I, too, cannot wrap my mind around Mikel Arteta’s substitutions. I can’t explain why he keeps playing Willian on the left, I can’t understand why he seems to overlook Martinelli, and so on. I believe he should have responded better when David Luiz got sent off at Molineux and I think he killed the team […]
When the Coach got to coach POSITIVES, NEEDS and HOPES I was really looking forward to yesterday’s game. Off the back of two losses and another potential fan meltdown, that may seem a little crazy. My excitement was based on knowing that the game came with a full weeks preparation time. Something our coach hasn’t […]
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 […]
The Swiss Army Knife POSITIVES, NEEDS and HOPES There’s a groove developing. A little swagger. Beyond the natural boost of confidence earned when you start winning and keeping clean sheets, what are the details? 1) INDIVIDUAL IMPROVEMENT Have you noticed? We have 11 players that we can pick who are either on a run of […]
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 […]
January 2 December 0 POSITIVES, NEEDS and HOPES I kid you not, I wrote that headline on my notepad before the game. I looked at the line up and wasn’t entirely disappointed as the key players needed to be rested, but I saw Willian and some of his buddies and predicted that the ‘December crew’ […]
FA Cup final, 2017. The match was barely underway when Rob Holding was already hustling and hounding Diego Costa – Chelsea’s ‘A’ class shithouse. As the two tangled together, the Spaniard brought him down and wildly flailed a leg, just missing the defender. Holding, having been warned by Per Mertesacker of Costa’s antics before the […]
A Necessary Chaos POSITIVES, NEEDS and HOPES Watching Aaron Ramsey at Arsenal was a frustrating experience for me. I know I wasn’t the only one that felt that Arsenal wasted his best years. A potentially world class player who was never played consistently as a box to box midfielder in a midfield three. What happened […]
Match Preview Arsenal travel to Manchester United on Sunday afternoon in the hope of not only turning around their wretched record away record at Old Trafford, but also steadying the ship after losing three of their last four matches in the Premier League. Arteta will be looking for a much needed reaction after last week’s […]
