Project British Core Fails & Watford Thoughts

Image Credits: Arsenaldotcom

Its paddy power time as the gunners made through to the next round of the Carabao Cup with another win against championship side Brentford. Two goals in the first half from Welbeck and a third from Lacazette in the second half saw off Brentford go down with a brave fight. Welbeck, while not everyone’s favorite cup of tea for a striker, seems to be taking his so far limited chances when they beckon. That’s his 4^th goal if I am not mistaken for the season and he is yet to start a premier league match, now that’s interesting. Injuries have blighted his career reversing any progress he seems to make. He isn’t the most clinical finisher a top club can depend on, a bit clumsy if I dare say but his industry can’t be questioned whenever he dons the colours of the club, let’s give him that. Now if only Emery can crank out another gear of improvement in finishing and fitness, maybe …..Just maybe we may have a B+ striker capable of double digits in the league for the team. Yeah maybe I said, who knows?

Arsenal got the win desired and with the usual gift of an odd goal to the opposition, our clean sheets struggle is one that’s irking me. Give me a good old 2 nil over a 3-1 score line and I will take it. Progress will be slow though, if I want to be fair to Emery especially after 20+ years of Wenger at the helm. Things won’t just change overnight, lets be clear.

Okay moving on to the current distraction, word from the Colney is that negotiations between the club and Ramsey are currently deadlocked at an impasse DO we cash in on Aaron in January or give in to his demands or let him walk for free? 3 choices, none so good, it’s squeaky bum time for the management. Ramsey being the last of that core guard we were so excited about a couple years ago, they were dubbed “The British Core”. Jack , Oxlade, Jenkinson and Ramsey. These guys have failed to excite or live up the hype….Project failed, simple. If Arsenal choose to sell, the gunners had better get a good replacement, and no it’s not Guendouzi. I am very much impressed with his progressive attitude on the ball, he is still far from finished article but his talent is there. What we need for a Ramsey replacement is a here and now “ready player one” type dude, nuff said!

Okay let’s move on to the EPL, it’s a date at the Emirates with Watford coming to town. The hornets are having a dream start to their premier league season so one should expect a cracking game. They have also proved an obstacle in the past knocking Arsenal out of the 2016 FA cup and also getting the better of us last season in that famous match that Troy Deeney said the gunners lacked Cajones or something like that. I am sure the gunners are pumped for this game with squad rotation in midweek giving most of the starting 11 a bit of rest ahead of the weekend. Deeney, Peyrera and Dacoure remain threats while Capoue has rediscovered himself at Vicarage road. It’s left for the gunners to continue with their recent improvements by showing up from the blast of the whistle. Playing a game of two halves as we have seen most of this season is dangerous, especially with a clinical opposition. The Everton game showed just that, we may not have the luxury of such sloppy play against Garcia’s wards who are way more clinical and physical in their approach to games, not forgetting being organized off the ball.

Arsenal will need to stay sharp and compact in the middle of the pack, recycle quickly and feed the attack with good chances for them to score, an early goal should calm nerves, I also noticed that when we played Everton after Lacazettes goal, the confidence increased and the gunners played with more calmly finesse. Left to me I would leave Xhaka out of the starting 11 for today, go with 3 at the back with two wing backs with Torreira Guendouzi and Ramsey then Özil Aubameyang up top. I know I know its benching an in form Lacazette who seems to be the more clinical striker but Auba is more fresh and rested since Lacazette played in midweek. Xhaka starts from the bench for me cuz of his tendency for switching off at times with sloppy passes and cynical fouls. He is best suited for a relaxed game where he has time on the ball to pick a pass from deep. My worry is just that Torreira and Guendouzi played in midweek with the manager wanting fresh legs in Xhaka. However, this is just me thinking aloud, I’m not the manager so my preferred line up and predicted line up are quite different. My Predicted line up is captured below courtesy the UK guardian online:

The UK Guradiandotcom

 Lastly I think Emery’s thoughts below sum thigs up quite nicely in a way we want:

“Each match gives us the opportunity to take more confidence. We are winning, I think the confidence is the best on our individual players and also on our collective work. But every match is one challenge to show and to give, to find our best moment and best performance. I think each player is thinking well, but also we need more.”

That wraps it up for today’s preview hoping the boys make it 7 wins in a row with another clean sheet, don’t forget to like and subscribe to our blog feeds on Facebook and up there while also leaving us your feedback, do enjoy the game wherever you are…….CIaooo

The BEST Award & Brentford Preview

Credits: Getty Images On The Independent 

And the winner is...Luka Modric!!! The Madrid play maker punctuates what has been a duopoly (since 2008) between two of the world most glamourous footballers in Messi & CR7. Take nothing away from him though, he totally deserved the accolade he got as ‘‘The Best’’ for the year 2017/18. Now Messi and Ronaldo still managed to be the topic of the night even though they didn’t win or weren’t present. Their absence was a court of controversy, with some footballing stalwarts stating their refusal to show up was disrespectful…. well, I may be inclined to agree. Here’s why, if they were to be the recipient of the award, they probably would have shown up. I am particularly surprised at Messi’s turn down, but hey who knows? The question I am inclined to ask is, will this be the end of the longest dominance of these awards by these two or do we still have one last hooraaa from either of Mes10 or CR7? Honorable mention to Marta who won the award for female category.

Now let's quickly get to back to things Arsenal.  The Everton game was more tetchy/nervy than it should have been, against the ropes we were in the first half but we played poorly to get a win. 3 points and finallt a clean sheet....whats not to like, more work to do obviously. 

The Carabao cup comes to the fore this Wednesday as the gunners welcome Brentford to the Emirates. Emery says the competition is very important as it gives players chances for minutes and gain confidence with more game time. This is a trophy we never won under Wenger and I haven’t seen the gunners win since becoming a gunner! Its by no means coveted like the league or as sentimentally glamorous like the FA cup but…a trophy is a trophy and any silverware is a always welcome.  

Brentford wouldn’t be a pushover, similar to us they currently sit 7^th on the championship log with 4W 3D 2 L from 9 games this season. I remember we also played them during the pre-season exchanges, did  the gunners learn anything between then and now? I expect the squad players to take note of all these as drilled into them by the coach. Emery has whole sale changes to make to the team for this match, let’s hope he is able to drill them in to focus, while they also push themselves to give their absolute best individually and collectively. I expect experienced players like Elneny Welbeck and Litchsteiner to guide the younger lads. I would particularly be interested in seeing Emile Rowe Smith, hearing a lot of goo things about him….is he the real deal or the new Jeff, or Zelalem? Let’s see how it goes, one thing is for sure though…. we can’t afford to do a Man United who crashed out of the competition to Lampard’s derby county on Tuesday via penalties. Something is wrong at Old-Trafford, that’s what’s being whispered (Pogba, Alexis, The Mouhriho 3^rd Season syndrome) time will tell.

Whatever team we put out, lets hope they can get the job done. My predicted line-up will look like this:

Lastly before we go, in the true spirit of sportsmanship we wanna celebrate Golf legend Tiger woods for getting himself back into golfing contention by his recent 2018 PGA Tour win, what a comeback!! It’s a reminder that you and I that  we only fail when we choose not to get back up! That’s it from us…...do enjoy the game wherever you are.