It was not all bad news for the Arsenal players on international duty last night, as our young defender Calum Chambers, who has gone to Middlesborough on loan, started and completed the match for Gareth Southgate’s England under 21s in which they hammered Norway by 6-1, three of them coming from Man United’s Marcus Rashford.
Chambers is a regular first choice in the centre of defence for Southgate and that, along with the more regular football he should get this season on Teeside will hopefully see him return to Arsenal a better player and one that will feature more for Arsene Wenger in the future.
It was a bad day at the office for the France national team, though, in their first competitive game since losing the Euro 2016 final to Portugal. Didier Deschamps side, which included the Arsenal duo Laurent Koscielny and Olivier Giroud from the start, failed to break down a resolute Belarus and had to settle for a point after a 0-0 draw.
Giroud did come closest for Les Bleus but saw his effort hit the woodwork and that was not what the big forward needed as he seeks to earn his first club start of the new season. Another concern for Arsenal was the red card shown to new Gunner Granit Xhaka.
He did help the Swiss to a surprise 2-0 win over the European champions Portugal but it was his fourth sending off in a year and he will have to be more disciplined in the fast and furious Premier League.
Bob.
still for the life of me cant understand why we didnt sell gibbs and buy rodriguez … probably a net spend of no more than 10m and the guy is a solid defender and excellent going forward
I agree with u 100% on rodriguez and he would be a perfect replacement for monreal
I am not saying this could be the reason because nobody knows how Wenger’s mind works, but the homegrown rule is holding Arsenal and a lot of English teams back. You sell a British player and you will have more problems filling the quota. This is probably why we would have to keep hold of ramsey, walcott, gibbs, chamberlain and co because replacing them would be a hassle. If we sell them, will have to replace at least half of them with average British players at exaggerated prices.
When will Xhaka get his first red card for Arsenal?
1. In the first minute versus Mourinho’s United
2. In a fiesty semi final FA cup clash with Spurrrrs
3. Against Barcelona in the Champions league quarter final for a Suarez penalty
4. In a cold rainy night at Stoke
Against Utd and Chelsea …
” 3. Against Barcelona in the Champions league quarter final for a Suarez penalty” quarter final !!! really
United or Chelsea probably. It’s inevitable he’s going to pick up a red or two, let’s just hope it happens 90th minute when we are already winning.
hopefully no.4
No red card for him here this term.
He is aware of that and this is PL.
OT: my team for the saints …
Cech
Bell Kos Holding (Mustafi) Monreal
Xhaka Cazorla
Ox Ozil Sanchez
Perez
I don’t want to see Giroud leading the line ever again …
@Sam, Giroud despite being so bad has his strengths too.
My team for saints is a 4.2.1.3 set up a variation of 4.3.3
Sanchez and Perez playing as wing forwards and not as wingers and move further forward in the park.
—-Sanchez-Giroud-Perez—
——————Ozil—————
—–Carzola———-Xhaka—-
Monreal, Mustafi, Kos, Bellerin
—————–Cech—————-
2-0 Giroud with one of the 2 goals…
Giroud strengths are not up to Arsenal (supposedly big club) standards …
What did chamberlain do to start ahead of Walcott?? It doesn’t matter whether you don’t like him but his stats and performances speaks for themselves so far this season: 2 assists and a goal in 3 games, how about Ox??
I think Wenger will stick with Giroud mate. If he messes up and Perez seizes his chances, Perez might just leapfrog him on the pecking order.
“If” Giroud messes up??
Giroud is better than Ronaldo when he has competition breathing down his neck. Have you forgotten?
@Admin, Why is my previous comment under moderation??