This super Sunday could decide a lot in the top 4 tussle by KM
Hello everybody on this fine Friday. It’s the end of the week and as the weekend approaches the focus is moving back from transfer rumours and the ‘Mourinho to replace Van Gaal’ story to the action that will happen at the weekend.
So on Sunday’s early fixture we’ll be facing this year’s sensation – Leicester. I think that just 14 rounds before the season ends nobody thinks that Leicester will just fall apart now. They play with confidence, they pick up results, they don’t play in Europe and they are the underdog.
It’s a story worthy of a fairytale, but it’s the reality of this league which is well dominated by Leicester’s energetic style and unexpected explosion of talent. They started the season as the comeback kings, but since christmas their defence has been solid and our low scoring attack will have to do a better job than in the last few rounds.
Usually the smaller teams are the party poopers, but this time that has to be us. The entire Leicester squad probably costs little more than we paid for Ozil to assemble, and what I enjoy the most is that it’s a complete mockery of Arsene Wenger’s excuses that you cannot compete if you don’t spend ridiculous money, so we won’t spend any and have an excuse.
Guess what? If we don’t win on Sunday, it’s another egg on his face and it will be a tough game. They beat Liverpool and City in admirable fashion and they will play with high confidence, without having much to lose.
For us on the other hand, it’s the Arsene syndrome again. He’s under mountains of pressure to deliver the league title, with the state the other teams are in, and he’s not doing a very good job of that.
Squad wise I liked the fact the Ox got in front of Campbell and Walcott, because even though none of the above-mentioned is world class, we have competition and we rotate, and at the moment the Ox looks like the best choice.
Other than that pretty much anyone can name the squad that we’ll start. I’m so disappointed we keep on with Flamini and Ramsey since it just doesn’t work. Why did we buy Elneny when he isn’t even on the bench for the games?
Le Coq has returned, but Wenger went back to his usual self, where he is stuck on one starting squad and doesn’t rotate even though the results haven’t been good. Gabriel also looks more like a makeshift defender rather than a true replacement of Per, who is finally paying the price of his mistakes. They’ll be very dangerous on set pieces as City felt first hand.
Hopefully we will not play with fear this time. We need to focus on dominating the game and keeping a clean sheet. Our record when we concede first this year has seen us win only one game in the league – ironically it was against Leicester. One of only two defeats they’ve conceded all season! That’s championship form.
We missed points in quite a few easy games this season and from now on it only gets tougher, but this is classic Arsene for you. Will he do another great escape like in the Champions League or will we watch again a movie we’ve seen so many times before?
Part of the answers will come this Sunday. Until then, enjoy.
Konstantin
If we don’t beat Leicester on Sunday:
***** GAME OVER!!! *****
“Please insert more credit”
than I want Wenger’s b@lls in a drawer and slam shut…again and again and again!!!
Let`s not even cheat ourselves that we`ve more games. If we don`t win tomorrow, we`re out of contention. And Wenger will be again buttling for his perennial trophy, 4th position.
No truer words spoken…
There will be no “IFs” come sunday
There will be no clause…..
There can only be the conqueror and the vanquished!
Here we go again !!! Mid February, and Wenger with same old same old excuses. We heard that those who spend big win trophy but what what Leicester City ??!! As you said their entire team is not worth what Ozil widths !!!! This guy is at the end of the road in my opinion today he said ticket price is high because we spend TV REVENUE to buy players what a stinking liar !!! What did you buy? Peter Chec for 10 M last summer and Elneny for 5 now even smaller size team spent more!!!! Elneny is bought but sits on the bench because super Flamini is starter ???? So why did you buy him in first place??? He said before that we buy only if they are better than our current squad !!!! Is he better or not ? Make up your mind. I think fans have to go ahead with planned protest because Kroenke and Wenger gone too far. Raking money on the back of Football lovers of Arsenal fan with middle to low income. Enough is enough.
I think LK GP to start with the new lad next to FQ as both are defence minded with the new lad moving up to bang a few shots it. I want TW to start with the OX and for this game OG dropped to the bench for the first half then we can change things up. We are a better team then them but the big guns need to stand up and say I am. AW needs ABCD plans for this one and to come out fast. TBH I think we play better with midweek games like the CL. When we have a week of it kind of goes wrong. AW should have took the boys on holiday for 3 days playing on the beach for team building
Oh God! The agony if that happens. :'(
Elneny has not been on the bench cos he just had a baby…..Gabriel is a fantastic prospect, if he has any nerves and seems dodgy right now its simply because Wenger refused to play the dude earlier in the season and his confidence is a bit low…..playing regularly makes for a confident player and also helps with understanding between team mates, not to talk of playing the guy in pressure games where result is needed..and to be fair on the guy he has done well, more to come from him am sure….as for Ox playing instead of Walcott and Campbell I suppose the jury is still out on that front, Ox has done NOTHING to warrant a shirt before Campbell especially….one goal and no assists in as many as 10 starts is a damning stats, compared to the 2/3 assists from Joel and the odd goals here and there, plus his massive work rate……lets just hope Flamini does not start and if he does to do the job well….a win is a must
To be fair, Ramsey showed up one bad game after another before he became the more established player he is now. I don’t think Ox has really been afforded as much of an opportunity to do that as Ramsey had. Understandably so, because Arsenal now have the means to buy & field more competitive players than we did then. However, like Henry said, it is up to The Ox to really raise himself up & be counted, bang on the Wenger’s door. Le Coq turned the corner just before we thought he was out the door. Campbell began to turn things around just when we thought he might be leaving. Ox has a lot more raw potential – great balance, skill, tough to push off the ball, and by 25, I can almost bet he will become more relaxed in front of goal, more mature in exercising his dribbling skills, and less prone to individual errors.
if we dont beat them, people will find excuses to explain failuare.
akb logic. If l.city proves win the leauge, it proves that wenger right from the beginning.
its all about feith, cohesion, and playing through the balls.
in wenger we trust
Gabriel Is not a prospect mate he came from a winning team Europe league finals 2 years on the spin. But again another January signing he don’t play
Beating Leicester on Sunday is a step. It is consistency after the win that will win us the league. Remember that winning on Sunday will not take us to the top as we are 5 points behind. Dont’t rule out Sp*d (I hate to type this name) can beat Man City and they better GD. So consistency is the key.
It’s simple we missed golden opportunities in January to have a good margin of error and widen the gap & now our next 5-6 games our must win games starting with Leicester this weekend. If we lose or draw than it’s over.
I truly hope Coquelin will be back in the middle & Gabriel will be kept to deal with the pace of the forward. Giroud should start up front & Campbell should be on the wing to provide help in defense! Finally I hope as good as Ramsey is he doesn’t try to do too much (score, make the perfect pass, defend, dribble 3-4 opponents and so on). He should go for the simple passes & helping with coverage and provide as less space in the middle as possible and surge when there’s really something going on in/close to the opponent’s box!!
We just have to win doesn’t matter how!
With regard to Leicester proving you do not need to spend big to win the PL, a few points. Since we last won the PL the winners have been chelsea, man city and man u, all big spending clubs. Leicester may win the PL this year but I do not think this would signal a change to low spending clubs winning the PL.
Leicester have made some inspired signings but there is probably a little bit of luck in how well these signings have turned out. They have been lucky with injuries so far this season. Having said that, there is no luck involved with the team spirit, commitment, tactics etc.
I expect the big spending clubs to continue to dominate the PL but along with big spending there has to be a very good manager and supportive board with a long term vision.
@konstantin. It seems you always write to pander to the negative and present AFC badly.
The entire Leicester squad probably cost what we paid for Ozil….and what I enjoy most is it makes a mockery of Arsenes excuses that you can’t compete of you don’t spend. REALLY?? As far as I can see the people with that mind set are those that complain that Wenger isn’t breaking the bank everytime they stumble on a Metro article saying x or y is the real deal. Likewise, if Leicester do win the league the biggest embarrassment with be for Utd, City etc who every season spend more than most small countries on transfers. Wenger conversely has said often and clearly that team cohesion, belief, spirit etc is what has mattered most and that squad has the ability. So what you write is a stretch at best, and to be factually correct should say ‘it makes a mockery of the plastics who constantly demand we spend and most particularly the excessively funded clubs who constantly try to buy the league’. Comically myopic.
Guess what? If we lose it will another egg on wengers face. REALLY?? As you point out Leicester beat City and Liverpool in ‘admirable fashion’, yet AFC beat Leicester, despite going behind. We now face them at Leicester so given their form, it will be tough, but should we lose (and I’m not saying we will) it would be a mere reflection of their stunning performances this season. A more reasonable interpretation, I personally think.
Elneny…his wife had a baby last weekend so that’s why (it’s been a week since so surprised you don’t know this), Coquelin is just back from injury so like not throwing Sanchez in, Wenger is right to manage their comebacks. Ox ahead of Campbell…not sure many would necessarily agree (although Ox can be brilliant his form has been erratic and nowhere near as complete as Campbell)….but perhaps like the Elneny situation you don’t follow the team closely enough to have observed that over the past couple of months??
I really can’t be bothered to counter the rest of your propaganda. Whilst your opinions are your own (perhaps) and you’re entitled to them, being objective, you do seem to have an agenda that unfortunately prevents you from being remotely balanced, in most of your articles. My opinion.
The way I see things this season hasn’t been perfect. We’ve had some chances to go top and not taken them. However we’ve had injuries to key players. So have other teams but we are still in the running (not the case for all) and if we go on a run as the team heads back towards full strength we can still win the title. We beat Leicester (only one of two teams to do so) and if we get a good result this weekend then it’s game on. Why not be positive, instead or peddling the same old rubbish that thus far has achieved nothing? It hasn’t altered Wengers approach or his contract but this negativity has divided fans who support the same team and has created a constant underlying negativity. Now that we at the business end of the season we should pull together and get behind the team like most fans of most clubs who are challenging for the title.
Keep the rest on hold till we get the end of the season. My opinion.
Right… very rarely can you say there is a season defining game to the season but this one is. It is not because its 1st v 2nd which it isn’t, and it’s not because it’s the last game or the penultimate game of the season because it’s not, it’s the defining game because it’s either you stand up to the bully in the playground or you don’t. This game in psychological terms is ‘High Noon’ … for all the nice boys and girls on this site who have never had the pleasure of watching Gary Cooper in ‘High Noon ‘ this is it. On the one hand you have , frankly, the disorganisation of the top elite clubs who aren’t performing ,ie Chelsea, Man City, Man Utd’. If Wenger really still has it he should be able to take advantage… then on the other hand you have the absolute arrogance of Wenger when he says he couldn’t find a better player in the Summer than what he had in his current squad…. fine . He’s set the bar high, he’s put his marker out , so if he’s done that he should take the consequences for what he believes in … beat Leicester and we are genuine contenders… lose to Leicester and the 10 year Wenger project is just so much dust. He should then resign. Trouble is , he won’t . LOL.