AGM Thoughts & Swansea Preview

Image Credit: The Uk Guardian

Interesting times we have at the grove, what with the Arsenal AGM throwing us a few unexpected expectations or is it expect the unexpected?? I mean we all knew how this show of routine “nothing is new but let’s just do it like we care” pantomime would go. Gazidis comes up with the PR spin as always, however bull crap it is. Arsene does his bit, how passionate he is about the classy Arsenal Fc and of course silent Stan Kroenke is himself by being…silent. That’s what we’ve come to expect just maybe juggle the name sequence a bit and there you have it. This year had a bit of drama to it though further letting everyone know that all isn’t well at the grove and if the Arsenal Board were half as smart as they know it all claim to be, they should be listening. When minority members of the board insist on putting Sir Chips Keswick and Kroenke Jnr’s vetoed appointments to the test that tells you a different story. Gazidis and Keswick endured a bit of an embarrassing scrutiny from the Arsenal Trust and Minority members but on the flip side, can you blame those demanding an overhaul of the Arsenal Board. When Gazidis made his myopic comment on how well Arsenal had been performing in the transfer market and on the pitch he was met with hostile hecklers across the room who responded saying losing 10-2 to Bayern in the UCL, you call that successful? The Kroenkes Gazidis and Keswick may have had their play but the push is coming more to shove, who knows how long more before things change? Its clear that the board and the fans are pols apart as regards AMBITION, lets just hope it won’t be as bad as we all think.......I wish

Now to football proper, the Carabao cup round of 16 came and the gunners scrapped into the quaterefinals by a slime great escape 2-1 win over Norwich, the canaries were all set to create an upset up until the 85^th minute when along came an Eddie Nketiah to spoil their party. It was a lucky one for the gunners, and if I was a Norwich fan I would feel hard done by the profligate finishing and the questionable decisions by the referee on the night. Credit to them, they gave the gunners a go on their own turf but for lady luck that night. As for the gunners, well a win is a win but the questions still come up about our defensive organisation, the pass leading to the Norwich goal after we lost the ball casually in midfield was good but we fluffed our lines terribly. On a positive note, Nketiah’s stock is on the rise, as he continues to bang in goals even for his pint size. At just 18 years of age, all the accolades and adulation can get into his head so I hope he stays grounded and focused. Side note, as much as I hate to say it…..he isn’t up there with Rashford yet , let’s not even start to compare….moving on.

The draws for the quarter finals pitches us against the Hammers, Slaven Bilic’s boyz showed grit as they came back from a two-goal deficit to win 2-3 at Spurs. Other fixtures are

Bristol Vs Man Utd, Leicester Vs Man City, Chelsea Vs Bournemouth. I don’t know what to think about this cup, Wenger has never won it, Arsenal has won it only twice in the clubs entire history……you fill in the blanks okay?

Unto the EPL, the gunners have a rare Saturday lunch time date with the swans if you know what I mean. We have been banished to playing a lot of super and not so super Sunday clashes by virtue of our spursday, I mean Thursday commitments in the Europa League, so when we get to play on a Saturday one can’t help noticing it feels different. After Winning away at for the first time this season in the league at Goodison park last week, one hopes the gunners can continue with that verve and panache shown at Everton. Add the fact that we have a 100% home record this season in all competitions, it would be nice to show that again against Swansea this weekend. The Swans can be a tough nut to crack on their day but they are in a not so good form currently with just a win in their last games, losing Fernando Lloriente to Spurs and then Sigurdsson to Everton is proving to be a difficult one to adjust to as they sit in lower half of the lower half of the table, yeah…. the lower half of the lower half.  They still have some potency in Abraham, Ayew and Britton who can hurt you on the counter with their speed and canny abilities. Having said that, the onus is on the gunners to keep it tight in the middle and blitz the Swans with quick passing, slick movement and killer finishing. Will the gunners be able to do that? 90+ minutes will tell, but there is no doubt who the better team is on paper even though we know names don’t win you games. It all depends on the team that wants it more, as Mourinho found out last week. With a very fresh first eleven my predicted line up will be as below.

 Subs: Macey, Niles, Giroud, Walcott, Chambers, Wilshere, Elneny, Coquelin

Image Credit: The Uk Guardian

Aiite there you have it, lets hope the boyz can get the job done with 3-points and a clean sheet to boot. Don’t forget to like us on our FB page here and leave us your comments/feedback. Do enjoy the game wherever you are…….Ciaoo

The Winner iszzz & Norwich Preview

Image Credit: FIFAdotcom

And the winner iszzz,….Olivieerrr "HFB" Giroud, the scorpion King. Applause. Thank you, Mercie, Gracias, Obrigado. Whatever language you speak, it was a night of sports meeting entertainment with glitz n glam from the red carpet to the Opera styled ball room hall. In case you are still wondering, I am talking about the FIFA awards held yester night in the city of London but before we get into it all, let’s roll back and do a recap of the past 3 weeks in Arsenal sphere.

First we must apologize for our absence of in terms of bringing you our usual posts, we have been hit by some unfavorable issues which prevented that, apologies again. Now, a whole lot has happened since our last post just before the international break besides Trump whipping up a storm here and there from the White House to Pueto Rico and back with the NFL taking a knee stance and everything in between.  Nigeria did qualify the 2018 world cup in Russia, Yaaayy dancing alantaaa..... but you already knew that right? This time however, it was without any nail biting mathematical permutations, which in itself is cool for a change. Big Ups to Iwobi for that goal. Arsenal got back to imploding when they had a chance to turn the screw and make up ground. Chelsea had surprisingly lost to Crystal Palace, Man United had drawn at Liverpool and of course Man City had not for the first time put a team to sword,  eviscerating Stoke city 7-1…..Jeeeeeze (Popping eyez), that team!! We lost to Watford after taking the lead and wasting a number of chances, Watford under Marco Silva is looking a different team this season, they beat us, pushed Chelsea and I can say for a fact they will take more points off the BIG boys this season, let’s see how it all pans out.  The gunner rectified their form with a slim 0-1 nil win away at Belgrade, with another beauty of a goal from Giroud again. Moving on Wenger got a wonderful 68^th Birthday gift by a virtuoso display from the players in Arsenal’s 2-5 win away at Everton, unfortunately it was the final nail in the coffin that led to the sack of Maurice Koeman as Everton Manager. The good news didn’t stop there, another one for the gunners as Giroud got the Puskas Award for the best Goal of the 2017-17 league season at “ The Best FIFA Football Awards 2017”. The funny thing is that same goal ddnt win goal of the month or season in the league, wonder what they smoke in the EPL cuz the Carrol goal which is fantastic in its right, didn’t even make the final cut of nominations for the Puskas Award. Our much maligned Giroud scores some great goals, it’s the easy sitter he seems to miss but that’s talk for another day shaa. Anyway the other winners on the night was CR7 for best Male footballer, no surprises there and his coach at Madrid Zizu for Best Coach, Lieke Martens got the nod for Best Female Player award while Sabrina Weigman was Best Female Coach. WORD to Idris Elba for making the night an entertaining one for London’s finest.

Image Credit: Arsenaldotcom

So much for the the red carpets and other paparazzi recaps, let’s get back to the now. Moving on from the win a Goodison park Arsenal face Norwich city in tonight’s Carabao Cup action at the Emirates. Its been a while since we have seen the Canaries in top tier Arenas since their relegation from the EPl seasons back, so I am sure they are gonna relish the opportunity to impress. On the other hand, we also know the Canaries haven’t won any game against the gunners in their last eight attempts, it won’t be good to start now. Arsenal too have their own need to build momentum and consistency, it’s perfectly set up for both teams init? That being said we all know is easier said than done, with Arsenal one never really knows what to expect even though we are in some sort of fine spell of form right now. That is of course if you decide to ignore the blip at Vicarage road last week. feelers from Colney is, Arsene seems to be taking this competition a notch more seriously than he used to based on recent comments which is good. He says:

“I always used [the League Cup] to give a chance to young boys,” he added. “We went to the final with a very young team and nearly won it. 

“I always focus on winning trophies in the Premier League and FA Cup domestically, and always used the League Cup as an education for our young players. 

“But with this team I have the squad to go further, so let’s see. Let’s focus on winning the match against Norwich and then we’ll see where we will go.”    

He intends to use a mix of experience and youth, hopefully they can get the job done tonight and move to the next round. Team sheet will likely have Walcott Wilshere Mertesacker Holding  Niles Wilock  Jeff and maybe Akpom. Sprinkled with a star dust of Ramsey, Alexis  and Kolasinac….hey who knows? Anyway it’s a game we can and should be winning with all due respect to Norwich but we all now how cup games can go especially when a Big team doesn’t show the right attitude on the footballing pitch. Let’s hope the gunners get this message and apply themselves to win. That’s it from us, congrats once again to all those nominated and the eventual winners at the FIFA Awards, do enjoy the game wherever you may be…….Ciaooo