly is a good finisher, but has always been a confidence player. And always been one to respond when put under pressure by other players.

Being dropped by England and threatened to be sold to West Ham in the summer seems to have pushed him on.

Anyone out there still think Wenger was wrong letting go Joel Campbell in the summer, whilst keeping Theo?

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The Arsenal

Enjoy our performances whilst you can guys. As we are The Arsenal and we are only ever two poor games from being in a crisis. The boy boos will come back out. The banners will be displayed and people will lose their mind.

Performances like last night and Chelsea make you fall back in love with the game, back in love with the club again. We just need to keep it going.

Keenos

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10 reasons Arsenal beat Chelsea

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1) The Scoreline – Arsenal scored 3 goals, Chelsea did not score. Pretty simple really.

2) The midfield battle – Francis Coquelin and Santi Cazorla dominated the first part of the game. Coquelin playing high up the pitch, pressing, Cazorla having the freedom of the park. When Coquelin got injured, Arsenal were able to replace him with Granit Xhaka. Not since being able to replace Gilberto with Edu have we had such a class midfielder on the pitch. And Xhaka continued where Coquelin left off. Destroying the Chelsea midfield. And winning the battle against N’golo Kante.

3) Mesut Ozil – Often criticised for not stepping up in the big games, Ozil showed why he is a world class player. They way he turned Kante on the edge of the Arsenal box, ran the length of the pitch, leaving Kante in his dust, and then got to the far post to volley it in was magnificent.

4) Alexis Sanchez – When we signed Sanchez, their was talk that he would be a striker at Arsenal. Recently Arsene Wenger was quoted as saying that Sanchez could be a mix of Suarez and Aguero. Many scoffed, saw it as reasoning behind Wenger not buying a striker. But this is a player, remember, who plays upfront on his own for his country, and led them to victory in the last 2 Copa America. His pace and power upfront is a threat. And with 47 goals goals in 100 games, he certainly knows how to find the back of the net.

5) Theo Walcott – Over the summer, most wanted him out, I wanted him out, but yesterday he put in a performance that we have not seen for years. In 2012/13 Walcott was excellent. 21 goals and countless more assists. He looked like he had finally arrived. Then he had 3 years of injury and uselessness. This season he seems to have turned it around again. Yesterday was his 3rd goal of the season. As a comparison, Joel Campbell has 3 league goals in his Arsenal career. If Walcott keeps it going, it will be testament to both his change in attitude and Arsene Wenger’s man management skills.

6) Hector Bellerin – Is there a better right back in world football at the moment? He had Eden Hazard in his pocket. He can defend and attack. And can start 20 meters behind an opponent, catch him up and win the ball easily with space to spare.

7) Arsene Wenger – A lot will say that yesterday was partly to do with Antonio Conte getting his tactics wrong, but let’s give Wenger some credit, he got his tactics spot on. From playing Sanchez up top, encouraging him to drop deep pulling David Luiz out of place, Coquelin’s high press, Bellerin pushing tight on Hazard and Cazorla playing deepest of the midfield giving him the time and space to dictate the game. Even Wenger’s subs worked out. Xhaka, whilst forced, showed strength on the bench. Gibbs tightened the left hand side, and Olivier Giroud gave us a target man upfront and extra height at corners. Wenger got it right.

8) John Terry – You need a leader at the back. In recent seasons Arsenal have struggled without Per Mertesacker. Man U have not found one since Rio Ferdinand retired. Man City with Kompany look leaderless. And Chelsea showed without John Terry that they are clueless at the back. Sanchez’s goal came from a Gary Cahill mistake. And Ozil’s was by both Cahill and Luiz going towards Sanchez leaving Ozil free at the far post. Without Terry, they did not have someone who could direct play.

9) Calm Costa – Not exactly Diego Costa being calm, but more the Arsenal centre backs being calm around Costa. Koscielny and Mustafa look a partnership already. Both won the ball, cleanly, off Costa, but went in hard enough to leave him on the floor moaning. towards the end of the game, Koscielny once more left Costa in a heap, Costa reacted running half the length of the pitch to confront both the ref, than Koscielny. The Frenchman laughed it off, Costa got booked. It was an uncompromising performance by Arsenal’s new centre back partnership. And a captains performance by Koscielny.

10) Selfies – Finally, Rio Ferdinand “slammed” Arsenal for a post match selfie. Yet a year ago, he said Roy Keane was “out of touch”

Up the Arse

Keenos
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Arsenal set for busy end to transfer window

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The transfer window will slam shut on Wednesday at 11.30pm. Less than 60 hours to go. And in that 60 hours, Arsenal still have a lot of work to do.

Shkodran Mustafi and Lucas Perez

The deals are all but done for Shkodran Mustafi and Lucas Perez. Fees agreed, contracts signed, medicals reportedly completed. All we are waiting for his the FA to reopen Tuesday morning so that we can send across the official paperwork, and the deal is then signed, sealed and completed.

I would imagine as I am writing this, both players are at London Colney and/or the stadium getting their promo photos done. Arsenal might even announce both deals today before they have been full ratified by the FA.

Mustafi has been called up for Germany’s friendly game against Finland on 31 August 2016 and the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification game against Norway on 4 September 2016. Perez unsurprisingly not selected for Spain.

Both Mustafi and Perez will be able to use the international break in different ways to gain full match sharpness and be ready for the home game against Southampton on September 10th.

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Defenders Loaned Out

The exit door could be very busy at London Colney over the next 60 hours with numerous players slated to be loaned out.

Arsenal are ready to allow Mathieu Debuchy to depart the club. Most likely on a season-long loan. A reported calf injury could hamper the deal, but a club will likely take a gamble and get the French international in. His destination likely to be somewhere in Turkey, or the mid-lower reaches of Italy’s Serie A.Mathieu+Debuchy+Calum+Chambers+Manchester+a7sYRe78Nyrl

Also exiting will be Calum Chambers. Since his breakthrough 2 seasons ago, he has struggled to nail a place in the team, mainly down to lack of playing time. He needs to go somewhere in the Premier League and play a season at centreback. We will want him to go somewhere where he will be guaranteed to play every game. Hull and Middlesbrough seem like the front runners.

Letting both go would leave Arsenal with just one recognised right back whilst Carl Jenkinson recovers from his injury, but Mustafi has played at right back before for both club and country. I would also imagine a deal for Chambers would involve a recall clause.

Major Exit?

Could we see Theo Walcott or Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain leave the club over the next few days?

Serge Gnabry

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The next out of the door could be Serge Gnabry. Top scorer for Germany at the Olympics, he was in impressive form. But is there a place for him at Arsenal?

With Alexis Sanchez, Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Alex Iwobi & new boy Lucas Perez ahead of him, he will struggle for game time.

One thing Arsenal have to take into account is his contract. It expires at the end of this season. the club would probably prefer a loan deal for the barley-21 German star, but that would open the risk of losing him for nothing at the end of the season if we do not tie him down to a new contract.

Arsenal might be willing to cut their losses with Gnabry and sell for a cut price deal.

He will end up in Germany, whether on loan or a permanent deal.

David Ospina

I began writing this thinking we might see David Ospina make the surprise move to Barcelona to provide competition for Marc-André ter Stegen, replacing Claudio Bravo. But they have already secured Jasper Cillessen. That door is now closed, but it would not surprise me if someone came in for a late bid for the Colombian, with the offer of first team football.

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Minor Loan Deals

The likes of Yaya Sanogo, Chuba Akpom and Jeff Reine-Adelaide could well see themselves also exit the club in loan deals.

With the changes to the loan system coming into place, we can not think that we will keep Akpom and The Jeff to play against Nottingham Forest before loaning them out. A decision will have to be made on them in the coming days.

As for Sanogo, any loan deal will be an option, or we might just put him down and turn him into glue.

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Late Madness

It has been the slogan of our summer after a Twitter ITK tweeted that Arsenal were going to do a madness.

So far the predictions that we would smash our transfer record has not happened, but you feel that if all the domino’s fall into place, we could see one more final transfer on the last day of the season.

Could Arsenal take advantage of Daniel Sturridge’s unhappiness under Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool? Or a move for long term linked Antoine Griezmann or Julian Draxler? Or maybe a big money move for James Rodgriguez or Isco? Or will Dimitri Payet become Arsene Wengers man?

We have the money there, we could still make a late move for someone.

Keenos

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