3Points Bagged & Bate Preview

IMAGE CREDIT: ARSENALDOTCOM

Hey Hey Hey ma good footie loving people, how’z it being?  Let’s digress, I wonder where fat Albert is at these days? The iconic pudgy character that helped push “Fubu” designs into mainstream urban/pop culture. Oh well, I guess he is eating a maxi burger somewhere out there.

Shappaly lets get back to football in Arsenal okay.  I said I expected a tough match before the gunners outing against the baggies and Tony Pulis’s wards didn’t disappoint. Sure we had quite a lot of possession but we were up against a well drilled side that did pose a few problems on the break. Mustafi had one of those game that made u kind of wonder when he might eventually get sent off and all that. Jay Rodriguez will probably be thinking if maybe he shoulda gone down for a sure penalty when his cut back dummy left Mustafi caught in a trailing slide tackle……very lucky for the gunners that was. That wasn’t all though, Rodriguez again had to watch in astonishment, like we all did too when Nacho Monreal made an almost impossible clearance of the line after he had Cech beat. That was “the moment” for the gunners and boy was it. It showed a carryover of the commitment we saw from the team against Chelsea…..Full of Heart!

Now all in all, Lacazette got his poachers goal after another controversial moment involving Sanchez. It was great awareness by the Frenchman in front of goal for the rebound. We need more of that. I do wonder what happened against Chelsea when he scooped it high in a similar situation. The gunners ended the 1^st half with their “noses” in front but you could tell it was a ding dong nerve affair. The second half saw the gunners take a more solid foothold in control, I guess Westbrom players had tired a bit and we had a bit more energy to impose on them. Ramseys forward role is something of a “hnmmmm, okay”. You can tell he relishes it very much cuz of the freedom it gives him, Ozil might be the casualty as it appears but time will tell. Kinda like a Zidane replacement with Nedved for Juventus back then. I think for that to work the gunners will need a midfield monster who will seat deep beside Xhaka and then Ramsey can go on doing those his bursting runs upfront. Someone like Kondogbia or Nzonzi would be very nice. These guys are under the radar, no hype, no frills, strong on the ball, good passing range and I am sure won’t cost us a Neymar or Coutinho fee but hey that’s just me thinking. Ramsey helped get the penalty and Alex buried it coolly no sweat two nil up to the Arsenal. We got the tough job done 3 points in the bag another clean sheet making it 3 in a row. I would take that over a cricket score line which makes for fun viewing if you are a neutral but points to leaky defending if you are a gunner and that’s not good. They say goals win you games but solid defending win you titles, the gunners need to drill that well into their psyche.

Job done, we are off to the Europa league (yeah ….spursday night football is back) get used it it. We travel to the Belarus to keep a date with Bate Borisov. I don’t know much but they are not entirely an unknown team, at least wenger thinks so as he said earlier:

“I’ve been in this country before, I came with the French national team,” the Arsenal manager said. “They played against Belarus in June when I was on holiday. They have always technically had very good sides, and overall I remember France had a very difficult game. We know [BATE’s strength], we watched them yesterday. They are a team with good quality, technically strong, so we will need a good performance to have a chance.”

On the young line up he chose to travel with he further explained

“I said on Monday night after the game that I would play an experienced team with a young bench, and that is what I did,” he said. “We have a very tight schedule and it is an important game, and that’s why there is only one or two young players who will start the game.”

      I am sure the coach is trying to keep his main squad as fresh as he can but I hope the inexperience doesn’t cost us away. The disciplined display we are beginning to see will have to be followed to the letter here, get a result that’s the idea. A win would be very good if we can manage to keep it tight at the back and then nick one or two on the counter but it’s important we keep the momentum going of getting results especially away and then coming home to slay wins. Hnmmmm, how ideal such a grandiose thinking sounds, but we all know with Arsenal Fc, anything is possible. Whatever happens to whatever team we put out there, I hope it’s a positive result for the gunners in Minsk. Anyway that’s about it from us, shout out to Gareth Barry for his record setting Premier League appearances. We here he is a professional through and through. We also like to remember a former Gunner from these parts, Alexander Hleb. Such a good football player with mad ball skills but he left to Barcelona and it never really worked out for him from there on, liked him though. That’s it from us for now, dont forget to follow us on FB here or subscribe to our posts up there. Do enjoy the game wherever you are……..Ciaoooo