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| Image Credit: Arsenal.com |
Hi good people of planet football,
always good to have you here with us even if we never see eye to eye.….LOL. At
least the good news of Irma being not as life threatening as the media drummed
it up to be even though a tropical storm is still poses some sort of danger
regardless. One can only be grateful for the little things of life, like
football….. Right?
Unto things arsenal quickly. It turned out to
be more like a routine 3points in the outing against Bournemouth last weekend.
3 points 3 goals and a clean sheet to boot isn’t to be complained about
although one has to always find areas where the team should or could have done
better cuz it was far from a perfect performance. The gunners should have
shredded Bournemouth better with more goal (our goals column is -ve) Welbeck,
doesn’t still look sure footed in front of goal even though he managed to score
two goals and our defending still lacks the necessary discipline it should
have. There were times when Arsenal had all players but Bellerin in and around
the opposition’s penalty box. Looking at how Bournemouth played like they were
uninterested, when they could have had a real go at Arsenal's back line. Allowing
us space and time on the ball, it was generally a poor performance from them
and Eddie Howie should be concerned. Take nothing away from Arsenals quality,
the team upped it ante a bit after the Anfield fiasco, bringing our quality to bear especially for the
second goal from Lacazette. Özil’s pre-assist pass to find him was
glorious and he showed that with the right supply line, he can score for the
gunners which is comforting to know. All in all, I cant complain about the
points and clean sheet but sterner tests lie ahead. This brings us to the
present reality, the bigger boiz of European football have dined in the
champions league and now its time for the "have nots". Yeah you heard right,
shebi Wenger likes to chant Arsenal cant compete financially with the Big boiz
when it comes to the transfer market init?
Thursday night football is here as the gunners
take on FC Cologne or koln if you prefer to be German. It’s going to be
difficult to gauge this, but since we are at home, the onus is on us to get the
3 points for a flying start in this tournament, plus get to rest some players.
Speaking of resting players, the manager is going to rotate quite a bit as he
keeps an eye of the super Sunday clash at Stamford Bridge with Conte’s men. I
am so not looking forward to that cuz I still believe this team lacks the
tactical discipline but let’s see. The last time Arsenal played Koln was back
in 2012 during a preseason friendly. The gunners won by a comfy 4-0 scoreline,
Podolski grabbed a brace then. All that is history now, this is the real deal,
and while some may argue that on the surface, Cologne dont look particularly
threatening an opposition currently. They sit bottom of the Bundesliga with no
points after three matches having scored only once during that time. They have lost their key striker Modeste, on loan to the Chinese super “money” league. Then
again, It’s still a football we talking, add unpredictable Arsenal into the
mix, you get my drift. Ramsey, Özil, Xhaka and Coquelin aren’t going to
start, Coqs out injured while the others are being rested or Sunday. We might see
Xhaka though since this is German opposition….me thinkss. The interesting one
is Jack Wilshere who is the coach going to start tonight, after being out for
so long, kinda strange if you ask me. Wenger though thinks otherwise on Arsenal website:
“He is
very hungry and sharp. He is not completely at his best, but he is getting
there every week. He enjoys being back and competing for his place and what I
see in training is positive. I think he has been so much under pressure to do
that. At the moment, one of the positive things is that he is not under that
kind of pressure.”
Well the jury is still very much out on Jack, God knows
he has the talent to be a great, but injuries and a wrong attitude seem to be
his bottle at the moment. His loan at Bournemouth was more of a cum si cum sa……
uhmm “so soo” not exactly fantastic. I would say this is his last opportunity to make his mark at the
Arsenal. Sanchez Iwobi and Giroud are likely to lead the Line with fringe
players like BFG Ospina and Elneny behind them as Wenger keeps an eye on the
clash with Chelsea. Let’s see how the team gels, Losing will be a disaster, a
draw terrible and a win Ideal. That’s a wrap up from us here, please leave us your feedback and comments. Enjoy the game
wherever you are……….Ciaoooo
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| Image Credit: Arsenal.com |
