Still top – we need not panic just yet. by Koss the Boss
It’s been a bit of a hard time for the club at the moment with the injuries we have and the amount of games being played throughout the Xmas/New year period. Our last two results or performances have not been up to our usual standards, but to be fair, our record away at Liverpool and Stoke isn’t too great anyway, so not losing and digging deep not to lose is a big improvement from previous visits. That we are still top of the league whilst not playing well is a good sign of the spirit in this squad.
Even though our injuries are absolutely ridiculous and is really starting to annoy me, like all of us Gooners. I have a good feeling that it is going to gradually get smaller in the next four weeks. Wenger has said Ozil and Sanchez should be available for the home fixture next Sunday against relegation contenders and defending champions Chelsea, good start. He also stated that Rosicky is close to being fit and Wilshere, Coquelin and Welbeck are running again… though it will take time to get up to speed with their match sharpness and fitness. It’s another massive plus going into mid-February and the last portion of the Title race.
Now we have purchased in January, an unknown player to most of us – well everyone knows him now thanks to YouTube – and in a position we needed in a DM/Box-Box player. Mohammed Elneny. Another plus to add depth to the base of midfield to help defensively as we know Arteta is done and Flamini did well, but times ticking on your game time also. Chambers might be another to keep an eye on in the defensive midfield department in my opinion.
That leads me to the question of ‘do we get another attacker now’ or wait until the summer? We need everyone fit and ready for the visit of the World Champs and defending UCL champions Barcelona in the last 16. If everyone is back especially the 4 of Alexis, Ozil, Coquelin and Santi, I believe we have a good shot at beating these boys. What a fixture! What is there not to be excited about?
I’m not going to get too far ahead of myself and I know it’s going to be very difficult but its Football, anything can happen and just maybe it’s our time! If not this cup then another we are still in and defending, the FA cup… Maybe even for a 3rd time in a row? Bring on Burnley!
All in all, its not all bad and getting better on the injury front also, so no need to panic just yet as we are still in the title race, defending the FA cup and have a mouthwatering fixture in the last 16 of the UCL. On to Sunday to really put Chelsea in a relegation battle. COYG
Koss the Boss
Thanks to petr cech we are still in the game! Coyg!
for those of u who thinks we are comfortably at the Top of the piLe, i want u to take a good Look at the Table
2 goaLs Lead? L()L
TOP is top it matters not what you call it.
Well yeah. While it lasts.
It has been 16 days and two league games since we went top and we are still top. I am confident come Monday next week we will be top still.
Why do u always have to be pessimistic..we are top of the league and you are still whinning… Show some support thats if ur even an arsenal fan
Exactly! I complain a time or two throughout the season but come on guys we are in a good position even if we just look at it from today Monday 18th January til the end of the season!
just hope that those poor analysts who keep blaming Ramsey for our defensive fragilities keep their mouth shut, Ramsey is the best goalscoring midfielder we have in this team and when you try to limit him, we may suffer the consequences. yesterday he wasn’t taking up the position in the box as usual and we didnt threaten to score. when u have sanchez, ozil out and walcott and Giroud missing in the match, we got no goalscorer in the team anymore. we always looke poor defensively when flamini has a poor game not because of Ramsey, Flamini played well yesterday and no one blamed Ramsey. if u go back to the Liverpool game, the positions Flamini placed himself was deep inside the box and he gives away too much space for a DM that was why we were so open, we need Ramsey scoring more than defending. And for Per Mertersacker am just irked when he goes for corners because i rarely see him get his head on the ball even defensively, u check the statistics, he isn’t in the top five of defensive headers won. we need Gabriel to start playing more. However it was a good one point won yesterday. city, utd and chelshit lost there and considering our attacking trio (Sanchez, Ozil and cazorla) out, wasn’t bad enough.
Cheers! COYG!
Don’t you think we are now having too many bogey teams and tough away grounds??
Winning at Stoke, Everton, S.bridge,old trafford,anfield,White hart lane,etihad, Southampton is a big problem for us….the most painful thing is whenever we get to these grounds we are always intimated..I could have added swansea too…Even when we are to play these teams @ the emirates we are not always filled with confidence..Winning at west ham will be difficult this season.
All in all, we need to start winning these games if we are to win the league
You are trying very hard to finding something negative to pour cold water over the points raised in the article. By “now” are you referring to this season, past five seasons, or last 10 seasons? This season Arsenal won at White hart Lane in the league cup; last season Arsenal won at the Etihad in a league match; last season arsenal won at Old Trafford in the FA Cup. Every home team no matter its status is always expected to put up a show and that is what happened at Anfield and Britania Stadia. You can pick any team and make the very comments you made about Arsenal. When last did man city win at the Emirates? When last did Liverpool win at the Emirates? when last did Chelsea win at the Emirates? Stoke, Everton, Southampton, Swansea, etc?
So your theory is not that bright apart from the fact that it casts Arsenal in negative light.
Looks daunting but a bit of perspective. The reality is that we don’t have to win all our games at Man U, City, Everton, WH, THFC. Man City and THFC for example have only won 40% of their away games to date, we have played more and have a 50% win rate. We have played 12 away games and just 10 at home, so just 7 away games left. 21 of our 44 points have been won away from home. Only Leicester have accumulated more away points (25). As bad as we feel our away form has been City have picked up just 15 points away from home and have 9 away games left compared to our 7. THFC have also played 2 more home games than us and have 9 away games left. This may sound inconsequential but this league is probably going to be decided by such small margins.
And let’s not forget Leicester, among other difficult games still have us, City, United and Chelsea away. City still have Liverpool and Chelsea away.
The flip side of the difficult away schedule is a slightly less intimidating home schedule; 9 home games left against Chelsea, Southampton, Crystal Palace, Watford, Norwich, Leicester, Swansea, WBA and Villa. A win against Chelsea and we should be well set to rack up some home points.
My prediction is that we will go to the Etihad on 7th May with a 3 point cushion over City and an inferior goal difference.
Never looked at the fixtures that way. Some really nice fixtures at home after chelsea this sunday… we have as good a chance as we have ever had and should win all our home games after sunday esp if we are to lift the title and win it at the Etihad. Now that would be a fitting way to win the league
We are in this position because others are so sluggish this year (don’t you agree!) , not much improvement to be honest … Only Cech makes the difference so far …
Wenger isn’t ruthless enough to drop his English core (Ox, Wheelchair, and Walcott), I just cannot believe Walcott is on 140k/w, they had and are having their chances but they are still play as beginners …
I believe we are one quality attacker away from the title this year and I hope it will be Welbeck because deep down I know Wenger won’t sign top striker to replace his beloved (underrated as he used to say) Giroud …
Mate, when everyone is fit we don’t have a single English player in our starting X1 so not sure what “English core” Wenger “isn’t ruthless enough to drop”.
The same old nonsense. In any season every team’s position is determined by its own performances and performances of other 19 teams. The league champions are determined by number of points accrued relative to points accumulated by other teams. So your argument about why we are top of the league is a non-argument.
Since Cech is responsible for our league position, can you tell us the number of goals he scored in each of the games we won? Winning games is down to scoring more and conceding less goals than the opponent. Cech and the back four’s job is to ensure we concede less and they are doing that superbly as a unit. The strikers have the main responsibility of scoring goals and they are doing that very well. Midfielders are also contributing by winning balls and creating chances for strikers. It is this combined effort that has seen us top the table since 02 January.
Targeting certain players for abuse and blame is just as disgusting as Xenophobia. Walcot played a big role in our wins against the Manchester clubs. Chamberlain was the reason why we beat Chelsea in the Charity Shield. Jack hasn’t kicked the ball so to talk about him being dropped is just plain stupid and so is to misspell his name to mock him for his injuries. Before you want Arsene to be ruthless with his players, you need to be ruthless with your life as it appears you are some unstable soul.
I think it is because the level of players at each club has got higher due to television deals and the wages that English League Clubs will pay is huge compared to other leagues.
Cabaye – Palace
Payet – West Ham
Shaquiri / Bojan – Stoke
Mahrez / Kante – Leicster
Spurs/southampton have a good squads just examples of every club stepping up the competition ontop of Arsenal, City, Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea hell even newcastle, rate ur boys wanaljdum/perez/sissoko.
Yes, our english core is letting us down..I mean look @ city..only J.Hart and maybe Sterling starts for them.Chelsea,Terry and cahill, ManU, Smallingn Carrick and Rooney.Rodger’s liverpool had too many of them, look @ where it landed him…
If am to build a team in England, English/british players will only make my defence…I won’t have them in any technical areas…I mean Walcott couldn’t even show his worth yesterday, they clearly lack talent…
You are just rumbling without purpose. Walcot was key to our wins against the Manchester clubs, so to try and ignore games in which he performed well is being ridiculous. Of the English core you talk about the only regular player is Walcot, while others are back up players, so going by your logic Arsenal is no different from Man City, and Chelsea. So what is your point really?
Considering all the injuries plus two tough away games in four days we are doing well to keep up. We really need to push on now and begin to get our players back and start to perform better and score more.
Arsenal will start to pull
away from the rest now.
@davidnz
You’re the Obi Wan of this site dude…
Walcott has been here longer than ox, He still cant dribble when needed after all this years, his finishing hasnt improved that much either. Has any club want to sign him, or atleast rumours ? I havent heard much transfer rumours about him even if we are not going to sell him js . Wonder how he can get 140k per week. he doesn’t deserve it, same with many english players and their salary.
#EnglishPlayersAllOverHyped
Imagine what some of you guys would be writing if we’d lost!!
COYG
@BarryL
Exactly.
A sad bunch of whiney moany worry warts…
Last year Coquelin
This year Campbell
It’s like dude went into the future, saw the crisis, went back and bought a player 5 years in advance.
Campbell is still not a finished product, it’s only because we have under-performing wingers that make him the best option … We can easily find better wingers who can bench him …
Coquelin is another level, he is one of the best DM in the league if not the best …
Arsenal does not have to buy every good player around. All it needs are players who put a performance when called upon to do so. Right now Campbell is doing that on a consistent basis, so you can go on football manager and find your better wingers that will bench Campbell there not at Arsenal.
In my honest opinion i would rather see Joel Campbell play on RW constantly now and become world class or close to it at Arsenal than going spending 50m+ on a player who may take time to settle and not as committed as joel is. Di Maria anyone? Coquelin was the same last year due to an injury and what a revelation he has become! We are Arsenal we still make stars, well wenger does! Always a better feeling of satisfaction when we have brought them up through the club, loaned or u21 for a few years then play a crucial part in the future of our 1st 11. Or unknown player brought in cheap then shine.
Bellerin
Campbell
Coquelin
Wilshere
Ramsey
Boss
Nacho
All crucial in our team!
But we don’t need a winger to bench Campbell. Campbell is a back up. Try finding a player that will sit on the bench while everyone else is fit and is better than Campbell then come back instead if spouting this nonsense.
Chelsea have NOT won 2 premier league games in same month this season. From August till date they have only managed 1 victory per month with the rest games ended in either loss or draw for them.
For this January, they have results thus:
C. Palace 0-3 Chelsea
Chelsea 3 -3 W.Brom
Chelsea 3 – 3 Everton
I hope and plead with our boys NOT to let the trend changes from us (Arsenal). We can’t afford to help Chelsea revive/relaunch their season by succumbing to them at home.
WE MUST BEAT THEM !!!
We missed an opportunity to build a solid lead when City were in poor form.
i COULD NOT BE MORE HAPPIER WITH THE PLAYERS ATTITUDE AND THE RESULT ATTITUDE AGAINST STOKE. IF ANYONE WOULD HAVE ASKED ME AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SEASON WHICH IS THE GAME THAT YOU WOULD BE TOTALLY HAPPY IF YOU TAKE SOMETHING FROM THE GAME. THE ANSWER WOULD BE STOKE AWAY. AND CONSIDERING THAT WE WERE MISSING FOUR OF OUR KEY PLAYERS (SANCHEZ,OZIL,CAZ,AND COQ) THE TASK WAS A VERY TOUGH BUT STILL MANAGING TO SNEAK OUT A RESULT WAS GREAT.
BUt we have to get the performance right against chelsea, they have found their mojo back and are very very good offensively. Hope we can have Ozil back and sanchez on the bench.
My biggest regret up to this point has been that we were unable to get a few more points clear from man city. I t is going to get very tough now because Aguero and Silva have returned to top form and have started to make bog difference in games.
This one is going right down till the end, hope we will be there or thereabouts by match day 33 and then anything can happen in the last five days.