Arsenal the Yo-Yo POSITIVES, NEEDS and HOPES My son: Are we gonna win today, Dad? Me: No idea My son: Why not? Me: Because our players, form, line up or any part of it doesn’t seem to matter as to whether we are ‘good Arsenal’ or ‘bad Arsenal.’ Do you think we will win? My […]
I read two excellent articles after Saturday’s disappointing loss at Villa Park, both looking at Arsenal’s striker issues in slightly different ways. One described it as ‘our penalty box problem’. Both Lacazette and Aubameyang are top strikers with differing attributes, indeed the Arsenal captain, is arguably world class. However, the question raised is whether either, […]
The Penalty Box Problem POSITIVES, NEEDS and HOPES Well, that wasn’t November and it wasn’t January. It was somewhere in between. The Keeper was very good, defence was uncharacteristically nervous, the midfield dominated but it was the attackers or more to the point, the attacking, that was stuck deep in November. There are multiple layers […]
Have you noticed? POSITIVES, NEEDS and HOPES I think it’s pretty normal for football fans to notice the following; great performances, poor performances, glaring opportunities, eye catching individualism, big effort, lack of effort and man of the match candidates. There are more but that’s enough. What I’m starting to notice with the current Arsenal team […]
When it’s the Coach POSITIVES, NEEDS and HOPES Every game can be won or lost by a coach. Something they do or don’t do. Often it’s plural. Yesterday, Mikel Arteta and Ralph Hassenhuttl got to show themselves. Two games, same opponents, back to back. A real coaches game. Just played each other so we were […]
Sometimes the Solution is the Winner POSITIVES, NEEDS and HOPES So, we didn’t get 3 points but….. what did we get? We got returning players, Partey in particular. We got a better performance from our central midfielders. Our backline looked solid and we defended against two of the trickiest players in the league, admirably. A […]
It comes from within POSITIVES, NEEDS and HOPES With the relief felt and a headline like that, this could be a ‘braveheart moment’, but the game wasn’t that yet. I could say I told you so, but I’m just one of thousands who have been saying the same thing. The truth of what happened yesterday […]
The team that’s not there yet POSITIVES, NEEDS and HOPES I’m glad that I couldn’t watch the derby live. I got to watch it 8 hours after finding out the score. When I logged on to Twitter after the game many had unsurprisingly lost it with the manager and some of the players. Not living […]
….. and Arteta saw that POSITIVES, NEEDS and HOPES I understand that I might be preaching to the choir here, as Mikel Arteta was probably the one who initiated that performance last night, but if I was one of his staff I’d make him watch the Wolves game again then this one, and play spot […]
FOOTBALL as RUGBY / LOSING to the SOLUTION POSITIVES, NEEDS and HOPES Let’s start with ‘Football as Rugby.’ I have a general understanding of Rugby. I certainly get that to make progress the rules force you to pass backwards. I’d imagine that if they let you pass forward that the players would. Football isn’t necessarily […]
