Happy Halloween wherever U are especially for Man U fans. Yeah I know I keep saying this isn’t
a Man Utd blog but one has to start asking questions about what is going on
over there in the Red Manchester. Man City, Chelsea, Liverpool, Tottenham and even Arsenal whom we all kinda
wrote off after the first game which they lost, are all in the mix of “Contenders”.
Well Mourinho led Man United sit in 8th place (not bad) but 8th
points off the top with a +1 goal difference after 10 games can you beat that? Even Moyes and Van Gaal did much better at this stage when the bean couters
came to take stock. Mourinho is throwng his usual antics, after being sent to
the stands on Saturday, he has come out to blame every one but himself ,….as
usual. I never liked him but he had done enough to earn ma respect and I am
sure so many other people too but he is gradually losing it all. Why Henri
Mikitharian isn’t able to get game time after such a high profile move is
beyond me. Dortmund and Bundesliga player of the year last season or is Dortmund to Man U moves Jinxed? Kagawa …anyone?
Back to Arsenal on the quickie, 10 EPL games played 7W 2D 1 L, so Are we title contenders?? Not
yet. I would love to be postive and i am being positive but not only is it early days yet, i do say so because we have a bit
of a complacency about our play however good we are. We can take out most if not all teams if we
stay focused and hungry, but we seem to lack that killer instinct, that has always being our bane. From the last match against the Mack'ems here are
Gibbs Makes a Claim at a
comeback.
Two wins in the EFL cup run as
captain merged with an assured performance in his first start in league in
which he got an assist for that crucial second goal against Sunderland tells a
lot about his progress recently. His defending is looking improved and he is gradually working his way back into contention for a stating berth. Remember he also got a call up for the England
squad earlier this month even though he did not play. Monreal we all know has
been consistent up until this season where Iwobi has kind of left him exposed
in games but if Gibbs continues his upward trajectory in improvement injuries
allowing, he just might usurp our Mr Consistent who is not getting any younger.
Arsenal Like to do it the Hard
way.
I don’t know how many times immaa
say this but I say it again, we seem to dislike the easy route. We got into the
bossed it from midfield got ahead from a sweet stealing header by Sanchez after
22 swift passes… yeah death by a thousand passes, very beatiful. Then what? Kill of the game, naaah
instead we took our foot of the pedal. Playing with Sunderland like it was a
training session. We ought to have been at least two goals up if Ozil had been
more clinical or if Iwobi hadn’t over run the ball after rounding the keeper.
We played with style and lots of possession but no end product. 1-0 up is never
a safe scoreline in games, we all know that so it was no surprise we conceded a
soft penalty from which they equalized. Typical Arsenal, not this time though,
the gunners they cranked up the gears with super sub Giroud doing in an ‘8 Minute of Blitz’ what they ought to
have done in 70 minutes. Arsenal seem to like it the hardway….not so good!
Sanchez shows the way but…
Another man of the match
performance but i still don’t agree with him up top. he sure is making a case
for that to continue though as his goals are proving Wenger’s belief in that being
the way to go. Well you can’t fault that, he is an energizer bunny full of
running and always trying to make something happen. The way he out foxed Kone
for Arsenals 1st goal was just amazing. He left the Kone still
expecting to head a ball that was already in the net. So what’s the “but”? For all of Sanchez’s good to Arsenal his
penchant for falling down every single time he is pulled or pushed or tugged
will see him lose 50-50 calls for penalties like it happened in the match, also
he needs to cut out his trying to influence the referee into giving a yellow card
against the opposition. Come on bro, it makes you look like a whining pantsy
and that’s very unsporting if you ask me. Great work ethic from a star player,
he just needs to cut out those kinks.
Arsenal show they have Quality in
Depth
1-1, game all square, Giroud comes
off the bench and scores 2 good goals with his first two touches easing off the
pressure on the team while sending the gunners to the summit of the table
albeit briefly. That’s a rarity in past seasons. We usually have a starting 11 that’s
solid with Giroud leading the line with no extra goods in the tank, but not
this season. In Defence Midfield and Attack, this gunners boast of better
replacements than before which can only be good
for the Team. Elneny has held forth well even though Ramsey is back an Xhaka
has served his last match ban so Arsene has some decisions to make. We have so
far coped without Welbeck, Giroud, Ramsey and Perez although it must be said
that we don’t have an adequate replacement for Santi who has picked up a knock…still
there is an improvement in the squad depth quality wise.....now that is good!
November can be defining Month.
On paper, Arsenal have two tough league
games in November, away at them Tiny Tots who are thus far unbeaten (Wont it be
nice to hand them thei first defeat of the season) but have stuttered with two consecutive
draws draws and then at home to Man Utd, sandwiched in between will be . Now
Man United isn’t the worry but the Mourinho factor may still be. Arsene still
owes him a beating in the league. The BIG question is can they beat these two
teams now?? 6 points would be a dream come true, 4 points from those two games
will be good a 2 points will be bad and anything less would be really terrible.
If you add Ludogorets and PSG in the UCL and Southampton in the EFL cup then
you get the picture. Not that I have underestimated Bournemouth cuz there are
no easy games in the EPL these days.
All in all, a good day out with 3-points in the bag although no clean sheet. Liverpool is looking a threat now ooo, or is it me? For us, here is hoping we dont have our hitherto terrible November run in the league while successfully being able navigate three tricky cup games both home and away with good results. I believe proper management of his players will be very critical to such success. Finding the right balance will be tricky no doubt but rotation is very key. Anyway thats it from me.......... Ciao
No comments:
Post a Comment