Ramsey and Jack: Are they adequate replacements?

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Tragedy both sides of the pond. Sad to see Britain wading into another war with the last one so fresh in the memory. I don’t want to get too deep into politics, but you can’t help but think carpet bombing a situation as incredibly complex as Syria is a recipe for more extremism. Then over here, another mass shooting. Really sad. Even sadder when you follow the Tweets of @igorvolsky who highlighted all of the American politicians who’d taken money from the NRA to say nothing other than ‘hopes and prayers’ after a shooting.

The world is a fu*ked up place. BUT, at least Oscar Pistorious was finally held accountable for his actions.

So, what do we have on the Arsenal platter this morning?

3months. The number associated with both Coquelin and Santi injury absences.

That’s a hammer blow. The worry is that it’ll be even longer, which would be a mega blow. I said in the summer that we’d have to consider replacing Santi because he’s overplayed and in the twilight of his career… now the moment has come for someone to step in and fill those little boots.

Thankfully, we have Aaron Ramsey ready to drop in. The Welshman has had his eyes on that role for a while. Well, this is his chance to make it his own. It’s his chance to show he can stay fit for longer than three weeks. It’s his chance to make it impossible for Santi to come back and take his place.

Then, maybe we’ll bring Jack in to play just behind him as some sort of makeshift midfield with the potential of being something more permanent.

Our season isn’t looking in good shape now. But, there’s no point in getting sad about it until it literally starts crumbling.

I guess the disappointing thing is that January could be a real godsend for us. But you know as well as I do, Wenger would rather chance success, than make sure. So the idea that he’ll go out and sign 2-3 players to see us through is massively fanciful because he has his… ‘January is really tough to sign players’… if he had any ambition, we’d be doing deals now.

… and hey, we might be making moves. But, it always comes down to desire. When he’s given the choice, does he pull the trigger?

We didn’t in the summer and we’re paying for that now.

Interesting to see Klopp over at Liverpool. The man is just so f*cking cool. He’s turning Liverpool into a bit of a force. Amazing what a bucket load of charisma and some intelligence can do. I mean, how many managers in the league would tell a player to man up over an injury and learn to understand what real pain is? Then get a positive response!

Can’t help but cast jealous eyes… but look, he’s done nothing yet. Remember Ramos at Spurs? It’s just a shame that momentum is heading their way, whilst it’s running out of steam in typical fashion our side.

I think the frustrating thing for me / most of you… is seeing the same project unfold in the same way every season. Wenger keeps us existing at a high level. I mean, his consistency is quite incredible. He’s never blown up like Mourinho has or Klopp… but at the same time, the bursts of incredible have long since disappeared.

Give me a blow up every 4-5 years as long as you’re dropping major honours in-between.

Anyway, just my view.

Right, have a good day!

272 Responses to “Ramsey and Jack: Are they adequate replacements?”

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  3. MidwestGun

    Red –
    Send me your resume. You know how to use a nail gun without hurting yourself? Lol. Seriously, tho, who on here is forgiving of Wenger’s mistakes, not many. Think you might have got lost to the wrong blog.

  9. MidwestGun

    No Red don’t think so…. wanting us to win and knowing we won’t is two different things. So why are you here if you switched your support off 20 years ago? Just trolling? …. ok then.

  15. R.S.P.C.Arsenal

    Steve

    Admirable call
    However it’s doomed to fail .

    But hitting them on fianances is the best way

    All bam punks hate losing monies …

    Season tickets are just an overdraft charges …

  18. stevegooner

    Red truth. I’ll meet you in the Coronet on Saturday before the game and we can get together with lots of like minded supporters and plan the way forward

  27. R.S.P.C.Arsenal

    Steve

    I ain’t just saying

    I don’t know that pub

    I know the plimsoll arms ney auld tingle
    12 trees , black stock arms, tolling ton etc….

    Just saying coronet conjures up happy memories or should I say memories

  30. stevegooner

    Coronet Is a weatherspoons in Holloway Road . Old cinema. 5 minutes walk from Holloway Rd tube. By the 12 trees I presume you mean the 12 pins at Finsbury Park

  37. R.S.P.C.Arsenal

    Red
    Old style jack pub ?

    Donations in old beer glasses ?

    Saying that there is a bar called horns in city birds are street clever know every punter who is in there an if they paid… Cost about a 5-7 quid an hour…

  41. R.S.P.C.Arsenal

    Steve g

    There is also one come out of Highbury tube turn right cross over by McDonald’s then follow road round small little houses an couple of industrial shops an there is a small pub Arsenal pub with picture pansy a small beef garden

    Does good food real small but good

    Name escapes me .

  43. MidwestGun

    Red –
    Ummm I know logic isn’t your strong point, but How are you going to put pressure on Wenger by booing if you never go to a match?

    Your not big on logistics are you?

  48. BacaryisGod

    Still mad about the Alexis injury. We rest him vs Norwich he basically has a valuable two week break. I think his hamstring is much worse than 3 weeks and he ripped it pretty badly. More like 8 weeks. Let’s hope it doesn’t know become a recurring issue like Aguero.

  49. Redtruth

    Midwest

    Action speak louder than words and if supporters took my lead and not attend matches playing in an empty stadia would do more damage than booing.

  52. Joe

    Off topic:

    Why doesn’t GG’s one loss league championship be held is the same regard as wengers unbeaten season. For me, it’s in the same category and is just as noteworthy

  53. TitsMcGee

    When people come on the blog and say idiotic things like Wenger could lose every game from now until the end of the season and still support him then you know what it is you are dealing with.

    Mindless sheep. It’s scary and mildly amusing at the same time.

  55. Joe

    GG 2 league titles in 8 years including beating Liverpool at anfield on the final day by 2 goals. Wenger would never have done that. And won the league with one loss.
    Wenger 3 in 20. Undefeated season.

    GG 1 European trophy
    Wenger 0

    GG should be held in much higher regard than Wenger.

    But I forget Wenger built the Emirates with his own bare hands and his own money

  56. Joe

    And shouldn’t actually winning an European trophy be held in higher regard than participating in CL for 20 years??

    Participating not competing. Except the one time

  57. Gunner2301

    No Arsenal fan should attend games or buy merchandise until Wenger is gone.

    Steve

    My last game was Everton away 2008 which we drew by the skin of our teeth and didn’t deserve it. I was sat behind our goal when Giovani scored that screamer past Almunia. Hull won that day and I knew it would be my last season watching the team. For Almunia alone Wenger should have been sacked. I won’t be attending until we have a new manager.

  60. Mr B

    Impressive writing Pedro and spot on. To be honest I have never been a fan of Wengers version of Zen or his tactics. I am sure he smokes the best quality but it has honestly made him too Zen 😀

    As for his tactics his substitutes have always been suspect and more often than not fail to effect the complexion of a game. Any good tactician should be able to adapt in game proceedings with what he has available. Unless we bury a team early on we have very little president for turning games around of late. That alone effects the mentality of the players immensely and then people come up with drivel like the players have to do it on the pitch.

    I watched Bayern vs Hertha the other day and was amazed by the tactics and superior athleticism of the Bundesliga. You can say what ever you like about the Germans they are very effective at doing what it takes to win, Exactly enough, the Germans have always won a disproportionately high number of shoot outs,

    Bayern dominated the game playing at a very high tempo playing Alonso, Vidal and Martinez in midfield, what some would term as deep lying or defensive midfielders. Hertha had mostly very fit and technically sound german academy players.

    Hertha played at a very high tempo, making early and effective substitutions when they went 2 nil down in the first half. I was very impressed by their players technical ability and determination to snatch a result.

    In conclusion if Klopp can get to the final of the champions league on a budget the size of Dortmund’s, who have greater European pedigree than Arsenal, you can be damn sure he will add to what pool already has. Which is one of the biggest money making machines based on global revenue generation potential.

    If he has made a good start with the players he has, Pool are likely to get better as time goes on. The problem with Klopp during his last few seasons at Dortmund was the was literally burnt out from the effort of taking BD to 2 league titles and CL final. That really required herculean effort against Bayern, one of the most formidable football institutions of our time.

  62. Wallace

    Joe

    “Why doesn’t GG’s one loss league championship be held is the same regard as wengers unbeaten season. For me, it’s in the same category and is just as noteworthy.”

    but it’s not really, is it? one went unbeaten, the other didn’t. if I’m being honest I’d already forgotten about Graham’s one loss season.

  63. Bamford10

    Marble

    “I don’t understand what you get out of supporting a team handicapped by a senile past his sell by date manager.”

    Are you saying you do not “support” Arsenal, Marble?

  64. Wallace

    “He tells reporters that Laurent Koscielny and Theo Walcott could be back from injury, but Alexis Sanchez and Santi Cazorla are out – the latter could be missing until March he says.”

    – BBC

  65. Bamford10

    Wallace & Joe

    The Invincibles were a decade ago and, frankly, a different era. Since then Wenger has not been able to build or organize a title-contending side. Whether Wenger is/was better than Graham is an academic question. What is more relevant is the question of whether Wenger can lead Arsenal to a title today, and the answer is a clear and unambiguous ‘no’. This is obvious to anyone with eyes.

  66. Bamford10

    “Arsene Wenger must leave for Arsenal to win the Premier League,” writes Charlie Wyett of The Sun.

    thesun.uk/6010BrLyp

  67. Bamford10

    John Brewin of ESPNFC has Arsenal in 4th place by the end of December, with City, Spurs and United at 1, 2 and 3.

    es.pn/1SBOtRh

  69. Bamford10

    “I never force anybody to play. We are in a job where you must give 100 per cent.” – Wenger, this morning
    _____

    Wenger is such a fraud. He is resorting, again, to sophistry here. No one has accused him of “forcing” players to play. He is accused of playing/overplaying players when they were at risk of injury. Two different things.

    People must see through this bullshit at this point. It’s simply incredible he has gotten away with this for this long. Gross mismanagement.

  70. Bamford10

    ITV Football saying that Klopp is looking at bringing Subotic to Liverpool. Would be an excellent signing. Very good CB.

  71. Wallace

    “December is a very important moment for us. My phone is busy every day from people who propose players but we have a team inside our club who select what is coming in. The most important thing is to win football games.”

    – Wenger

    Telegraph linking us with Carvalho again this morning. they think 25m might be enough to get him.

  72. Dream10

    “Cazorla we wait to see the specialist.” – Arsene Wenger

    Expect an annoucement on the dot com later today to say that Cazorla had surgery on his ligament earlier this week.

  73. Emiratesstroller

    Pedro

    Briefly on politics. Noone wants to engage in conflict, but sadly there comes a
    point in time when you need to confront ‘evil’.

    Isil or Daesh is an evil organisation as indeed were the Nazis. Neville Chamberlain returned to London following his meeting with Hitler waving a piece of paper and announcing to the world ‘peace in our time’. Most British people
    were naturally supportive of his Government’s policy at that time.

    Yet as the world discovered ‘peace’ was a sham and not on the agenda of Hitler.
    It is not I am sure on the agenda of Daesh. This is not an indigenous movement recruited in Syria and Iraq. Most of its fighters come from around the world including Britain.

    It is an organisation which is not only destroying civilisation in Iraq and Syria
    but proliferating terror around world. It needs to be destroyed at whatever
    cost.

    Personally I don’t believe that its ideology is confined to a small minority of
    Muslims. Yes it is probably true that the number who will fight for or engage
    actively in terror is limited, but I do believe that there are large numbers within that religion who have a ‘fundamental/feudal’ perspective in interpretation
    of their religion and are probably sympathetic to what they represent.

    That is always the problem when any religion not just islam is feudal and misinterpreted by fanatics.

    Moving onto Football matters.

    Currently the club is in a mess, because there is absolutely no end to our injury problems, which is having a destabilising impact on our performance.

    No club is going to perform if you have constantly at least one third of its
    players out injured. Arsenal’s record in recent years is shocking and someone
    externally needs to analyse what is going on and try and resolve the problem.

    My view as I have expressed many times before is the style of football we play
    combined with the fact that we have accumulated in our squad too many
    injury prone players who are constantly adding pressure on other players
    who are forced to play even when not 100% fit.

    Wenger has been forced to gamble too often on players who are unfit when
    they need to be rested. That is in part due to the size of squad available at any
    one time.

    Also when you fail to rotate players it is inevitable that players sitting on sidelines are unlikely to be match fit and when they are eventually asked to play
    seldom are playing to the performance level required.

    Wenger should have been offloaded several years ago because frankly his
    judgment in recent times has been poor. That was highlighted by his inactivity
    in summer transfer window which has left us woefully short of manpower in
    our squad.

  74. Hibeegunner

    Emirates stroller

    I always read your comment as they are always fair and unbiased to me you are the top contributor on here.
    By the way do you live in London?

  75. Wallace

    on whether players say they’re fit when they’re not…

    Yes, but we have tests as well, we have medical tests. We are quite sophisticated in testing our players. I had a chat with Alexis after his injury and he was adamant he felt perfect before the game because we tested his strength, stretching, all the signs we test every week were perfect. There was no obvious sign or alert before the game – it happened, do I have to take the blame? I do, but there was not an obvious mistake to select him before the game.

  77. R.S.P.C.Arsenal

    Told you when he went off others been predicting that when he bursts he breaks good….

    Well there you have it fucked till March …

    Let’s say see you in August ….in a real shirt perhaps

  79. Bamford10

    Wallace

    That’s simply more obfuscation. No one is saying Alexis lied about his fitness or that Wenger “forced” him to play. The point is that he played him when he was at risk of injury, just as he admitted he did with Ramsey, and just as he has done with other players.

    He is forced to do this because rather than investing in a proper squad, he has tried to get by on the cheap.

    Please stop trying to further this fraud’s bogus cover stories and rationalizations. They are disingenuous, transparent and see-through.

    And you and your ilk — who aid and abet him in this — are part of the problem.

  81. Emiratesstroller

    The issue is not whether Sanchez and Cazorla got injured, because every
    player is at risk of injury.

    The problem at Arsenal is that we retain too many injury prone players at the
    club and consequently it is inevitable that we over play others in the squad.

    I felt several games ago that both Sanchez and Cazorla were beginning to struggle in games. Cazorla in particular was not playing particularly well. The
    management and coaching staff must have seen it.

    Yet they persisted in playing them primarily because of our shortage of personnel.

    For me this revolves around Wenger’s decision in summer to retain services of Arteta, Flamini and Rosicky and choosing not to see or heed probable medical advice about Welbeck and Walcott as well.

    The Manager left us short as usual.

  82. Bamford10

    Wenger: “My job is stressful – I look like I’m constipated.”
    ________

    Dipshit actually said this.

    If you had built a proper squad, you wouldn’t be so “stressed,” you twat.

  83. Dissenter

    What galls me is that we have a merry band of perms-crocks that put other players at risk of injury because there’s no chance to rotate.
    Theo is a typical example. He’s our most injured player of all time yet he managed to snag the third most lucrative contract in Arsenal’s history because Wenger wanted to keep him for the “most productive” time of his career.

    He’s more likely to star in Arsenal TV ‘s video shoot playing football manager than to actually play in games.

  84. Dissenter

    There’s talk that Theo is facing a late fitness test for the Sunderland game which is farcical in itself.
    Cazorla was one of out dependable players for fitness and now we have to depend of injury prone players like Theo and Rambo through a rapid fire run of games.

    Its going to get really bad before it gets better, if at all it gets better.
    Who can beleive we wouldn’t qualify easily from that CL group?. In the same vein, our team is capable of dropping out of the league by late January.

  85. Dissenter

    Bamford,
    Are you seeking a bad reaction?
    That “dipshit” comment is going to steer the reaction away from Wenger to you unfortunately.

  86. Mickey G

    Excellent point re Wenger not resting Sanchez in the Football365 mailbox. Looking at it under a different light:

    “Vitriolic ridicule’ of Wenger too much to take
    Little late to the table here but it needs to be said – re:

    Shock horror: Wenger finally breaks Sanchez

    On Saturday the 4th of July Chile beat Argentina on penalties to win the Copa America.

    36 days later – Alexis Sanchez played 23 minutes against West Ham on the 9th of August.

    People in the press start to predict an injury for Alexis citing of a lack of off rest, inadequate preseason and simply playing too many matches.
    Between the 9th of August and the 30th November Alexis played 24 games.. (that’s a game every 4.7 days)

    In the intervening weeks the press ridicule Wenger for playing Sanchez. Despite this Sanchez has been one of the better performers in the arsenal team and indeed the premier league.

    Then Sanchez having been tested by the Arsenal Medical team, is declared fit and plays against Norwich, He then pulls his Hamstring. The press round on Wenger and accuse him of negligence and of breaking sanchez.

    Sure they had been predicting it but at some point Sanchez was going to pick up an injury, it is inevitable. The press (including F365) however are quite selective in their vitriolic ridicule.

    Let’s consider other high profile players who played the same Copa America Final include.

    Sergio Aguero – 1st Game for Man City August 10th – missed 7 matches for City due to a hamstring injury 12th October – still managed to play 15 games for club and country
    Lional Messi – 1st Game for Barcelona 11th August – he has only played 13 times due to 2 month injury layoff
    Javier Mascherano – 1st Game for Barcelona 11th August 22 Appearances (not available for some games due to a red card ban)
    Gonzalo Higuin – 1st Game for Napoli 23rd August (round 1 Serie A) – 19 Appearances
    Arturo Vidal – 1st Game for Bayern Munich 1st August 25 Games

    So why don’t you (press, F365, Arsenal ‘Fans’ etc all criticise Pep Guardiola, Manuel Pellegrini, Luis Enrique, Maurizio Sarri etc?

    Amazingly enough they haven’t decided to rest their best players during the season either.

    Wenger played Sanchez partially because there were far too many injuries to our attacking midfielders and strikers. Mostly though he played Sanchez because he is awesome and his medical team gave him the green light.
    He’ll still play 30 Premier League games this season.
    Michael (Double98) Doyle”

    http://www.football365.com/news/mails-ridicule-of-wenger-too-much-anfield-atmosphere

  88. N5

    Just reading Gooner magazine and the author of one of the pages on there visits blogs and posts the more silly of the comments for the world too see. Needless to say in the latest edition they have quote numerous from the Grove. It doesn’t mention who wrote it or what site, but if any of you get the chance to read it, you’ll know exactly who wrote them! steve is quote more than once.

    Imagine that steve! being such a tosser that not only do you get quote on here as being a twat but even a man who’s job is sifting through all of the webs more popular blogs for the worst, most idiotic people has quote you above nearly everyone!!

  89. Relieable Sauce

    Messi and Aguero picked up injuries, as did Sanchez.

    Trying to absolve Wengers mistakes by highlighting others, smacks of desperation.

  91. N5

    Hey Jim, how are you mate.

    steve used to be Thomas, he’s the Chelsea fan that comes on here to insult all of us.
    I’m not just saying that to be a dick, he really is a Chelsea boy who has nothing better to do with his time.

    The article starts with comments from Mancs on Rooney and Van Gaal but it then goes on to other posters from other sites and when you read it amongst what the author considers the worst of the worst, it’s embarrassing.

    He doesn’t mention the poster or what site its from but I remember reading the comment only last month and thinking what a tool then.

  94. Mr B

    “Wenger played Sanchez partially because there were far too many injuries to our attacking midfielders and strikers.”

    and why was that exactly. Its been mentioned before this assessment of Wenger’s management is not based on one isolated incident. It is about studying the trend from the last 10 years.

  97. N5

    LG it’s the latest edition of the Gooner, it’s not online it’s sold at the ground.

    Steve, by failed marriage do you mean that rubbish that Ito made up? poor you for buying in to all that you sad little cunt. I’m not obsessed with you, I think you’re a mug and now so do 1000s of people who read the Gooner. Go and buy a copy and tell me I’m lying!

  100. TitsMcGee

    “Even if Wenger has no proper solutions to why his players get injured so often and for so long — although you’d hope that after 19 years in charge, matters would be improving — then at least he could have prepared for this scenario. Goodness knows you didn’t need to be a professor to see this current mess coming. Wenger has previously bemoaned the January transfer window, making it all the more puzzling why he did not sign an outfield player during the summer window. Goalkeeper Petr Cech was an overdue addition but that no defensive midfielder or centre-forward arrived left some Arsenal supporters angry, but probably not surprised.”

  101. TitsMcGee

    Messi and Aguero picked up injuries, as did Sanchez.Trying to absolve Wengers mistakes by highlighting others, smacks of desperation.”

    Yep.

    As if somehow Wenger is vindicated because other clubs have injuries as well. It’s the usual ACT DUMB routine.

  102. N5

    Tits it’s what Cesc was saying the other night. If me, you and nearly all but the deluded can see what needs doing, then why can’t Arsene? is it that he can see it but doesn’t care? or he can see it but has no answers? or just that he has no idea what’s going on?

    He’s on so much money per season and regardless of whether its right to use that time and again as a stick to beat him with, not investing when you have so much expendable cash and not getting on top of these injuries is criminal.

  103. TitsMcGee

    Tits it’s what Cesc was saying the other night. If me, you and nearly all but the deluded can see what needs doing, then why can’t Arsene? is it that he can see it but doesn’t care? or he can see it but has no answers? or just that he has no idea what’s going on?”

    I am starting to think it’s deliberate. He feigns faith in the club but deep down knows that it is flawed and prone to breaking. When it does break he can say “I would have won if……”

    He rather do it that way(hope that the stars align) than spend a bunch of money and still not win. Then the cross-hairs are one his back since he failed despite splashing the cash.

    Either that or he’s trying to win as cheaply as he can so he can stick it to world football.

    He’s a deluded idealist. It reeks of arrogance.

  104. N5

    TM, Arrogance is my guess too, with a splash of narcissism. He loves the idea of winning something or hitting his KPIs with little to no investment and having his head patted from above and hailed genius for earning large on minimum outlay.

    He claims to be in control but he’s just a SK lap dog otherwise he’d surely be embarrassed with not being a professional craving/demanding success.

  105. Hitchy

    New chant for the weekend, to the tune of “Hey Baby Uhh Ahh” by DJ Otzi

    Heyyyyyyyy Heyyyyy Wenger
    Uhhh Ahhh
    I wanna knowwwwwww, when you’ll spend some cash!?

    Sure a section of the north bank can get that going…

  107. Highbury4ever

    “We prepared ourselves to go through periods like that, and I’m convinced the players are ready.”

    lol x 2

  109. TitsMcGee

    “We prepared ourselves to go through periods like that, and I’m convinced the players are ready.”

    O’ RLY?

    LOL

    *insert facepalm gif here*

    The fact that he RAN them into the ground like the Costa Concordia sure is a sign that he trusts the reserves. lol

    What an effing joke he is.

  111. Thank you and goodnight

    The guy is a cunt of the highest order, a lying bullshitting cunt of a manager who makes Avram Grant look like SAF. It seems to me everything we won in our early years was in spite of wenger not because of him.

  112. Mr B

    TYGN

    He had his merits but the failing of his marriage despite what I feel was some of the best spousal support, shows he has had personal problems for a while now.

    He’s gone cuckcoo. 😀

  113. Joe

    Comparing Messi getting hurt to Sanchez when they have Neymar and Suarez to replace him and we have Joel Campbell and the Ox. SMH. Common sense is really lost on some people

  114. Joe

    Wallace.

    I’ve already forgotten about wenger’s undefeated season. I remember the 8-2, 6-0, 5-1 , zagrebs, olympiakos etc

  115. Mr B

    I just remember reading that his wife was getting enough abuse from people for his failings and then he went on to cheat…… eligibly eligibly 😀

  120. MidwestGun

    Mr, B.-
    Ha… slow your roll, that’s just the potential market for how much market share his company can get, of which he is a 50% share holder. That’s not how much he is worth currently.

  121. N5

    Mid, I think he only quoted those he considered “sane” otherwise he’d have had a field day.

    I believe it is this months but I’m not sure they release the month they say on them, either way it’s the edition that has Bellerin on the front. Does the Gooner have a digital version you can get over there.