What a brilliant game of football. Joel Campbell has arrived at Arsenal. By Galen Sona
This has been a crazy midweek of football which has made me to think of telling the FA to scrap the weekend games and change to midweek. I feel disappointed as we missed an opportunity to extend our lead against Manchester City. I would like to use this article to assess the 5 big talking points of the game.
1) Joel is the new Coquelin – or should I say he is the new Ozil. I love Joel Campbell. If Ozil did some of the things he did today twitter would have broken. But because it is Joel Campbell who cost almost nothing he gets no media attention. In 3 months he has done more than what The Ox has done in 3 to 4 years or so. This is a kid with huge potential who has been very unlucky in his career. I am talking about not gwtting a work permit for 3 years. He went on loan for 4 straight seasons. He went to France, Greece, Spain but never gave up. Some of the passes from Joel today are things you expect from Ozil, Silva, Cesc, Cazorla type of players. I am so proud of Joel and how far he has come. He never gave up even after 4 years of being kicked to the side. Joel’s price has just gone up to £40 million. I think Joel Campbell has arrived at the Emirates. It’s going to be so unfair for him to lose his place.
2) Ramsey and Flamini. The bad marriage. While Coquelin and Cazorla is a marriage made in heaven, Ramsey and Flamini is one of the worst midfield partnerships I have seen at Arsenal. Ramsey is a typical box to box midfielder who has got great lungs and plenty of energy to go up and down the pitch. Flamini is a limited Defensive midfielder who enjoys staying in front of the back four. There is a huge gap in the middle of the pitch and it looked like the gateway to heaven for Liverpool. Jordan Henderson and Emre can couldn’t believe what they were seeing. They had so much space to run into. I hope Elneny is good. If Elneny is not good, then it could just be the end of Arsenal.
3) Arteta the captain? Come on give me a break. Wenger really disappointed me with this substitution. We knew Liverpool would go long. You either bring on Calum Chambers or Gabriel Paulista. How tall is Arteta? He has no legs. He should be playing for a team like Aston villa. That’s his level to be honest. I know I may sound disrespectful but Arteta is not an Arsenal player any more. He is a has-been and I can’t wait for the summer to tell him Thanks and goodbye. I hope he takes Flamini with him.
4) Per? is about time the manager gets bold and give Paulista a run of games. If we don’t have faith in Paulista then we should buy a new CB in the summer.
5) Olivier Giroud. What a man he is turning up to be. Wenger always uses the word mental strength to describe Giroud. But today I was thinking he is exceptional. Yes, he missed a sitter and it turned out to be comedy on Twitter but he fought really hard and scored a beautiful goal. When you look at the likes of Benteke going to Liverpool for 30 million then you know difficult it is to get a striker. Giroud may not be Suarez, Lewandowski or Aubameyang, but there are not many strikers out there way better than Giroud. Look at guys like Jackson Martinez who we were linked to. He couldn’t hit a cow’s backside with a banjo.
That said we go home sad to have lost two points. I would like to think a draw was a fair result and all in all it was a great game of football. We are top of the league and we shouldn’t be too heartbroken.
Enjoy the rest of the week.
By Galen.
? ?
?
Arsenal were still ahead when club captain Mikel Arteta was introduced in the dying minutes and despite not being directly responsible for Joe Allen’s goal, frustrated fans did not spare him and his manager the blame after the final whistle.
Here were the reactions…
Why is it the moment Arteta comes on the whole team falls apart no matter the opposition
— kev (@11_kevin_) January 13, 2016
Please can Arteta just suffer a 4 months injury again so wenger won’t have to play him
— . (@kingjolly_) January 13, 2016
I hope wenger starts arteta on sunday so that , shawcross can just give him an injury
— Malloy ® Bryan (@Malloy_Bryan) January 13, 2016
Hate doing this but Chambers should have come on NOT Arteta and rather than bring Gibbs on I’d have been more comfortable with Gabriel.
— Addy (@Addyylaide) January 13, 2016
@OzilAssist Chambers over Arteta I thought personally, how that man is captain I don’t know.
— ~ (@Gunnerology) January 14, 2016
It’s not good to wish someone evil, but Arteta being injured is the only way Wenger removes his head from his butt when making subs #afc
— FOOTBALL ADDICT (@dfootballtalker)January 13, 2016
Really blows my mind, that Arteta is still at Arsenal. How is this possible? He hasn’t been good for about 4 seasons
— Cory Williams (@cawillz) January 13, 2016
“I hope wenger starts arteta on sunday so that , shawcross can just give him an injury”
Puberty sucks for that guy.
Elneny ?
Ramsey is not a “typical box2box midfielder” because he only plays in one box, the oppositions. He abandons his position, leaving his midfield partner on his own to face a 2/3 players onslaught…
Unacceptable.
I think Ramsey does a great Job in midfield. I know he could improve his positioning. But i think some of the critics are way overboard.
Ramsey does not get into Ozil space. Instead he provides solutions for ozil . ozil needs loads of movements around him. lets see how ramsey and Elneny or Ramsey and COq . I have no idea when cazorla will be back. Physio room says sometime around march.
@galen
Ramsey’s prime job in midfield is to assist his partner in turning over the ball from defence to attack, besides being a buffer for the back 4. When he is constantly abandoning his position to get forward(create solutions for Ozil) he is opening up space to be exploited by opposition, leaving his mid partner the monumental task of patrolling those spaces alone, thus neglecting the defensive side of his duties.
He needs to be more disciplined in his play. Otherwise he becomes a liability like last night.
Which he did perfectly didn’t he ?? He scored a goal, his job is to assist Ozil in creating chances. Flamini’s is to stop the attack. Seriously, do you guys ever understand this ? Will you say Cazorla shouldn’t help with attack and remain defensive ? No. So why do you apply that logic to Ramsey ? He only remains defensive when he has to, in this case he didn’t need to, we didn’t concede goals because of him, we conceded from Walcott trying to dribble out of the box and from our defenders lacking concentration. If Ramsey didn’t attack he wouldn’t have gotten the goal that gave the team a psychological boost to keep fighting. Seriously, lay off his back.
As we discussed yesterday, rewatch the first 15-20 minutes of yesterday’s game. Watch how Aaron sprints forward as quickly and often as he can, creating space for Henderson and Emre Can to get on the ball, establish a foothold in the game, and thus achieve this “psychological boost” that you speak of.
Reality is Ramsey needs to do a better job of allowing the rhythm of the game to lead him forward, rather than selfishly trying to force the issue and storm into the box to score. Yes he may have gotten forward and scored, but he also vacated the space that was the genesis of each Liverpool goal. I score that as a -1 against us.
You guys talk about his engine to get forward, while somehow completely dismissing his neglect for getting back or maintaining balance. He’s not Pogba.
Well done Galen ?
A nice non-delusional Article, stacked with facts!
@FBG
And a huge chunk of “Bias…”
Hahaha ?… Where? ?
Just because you don’t agree with something that doesn’t mean that it is Bias!
Bias is when someone thumbs you down no matter what you write in your comments!
And there’s plenty of that going on …. On here! ???
@FBG
I agreed with most of what he put down. Not all…
@NY Gunner
What don’t you agree with?
@Flame is a solid and experienced player. Aaron left him in limbo to hunt for goals. Yet Flame gets sh*t on…
Can Ramsey play well without scoring goals?
Maybe not in his mind, or in he perspective of the British media, but in my opinion that’s exactly what Arsenal need. Hold your shape/position, provide the link and balance we need from the back to the front, and stop having your default action be to arrive in the box ahead of the other 4 players in front of you. It’s doing more harm than good against teams that are good enough to exploit the space you’re vacating.
@TH14atl
REALTALK…
Well he was part of the team that won us most points in England in 2015, he was part of the team that beat Bayern at home and his partnership with Ozil helped the German win POTY this year. So your hate is illogical and unjustified.
Who is the “He” you’re referring to?
To all thw G-rude haters, hahahahahahahaha. I once said that Campbell’s work rate is the same, if not more than Sanchez. I got thumbs downs for days but bring em on, we found a gem of a player, and the funny thing is his bin with Arsenal forever.
Our mid-field looks like the gateway to heaven? No way. The gateway to heaven is narrow. It actually looks like the gateway to hell!
hahahahaahahahahaahahahahahahahahahah. hahahahaha. So funny. lol true talk. Thanks for the correction.
Yeah the poster got this one right well where do I start at Esther I don’t know where we still at Arsenal easy status is just passed it should have brought on chamberd & Gabrie notl Gibbs or Arteta !
Per ?? Got no balls or aggression. Watch hat he did as Joe Allen was about to shoot. Flinches! Made no effort to block shot or put his body on the line. Just glad to see the ball not coming towards him . Disgraceful ¡! Why Gabriel isn’t starting B4 him I don’t know.
Ramsey always looking to play the Hollywood pass or shot. Loses possession too often .
It’s like AW makes substitutions based on ” mis placed loyalty to players instead of the opposition & what’s actually happening.
All these dropped points add up !! Let’s hope it doesn’t cost us .
..don’t know why Arteta is still at the club.. !! I meant lol
was a fantastic game against Liverpool shame about the result, this seasons league is wide open at all ends. am really looking forward to seeing what elneny can do in our midfield, hopefully he can anchor it down and give our attackers the best platform to work off. i would like to see what he can do along side le coq that would be a great pairing. power and stamina we will have to see how we do in the run in, if we can put at least 5 to 10 point between us and man city, then that will increase our chances of winning the league by a lot more. wonder what signing wenger has up his sleeve next maybe a loan until summer.
i wonder who will be getting the squad numbers being vacated by the players going or retiring.
rosicky 7= ramsey
flamini 20= elneny
arteta 8 = alexis 8
debuchy 2 = bellerin 2
will be interesting to see who gets the number 9 also
The most annoying thing is for you to assume the role of a comedian when serious issues are at stake. Many fans on this site have come to the realisation that Giroud indeed deserves being our main striker. So when you claim it would be interesting to see who will wear no. 9 all you are doing is to depict yourself as just a comedian who is not interested in serious issues but just fun.
Even after Giroud’s fine performance it won’t stop the haters and doubters
Look at the goal scoring leader board
1. Lukaku 15
2. Vardy 15
3. Ighallo 14
4. Mahrez 13
5, Giroud 12
Giroud is not far from the top. Just a hat trick away
Speaking of hat tricks. He scored a vital one in CL
Also scored in both Bayern matches
I believe this will be his best season so far
in 2013/14 he scored 16 PL goals and 22 total goals
I think He will pass that (barring injury)
I also hope Theo starts scoring again to keep Giroud on his toes
But with the addition of Alexis Goals should not be a problem
‘ I hope Elneny is good. If Elneny is not good, then it could just be the end of Arsenal.’ Brilliant piece of analysis mate
@ Flaminowski
Thanks mate.
Lmao
1. Joel has the potential to remain a starter at arsenal but he is far away from being a kid. The will to prove himself is so so big that you must be a potato head not to see it. Always looks all worne out when he leaves the pitch. Needs to be calmer and not rush so much.
2. Ramsey has a sunny boy reputation and people fail to admit that. He is a player with a big ego problem. No son, you are not better thn Bale, and he will never come close to it, no matter the goals he scores. Very talented player though. Wenger needs to teach him where his proriotyes should lie.
Flamini- Has money, Wenger knows. hehe.
3. Arteta is the closest thing to a captain, but he is old and cant contribute much to the team any longer.
4. Benching Paulista for Merti is criminal.
5. What Wenger says so often are only games of words. He knows and we know that every answer to our questions is always quality. Giroud was s….t. but nowdays he performs and has worked to become a good striker.
Still a long way to go to win the leauge. It will be close, to close for my taste. i wish we could get some extra fine player to improve our chances, but wenger is driven into playing in the hard mode, instead of the safe mode.
Yes, everything that needed to be said by we the Gooners on why the Gunners have dropped 2 valuable points in the Liverpool game, have all been said. The Boss has seen the none perfoming attitudes of Gibbs and Oxchambo which have cost us 2 dropped points as they refused to perform well which they are capable of doing for us. The Boss should be guided by this delebrate act of subversion by the duo when making his substitutions at Stoke City on Sunday.
Welcome Elneny!
And Farewell Arteta
and Flamini,
cos here come the sales
in January.
Decent article, but I have to highlight, we will not have to deal with the flamini and arteta crap, el neny is here.
Another thing fans have to be patient with ox (only 22) and wilshere (only 24) and welbeck (only 25). We trashed wenger when he persisted with ramsey and giroud, kept faith with le coq and campbell, but where would we be today without them. Keep the faith.
I personally rate the OX very highly still, and I hope people do not underestimate what “match fit” means. The OX is not match fit, and needs more playing time to sharpen up, when he does, he’s a game breaker…more than campbell in my humble opinion
@Yoe_its_Moe
Joels engine and vision runs circles around both Ox and Jack. Both are injury prone overrated and overhyped. They’ve had more chances than most.
3 different players, all very good, and all 3 I would like on my team … campbell does have a great engine and vision, but ox provides speed and power, and wilshere provides composure with possession and directness with his dribbling against teams that sit back. Plus if we keep both, we can say jack’n the ox …. sorry, that was bad
If we don’t win the title this year, it would be down to carzola getting injured and Ramsey playing his role than it would be for Coquelin/Flamini replacement. There is a difference between being productive and efficient. Ramsey is absolutely productive but horrible at being efficient. Carzola makes us play, Ramsey wants to be played. Arsenal ticks when there is someone who makes others play and that person is highly missing and that’s carzola.
look at our possession stat since Carzola got injured especially at away games, Ramsey works for the team and produces but IMO is selfish for not doing just what is needed of him. Every time liverpool had the ball at the back, it was unbeliveable the amount of space they had between Rams and Flames to put the ball to Henderson or Can. I screamed my lungs out every time when this happened and I called Ramsey most times. I know he got the first equaliser but i wasnt happy with him still. He becomes serious when we play bigger teams like against Mancity. Why cant he play like this every time? He cant even hold the ball and just pass. I made a comment about Toni kroos sometime ago and i got thumbs down when i said Ramsey should play more like him. TKroos is a box to box like Rams too but you hardly find him further up the pitch for extended periods. He just gets the ball and transits from defence to Attack. That’s the modern CM’s game now. Ramsey should be a deep lying playmaker, Just pass the ball and provide support to the guys up the pitch and never forget you are the first to engage the opponent once they get the ball back. I play football and that’s my best role. It’s hard to get up the pitch to score (not that it wouldnt be great to) but i am aware that the opponents could break quickly and i have to stop them first before the DM does.
Ramsey is just Plain Selfish. I think Wenger should make him watch the liverpool game again and he would see it. I do appreciate him scoring some goals though.