A real lack of news out in the woods of Footballdom today. Things are so dull, I bought a FIFA20, and actually played it.
So many buttons to learn.
I make this sound like less of a problem than it is. I worked on a pitch for a gaming console, I bought the said console so I could understand the machine and the community around it, now I’m hooked on games.
‘Just one dab of meth, it’ll be alright’
It is not. I am really into this fantasy game. It’s the absolute best thing that has happened to me. I’m so addicted, I watch Youtube videos in the gym for hints and tips. It is unhealthy.
The first 9 months of the year, I was crushing through books like a powerhouse, now I’m out on the street taking hits of Tetris whenever the coast is clear. What a shambles.
Raul had a little chat with some fans. He defended the managers’ decision to ditch Mesut Ozil. The manager picks players based on their effort in training. Makes sense on paper, but worth noting that Patrick Vieira wasn’t a very good trainer, but he was a monster on the pitch.
Not that Mesut is a monster on the pitch.
Key issue here: If Mesut doesn’t train well, which one would assume is a statement garnered from watching him for an entire 15 months… why the captains armband?
I am going to ask this question every day until I land an answer.
There’s a story doing the rounds that Saka doesn’t get changed with the first team, to keep him grounded. Love how football works so hard to keep these kids on a stable footing, then they give them £50k a week and send them on their merry way.
I’ve been told that Emery took the changing room tradition a step further and created dividers in the canteen. You can’t eat lunch with the first-teamers. Very clubbish. Imagine having to earn your right to eat a cheese sandwich next to Granit Xhaka? Goals my friends, goals.
Finally, sink your teeth and your heart into this video. Bergkamp and Wrighty, my childhood heroes!
Tony
If DB could get anything out of Xhaka, he would Be a valuable man to have around.
Unfortunately DB is not considering any coaching move until his kids have flown the coop it seems. Mind you they being 21 and 17, I imagine not longer than 4-5 years.
ES
NZ have been made to look good playing such inferior countries.
When they have to play the top 4 ranked countries the gap in class isn’t so far apart, but I agree NZ is still and rightfully playing quality rugby as per their No 1 world ranking.
That said NZ is beatable. It will just take a world class performance to knock them out of the cup, especially in a world cup.
England and South Africa has the potential to do this.
Alright Tony, Am rather hoping Japan win, although playing the All Blacks in the QF is arguably the biggest challenge in sport. Think Scotland threatening legal action was uncalled for. Not sure England’s game off is an advantage or a disadvantage. Will be amazed if it’s not an England All Blacks semi. Hard to see ABs losing but we have a chance. Jones will have to get his selections right. Feel Farrell at 10 might be better but it’s a tough call. Slade missing an opportunity to shine at inside centre against France. May mean Ford will play. To beat… Read more »
Bob N16/Tony
I will be very surprised if England beat NZ based on what I have seen. I don’t think that England have played particularly well albeit they have beaten opposition comfortably.
Would England have beaten Argentina if the latter had 15 players on field?
NZ are the team for me with SA also in frame. I don’t see any Northern Hemisphere nations getting into final.
Haha Tony, the wallabies are cry babies. Been all over the shop for years. I just hope we put up a good fight against England.
Tony Very interesting stats re Farell I have to admit. It’s just that in some games he can really be inconsistent. And this is where it worries me. Games will be tighter in the latter stages of the tournament and we can’t afford to be missing 3 pointers as they may prove crucial. I also agree on your take about our discipline. We have conceded far too many penalties and that most certainly will cost us if we can’t stay disciplined. We really need to be on our A game if we want to beat Australia in the QF. Not… Read more »
Hopefully after the international matches ,the situation of our SA will be clearer.
Actually Emery did not fancy him but was over ruled .The Spaniard knew the gunner md required a big man.
With due respect to our South American you can see he will invariably lose out in a 50/50 tussle.His 168cm frame aint made for the epl, I know there are other guys like Kante of similar stature but I would prefer to get a beast in md.
ES, strongly believe England would have still comfortably beaten an Argentina with 15 players.
Also think England are tantalisingly short of ABs quality. Not much in it as Tony has mentioned ABs haven’t played any quality teams except of course SA. Am not a betting man but I think the draw favours SA. ABs against England should be an epic and whoever wins may be a little battered in the final. Wales could give the Boks a game mind you.
ES
Would England have beaten Argentina if the latter had 15 players on field?
That was the same thing I was thinking during the game. Argentina were playing extremely well before that red card and that game would’ve really gone down to the wire if it was 15 v 15 for the entire game. I think we could have narrowly lost that game. This game would have been a real test of Eddie Jones’s mettle to get us playing with as little mistakes as possible.
I know that playing in the Europy cup is an annoyance. Playing Thursday’s in a competition that holds little prestige and forcing us to play pl games on Sundays or, worse for me at least, Mondays but I think this year it could be an advantage to us. At the moment we have players capable of getting us through the group stages without the need to play any first team members. Neither Un**ed nor Villa are able to do this. Spuds and Chelsea are not able to do this either being in the CL. We should be able to keep… Read more »
Wolfgang, ‘invariably lose out in a 50/50’ – can’t agree with that statement. Football is mostly played on the ground and Torreira’s low centre of gravity, quick feet and commitment mean that he does a more than decent job as a DM. In tight games where he here is little space in midfield he’s particularly good, in open games less so.Uruguay seem to think so too.
I wouldn’t be adverse to an upgrade in the summer mind you!
Bojangles, good point about EL. Thought that would be a help last year too! Obviously Emery has the wherewithal to pick a 2nd eleven. The way the midweek team are performing, the lines are getting blurred between who should be a PL starter or play midweek, which is a healthy place to be.
Kola, Papa and possibly Chambers will drop to the cups team I’d imagine which is going to weaken them a little but should still be good enough to see us through the group games and early domestic cups games.
Depends on how much importance we place on the cups. We could allow the “second” team to play them throughout. Ensuring 3/4 spot is our main objective. Although Emery loves the Europa so I don’t see that happening in truth
Seems to me that the EL should simply be an opportunity to develop players and to keep fringe players match fit. Without being a great team, we’ve made the semi and final which says a lot about the strength of the competition. Emery being ‘good’ at the tournament is bogus, the sides who he has managed have been comparatively good teams for the tournament, that’s all. I wouldn’t pretend to know anything about Emery’s previous clubs but simply judging on Arsenal’s performances there with him, I don’t see some master two leg tactical masterclasses. If we’re looking nailed on for… Read more »
Last season in the EL I thought we did a great professional job on a dangerous team in Napoli, Rose our luck slightly in the first half of the away leg but a 3-0 aggregate score points to a job well done. Other than that the other knockout ties were at times a bit hairy so I would largely agree that it wasn’t really in the same vein as the 94 CWC run! Perhaps the Napoli games show that it is in Emery’s locker when he isn’t confusing himself with his own tactics. I would love to win the EL… Read more »
Not the easiest of games to return to, Sheffield are a well organised and hard working side and lets be honest this is exactly the kind of game you can see us making very difficult for ourselves and probably lose. We can all say we want Torreira at CDM then Guendouzi and Willock but you know Errorsaurus is at CDM so we just have to make our peace with that and realise our midfield will be dysfunctional. Unless he actually is taking paternity leave which I would laugh at but in this case I would love. The forward line is… Read more »
We shouldn’t put all our eggs in any one basket and that applies to the league and the EL – but the fact is our squad is the third best in the league and will be one of the top 3 or so in the EL so with careful rotation, a bit of good stamina management and a general fan of luck we have more than enough reason to demand top 4 and a EL semi final as a minimum without him needing to doing anything miraculous. The squad isn’t perfect but it’s easily good enough now As for other… Read more »
Someone should sent Emery a highlight video how Denmark scored the winning goal while Xhaka was again chasing the goal scorer in vein. On the other hand, Uruguay won 1 – 0 against Peru where Torreira was the DM for Uruguay.
Nelson
But we know he’s going to play.
I honestly think it’s not over the top to say the week in week out playing of Xhaka will be a massive part of the reason Emery is not manager next season. It really is such an unnecessary self inflicted injury.
You, me and basically every sensible Arsenal fan can see Xhaka creates massive problems for us and we scratch out heads as to why Emery can’t/won’t see it.
Scotland getting absolutely muelered.
Japan playing with an energy Arsenals
midfield need.?
Scotland get one back this is mental.
Get out of bed you dossers?
Scotland score again.
Mental.
Cesc
I agree with all of that, except that I wouldn’t leave Ceballos out. I think Ceballos has to start, even with the problems Xhaka brings.
Also, Bellerin should be able to start, no? I would think so.
Torriera bossed the game vs Peru
We have 4 midfielders who range through good, very promising, inexperienced, young and adapting to the league.
Xhaka is not one of them and should at best be 5th choice for midfield.
Out of interest I know clubs insure players to covers wages etc if they suffer a bad injury – if Xhaka and Ozil managed to take each other out in training and both ended up with career ending injuries does the insurance cover the value (ie what we paid for them / what their value is on the books) of the player to the club?
Guns
There are some on here who don’t rate him as DM.
It’s an irrelevant argument as he is by far the best option for DM in our current squad and therefore should be starting there. If people want to argue that next summer we should look for a more physical specimen fine but that’s a completely different conversation.
Japan hold on and go through what a game fuck the European internationals.😂
Emery probably feels the positives on playing Torreira further forward and Xhaka behind outweigh the negatives of swapping them around. Lord knows how slow Xhaka is. *sigh*
I guess Xhaka will decide Emery’s fate the same way he decided Wenger’s.
They are options like willock available who could play beside Torireira and do a better job
And yeah @ Marc i 100% agree
Guns
He wants midfielders who can press so is accommodating Xhaka in a position he’s awful at and scares the living shit out of the CD’s to have other players further forward who are more mobile.
At the moment Emery is digging his own grave.
Tony
I agree with your “cheat” perceptions on Australian Sport.
The worst losers in sport but also the worst at overstepping the basic ethics of gamesmanship. Cricket/ tennis/ rugby etc. Its in their blood.
Sorry guys.
Congratulations to Japan.
Great game.
Marc
The question is, should Torreira start if Xhaka is starting? Many here think ‘no,’ as he can’t cover enough ground to compensate for Xhaka.
If Xhaka is not starting, however, I think many here would start Torreira next to Guendouzi.
I can see Japan beating South Africa. So they could reach the semi-final. There they would give a good game to France or Wales.
On the other side of the draw, Ireland will face the New-Zealand and likely to be pulverised.
Japan is now a tier 1 nation. They deserve more be part of a national competition against All-Black than Argentina.
Bamford I don’t think Bellerin is quite ready yet. Seems to be what Emery suggested as well, Tierney seems fit and sharp whereas Bellerin looks off the pace still. With regards to Dani Ceballos, I’m a fan, but I just think he isn’t quite physical or tenacious enough to compensate for Xhaka being a plinth basically, rooted in the middle. You need the young legs of Guendouzi and Willock to compensate for the fact we have a sunk oil tanker at CDM. Also, Xhaka gets away with the fact that HE is supposed to provide deep creation, he is supposed… Read more »
At least Japan well deserved victory put into shame Scotland threat of litigation. Japan was the better team.
Well deserved Japan win playing scintillating rugby at pace in numbers.
I picked them to beat Scotland but I don’t think South Africa will be beaten twice in 2 world cups by Japan.
That’s where the fairy tale journey ends for the brilliant Japan.
They have done their country proud in their time of need for unity.
Wonderful people and country.
Japan were “a tier 1 nation” four years back.
They would have beaten Scotland in 2015 at Kingsholm if it wasn’t for the fact that they were scheduled to play the Scots just a few days after beating SA.
Japan are a dangerous outfit.
CA, in complete agreement with your midfield views. Was hoping that our captain would be taking paternity leave but after playing for Switzerland I guess that rumour was bull. He’s a yellow card away from a suspension so really hope we have a blinder in his absence.
Seems bizarre to be wishing for a player to be suspended.
I understand this is an Arsenal blog but surely if you love Football you love all competitive sports.
Rugby WC is probably the greatest sporting(team) spectacle. The ultimate physical contest and yet only a few posters seem to buy into it.
Oh well, c’est la vie.
Can’t see Japan beating a strong Springboks. Getting to a QF is job done and as you say Tony, SA will be fully motivated to avoid another loss to Japan.
Great game of rugby though.
Graham, shouldn’t be surprised on an Arsenal blog. Football is a world game, this is a football blog and Rugby is only played competitively in a few countries. It’s a minority sport in this country as well.
Bob N16
I tend to agree with you.
Home advantage/ never say die attitude/ some technically gifted players and capable of the unexpected, you just never know.
If I was a betting man, I would say SA by 5-8 points. The thing is I’m not, so for me it’s a 50/50 game.
Bob
I know.
Just spreading the gospel.
I think that this current South Africa can only play well on the front foot. When they attack they are dangerous. However if the opposition contain them and then start counter-attacking them, they are all at sea.
South Africa will dominate Japan in scrum and in ruck, but Japan will try to play a very fast game with lots of pass after contact negating the impact of ruck.
It is still 50/50, but I would give a slight advantage to Japan of 5~8 points.
My semi-finals predictions are New-Zealand v England and Japan v France.
Valentin
Same as my prediction.
I watched the Joker last week. Think it’s brilliant but please don’t walk in expecting a comic book film (although it does flirt with the source material in a slightly pitiful way I think to gain DC favour). Also un na na nai saying critics are from the hard left lol. I would say the critics are more from the right. The middle to upper classes scared of the rebellion of the disenchanted lower classes. Jobs are cut, social care is cut, capitalism is hurting the poor, austerity isn’t working. A lack of care and humanity which again are right… Read more »
We all have different opinions on the best midfield for Arsenal, but deciphering Emery is pretty easy. Everybody knows that under Emery Xhaka will start every major games. In his current form Guendouzi is undroppable, even if he needs to progress on the defensive awareness of his game. At least you can see progress in that against Bournemouth late in the game he was well placed for a last ditch tackle/clearance. So the last of the midfield selection is really about the opposition and how we want to approach the game. On the defensive, Emery plays Torreira to compensate for… Read more »
Val
Close game but SA will make the semis.
On paper you’d say SA v All Blacks final.
However if England beat the ABs they should go to win the cup.
The next World Cup should see France as a real contender.
Graham62, South biggest problem is their attachment to their old identity. They used to be those old strong men winning by being hard in scrum and hitting hard. Rugby has moved on from that. Even England is not so one dimensional anymore. They tried to moved away from that and when results did not go as expected the went back to the old formula twicked a little bit. They have now players who could play a more expansive rugby while still retaining their edge. I used to play 7 and I love that physical aspect of the game, but against… Read more »
Unless New-Zealand has a bad game, I can’t see them losing to England. Too fast, too precise. Also I find that England players plays rugby by number. If their game plan does not work, they have nobody who can make the decision on the pitch to change to the appropriate tactic. On the other hand, the All-Black are the master at adapting to unexpected challenges. I can see France reaching the final because they always have one great performance at the World Cup. If they reach the final, their only chance against New-Zealand would be to make it a war… Read more »
Valentin
Agree.
It pains me to say it but England are still too one dimensional and I feel will get found out because of this.
I hope I’m wrong.
There is a limit to mauling/rucking/scrummaging ,which is England’s forte.
I still feel they are too predictable along the line and their interchange and passing isn’t fast enough.
They should get past the Aussies but against either NZ or SA, I’m not so sure.
I’ve been told that Emery took the changing room tradition a step further and created dividers in the canteen. You can’t eat lunch with the first-teamers.
Isn’t that bullshit? Wasn’t it reported before that they wanted the youths to have meals with the seniors and to integrate more than before.
Graham
There’s far more to England’s game these days.
It’s their ill discipline giving silly and unnecessary penalties away that’s their downfall in games.
Jones has assembled a very strong squad that should have included Cipriani.
Whatever the outcome this World Cup is shaping up to be a spectacle of thrilling rugby as per the Japan win today.
People watch Rugby?
Christ, can you even call it a sport?
England playing with ze handbrake vs All blacks the protagonists!
Eddie Jones may be England main weapon because he is one brilliant coach, he is also their main weaknesses. He has sucked all unpredictability from their game. It is enough against bad tier 1 and below team, but you need more against the top teams such New-Zealand. He has athletes playing rugby rather rugby players becoming athletes. The Vunipola brothers being the exhibit 1. In an unstructured game, England just flap around when they have the back to be lethal. Two things have regularly annoyed me during this world cup. At the ruck, most players defending the ruck are with… Read more »
“Take Kill Bill (which many wrongly consider his masterpiece). The yellow suit Uma Thurman wears is lifted straight from a Bruce Lee film, Game of Death, in which (like Thurman) he rides a motorbike and has a fight in a paper house. The fight in silhouette, against the single-colour background, that’s taken from a film called Samurai Fiction, as is the idea of having a fight shot entirely in black and white. And so on, and so on. There is virtually nothing in that film which is original. It must have been easier to invent things, but no, he bravely… Read more »
Tony, England gives penalties because they always plays on the edge. With some referees they just get away with it, with others they don’t. The problem is that they are not switched on enough to stop themselves when the referee starts to punish them. Also some of their players have poor tackling technique. Farrell in particular seems to think that shoulder charging and then wrap your arm around an opponent is tackling. It is not. If you don’t know how to tackle at chest level, just tackle at knee level. Japan was very good at tackling at knee level and… Read more »
You idiots really don’t realize that red is copy/pasting whole passages from other sites without attribution? I guess it should come as no surprise from the Proud Boys film club…
Cutter
Of course I do
I was waiting for him to respond to my incredulity before shaming him but he didn’t and then I reengaged in my life.
Bob N16 You just know that either a) Xhaka will go the longest he’s ever gone without getting a yellow now, or b) When he does get suspended Emery will do something weird which means we don’t actually get to see what a preferred middle 3 (Torreira at CDM then 2 of Guendouzi, Willock, Dani Ceballos) would actually look like. The problem is we have an absolute superstar ST and some good young players in the side and Emery is kind of wasting all that potential by placing someone directly in the centre of the whole team who is literally… Read more »
https://www.cmagency.co.uk/marketing/quentin-tarantino-con-artist/
See!!
Go back and re-read my comments
CA sadly you’re probably right! My bet is that Xhaka will be suspended for C Cup! Mark my words.
What about Mo Farah?
Also, what the fudge has happened to Anthony Joshua?
Is it all down to the fact that he has been found out?
To call Lennox Lewis a clown ……………….Really?
Interesting words from Raul on Ozil and how Emery is not mistreating him: “Unai has had many good players in other teams also, and he has always followed the same policy. “That is to try not to make any distinctions, play the ones who work hard in training and reward the effort with playing time. There is nothing against Mesut on the contrary and I hope we get to see him much more in the next games because his qualities are without question. “But he needs to contribute 24/7 and that’s what Unai expects from him. It’s not that he’s… Read more »
Cesc
I agree.
Every Tom, Dick and Harry knows that Xhaka is a liability.
What does Unai see that we don’t?
I totally get it regarding Ozil but what the hell is Xhaka doing in training to justify his place in the team?
Bench pressing the entire team?
Please tell.
G62,
Probably puts the cones out, takes them in and then makes Emery a cup of tea whilst polishing his whistle for him.
Graham62October 13, 2019 16:20:31
Cesc
I agree.
Every Tom, Dick and Harry knows that Xhaka is a liability.
>>>>>>>>
But not every Charlie though hey? 😆
I just realised we’re not playing now until Monday night away to Sheffield United. Makes the international break even more boring.
That’s a tricky game to be going into after a fortnight off. Their players will be pretty much rested whereas most of ours will have played internationally.
Cesc,
Quick question to you and to anyone else who’d care to pitch in with a response: given that Emery is wedded to Xhaka and is gonna play him whatever happens, what is wrong with playing him a bit further up the pitch, ahead of Torreira or Guendouzi as deepest midfielder?
Words
Well moving him further away from the goal won’t hurt but ultimately it just means another part of our midfield isn’t functioning and needs to be covered by other players.
Xhaka just isn’t cut out for the PL – I wish him all the best in Serie A or wherever but we’re currently in a position where we can’t even begin to analyse what else we need in midfield when Xhaka just distorts the entire picture.
Benny it’s a hard place to go on a Monday night against a well drilled team. The couple of extra days rest may help but even though it’s a game we should be winning on paper I think we all know it is likely to be a bit of a struggle.
Liverpool managed a pretty flukey win against Sheffield Utd, after a goalkeeper howler, but they were really under the cosh and Sheffield U had some really good chances to score.
If we win there, I’ll be impressed; if we scrape a draw, that would just be about ok. An important test of how competitive we really are.
Sheffield on a cold wet and windy Monday night.
Recipe for disaster.
Do we all remember December 30th 2006, at Bramall lane?
Of course we do.
It will depend how Sheffield United approaches the game. Because of their weird tactical shape, I can see space for Pepe or Saka wide and with their dribbling ability and pace on 1v1, Arsenal may gets some joy. On the other hand, I can see us being murdered in the center of midfield and conceding lots of shot. They have no strikers but have a well drilled midfield and defense. That could expose our back 4 on a regular basis. The best we could then hope is an early yellow card for Xhaka and his substitution at the beginning of… Read more »
Graham
I remember it well unfortunately. A toothless and insipid display with a poor goal given away. And we couldn’t score against Jagielka in goal for half an hour of play I think.
It was another small sign of a soft under belly to the post Invincble Arsenal side.
Graham
I was laughed at a couple of years ago for saying fury would beat him. (Joshua)
Said it then and I’m even more sure now
If wilder can’t knock fury out then Joshua can’t.
Fury has beaten everything but n front of him in the last few years. All that’s left is Joshua
“The best we could then hope is an early yellow card for Xhaka and his substitution at the beginning of the second half.”
Personally I have a little more imagination. How about he get’s injured and misses the match completely!
Chris
That was just 6 months after the CL Final.
Remember watching the game on TV.
The start of Arsene’s and Arsenal’s decline.
Joshua has been mismanaged by Eddie Hearn.
Started to believe their own hype.
Haka cant dribble, play quickly under pressure, keep moving, find space basically he cant do majority of what is required further up
Chris,
Yes, I’m not expecting anyt more than a draw at best which says more about us than them. A team having top 4 aspirations really should be beating a newly promoted side no matter how organised they are.
Tyson Fury was right in saying that Joshua was a body builder masquerading as a boxer.
He has a glass of jaw and no punch for a guy his size. He should TKO boxers like Ruiz in 5 rounds.
Right now I don’t see a lot of quality boxers in the heavy weight division. I see brawlers, determined fighters and punchers but very few with the skills, stamina and boxing intelligence to be unified world champion.
Where are the new Lennox, the new Klitschko?
Emery really cut his own throat when he made X captain..?
Val
Agree. Couldn’t have said it better myself
Heavy weght boxing died in the 90s. Lennox, klitchko the culprits
If AJ gets beaten by Ruiz again, that’s him finished.
Can’t see him coming back from two embarrassing defeats.
Hearn is the Del Boy of the Boxing world.
Out to make money at all costs.
Joshua should have ditched him long ago.
Graham62,
Rather than blame Hear, I would question the quality of AJ.
To me he has not progressed since the Olympics. He is faster but he still box in the amateur style to score points rather than hurt the opponent or knock them out.
The best boxers win not just with their fists, but also with their brain. Unfortunately his boxing intelligence has not improved.
When AJ was on top of the world, he should have picked the best trainers in the world rather than choose the cheapest ones.
Valentin
You’re right.
AJ has surrounded himself with the wrong people.
Did I hear he has an entourage of about 30 people around him?
What’s this about?
He also doesn’t look as primed as he once did.
Germany’s Can got a RED card.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oc1mj4Bf6dY
Wenger’s great victories
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=p0VhNhvz0rI
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HFgVSq-2wzc
Ronaldo
Zidane
Carlos
Beckham
Raul
Guru
Ramos
Casillas.
Not one goal in 180 mins
Still hold the record for most clean sheets and longest time without conceding in knockout faze
Joshua reminds me of Frank Bruno
Bruno looked magnificent physically in the ring but never really seemed a natural fighter
Tim Witherspoon came over from the U S and was constantly asked about his weight and physical condition to which he replied “I’m a boxer not a body builder “
He knocked Bruno out in the 11th
All those muscles burn a lot of energy
Talking about boxing, Aj and his team believed in their hype. Just like Mayweather, they’re are media generated champions pushed under our throats. Most of Mayweather’s wins were against inferior opponents. Never fought pacman when he was in his prime. Africa used to produce some good boxers but that sport is dead there. My favourite and all time best African boxer is Azumah Nelson of Ghana. And also the only African boxer to be inducted into the boxing hall of fame. Guy was a beast in the ring. Held his division title for 10yrs. He was strong and had good… Read more »
AJ only fought tomato cans thus far.
Rugby and boxing taken over the blog. It’s a step up from the endless Özil drivel at least.