By Walter Broeckx
Apart from winning half of the major trophies available in England, apart from having the best record over the calendar year in 2015 of all the teams in the PL, apart from being top when we move in to 2016 there was another big joy for me when following The Arsenal in 2015.
Of course the way Özil has grown over the last 2 seasons to his current form has been an amazing thing to see. I went crazy when we bought him. And boy… what a player he is. What a great joy it is to see him on the field in our shirt. He really is an amazing player. The best number 10 in the world, the specialist in being sacked by Chelsea said about him. And for once I agree with Mourinho. He is the best.
As I said in my previous article: just sing his song out loud. Make him happy. Make him feeling loved. Because that is what he needs most I think. He said a few weeks ago that he only listens to what Wenger is saying and doesn’t read what the newspapers write. But he will love it when we sing his name in a song that can be song by all and that can ring around the Emirates when he does his magic. You want the link? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbXNmIvWa1c just fill in Özil when they sing Brazil and you have the most recognisable song for him.
But we also had Alexis. What a joy to watch him dribble, fight, battle, work, track back, defend, attack, score…. He is one of those players that can turn a match with one moment of brilliance. And he is ours. Long may it continue. Just come back soon Alexis and hopefully he will be completely recovered and on fire to guide us to a great end of the season.
Another player that brought me great joy this year was Monreal. Written off by many. He had a difficult start but by now he is considered to be the best left back in the country. He found the rhythm of the PL and is showing not only he can defend but also his attacking is great and getting better and better. His goal at Manchester United in the FA cup match was one of the highlights of this year for me. And for him I think.
But other players have brought much joy in this year.
Was 2015 the year of Bellerin? I have been talking about him for a few years. I had said he would become our Danny Alves, one of the best right backs in recent history. And after a bit of a hesitating start in his first match at Borussia Dortmund, he became an amazing player. He became 20 years young this year (and I just noticed he is born on the same day as my wife – not the same year of course) and the way he has improved is leaving me speechless.
He was an integral part of that defence in 2015 that conceded so few goals. His rise was phenomenal. And one has to feel a bit for Debuchy who was doing rather fine till that Stoke thug pushed him in the boardings and he lost his career (at Arsenal it looks the end for him). Bellerin knew this was his chance and took it with both hands and feet. He will have the odd bad match as he is still young and his best 10-12 years are still in front of him. I really hope we can keep him at the Emirates as he is going to be the best right back in the world.
I predicted that when Sagna went away that we should buy an older player to fill up the gap till Bellerin was ready. I never knew that that older player would be so unlucky and that Hector would take his chance in the way he did so soon.
But for me 2015 will the mostly remembered as the year of Le Coq. Around this time last year we only had seen him play one match for Arsenal in the PL. Our away match at West Ham. What he then did after that is stuff for story tellers. Fairy tales stuff.
Apart from Tony and Wenger, we (well most of us) all had given up on him. I hold up my hands to admit it. I thought he was finished at Arsenal. But now look hardly 11 months later some went completely in panic when we lost him because of a long term injury.
The way Coquelin has grown in to his role of defensive midfielder is amazing. Unbelievable. But as he cost us nothing (well only peanuts ) he will probably never get the recognition he really deserves to get. Coquelin isn’t the mythical beast of a defensive midfielder. In fact he is a rather small player. He doesn’t weigh that much.
But he plays like the beast. Not that he is kicking around the whole time but he uses his body in such a way that he feels like a beast. And apart from that once he felt really comfortable in his role, he also showed that he really is also a great ball player.
Seeing such players like Bellerin and Coquelin stepping up in this calendar year is another thing that has brought great joy to me.
And I am very curious if at the end of 2016 we will see another name to that list of players making up the step to the first team. With Wenger in charge we know (or we should know) that he can pull a youngster out of the hat and give us a player we didn’t expect to see but who is delivering as if he has cost of £20-30 million in a transfer window.
I really enjoyed 2015 (and 2014) from an Arsenal perspective. Let us hope that Arsenal will bring us more happiness in 2016. I will try to do my best to enjoy it as much as I can. I will take the blips that will come on the chin and support my players and manager because I know they are worthy of my support.
Best wishes for 2016 for all faithful supporters of Arsenal (and Untold Arsenal), for our manager and his staff and to all our players. May the injured come back soon and may those who are fit stay fit for the rest of the season. And let us hope that come May we can all celebrate a little bit more, more silverware.
From Nigeria ,
Thanx Walter the Untold Team and Gunnerdom worldwide for your faith and fortitude .
2016 shall be Year of the Wengerian II Resurgence in EPL.
Have a prosperous year in Jesus name. Amen
An excellent, up-beat Part 3 of the year’s review.
A Happy New Year to you, Walter, as well as to Madame. 😉
Walter
“I hold up my hands to admit it. I thought he was finished at Arsenal. But now…..”
No shame in that my friend. At least you wasn’t on here bad mouthing him. Or bad mouthing Wenger when he bought him back into the fold.
And that’s the thing I love about Untold.
Of course we have our moments when we doubt a player, or Wenger, but we don’t make a meal of it. We TRUST Wenger. We know his motives are always for the best and 9 times out of 10 he gets it right. If Wenger gets it wrong, well so be it. He is not perfect. The players are not perfect. Non of us are perfect.
Sometimes I wonder why Wenger is sticking by a player but you wont hear me whinging about it on here because I know that most of the time I will end up with egg on my face.
As an example I was harbouring serious doubts that Ramsey was ever going to get back to form following his injury. To my best footballing mate, an extremely perceptive and fair minded west ham fan, I opined regularly that Ramsey had ‘lost it’, to which he agreed. All we could conclude was that Wenger knew something we didn’t.
I certainly dodged an egg there.
And there are other instances.
So no need to apologise Walter. It is a veritable minefield out thinking Wenger !
Thanks for your support you are really a gunners fans
For the most part, it has been a very enjoyable year following Arsenal for all the reasons mentioned in this article. Coq and Bellerin, what players!
Maybe , despite what they are up against, both on and off the field, it might get even better. We have great players, our manager is standing the test of time. Corrupt structures, though still in place in the game , are falling down all over the place. The corrupt and compromised remaining should be very worried, the coming year will most likely see a few football figures unemployed of in U.S. jails
As for Ozil, if you want to show him some love, please help make him the deserved Dec player of the month to add to his many other awards,
http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/10115166/pfa-fans-player-of-the-month-december-vote-top-three-contenders-revealed
Mandy
Thanks again.
Done.
It appears that the PFA Player of the Month award has been made into a contest, and only people form England and Ireland may vote.
I would have thought that fans from elsewhere could vote, but were just ineligible for whatever the contest was about.
Voting ends Jan 4, for those eligible.
Voted for Ozil. Happy New Year everyone!
Gord,
I was able to vote from the US. Double check the voting details, you can select the country from its combo box.
I did select Canada. But after sending in the form, I got some error page.
It also appears some kind of postal code is required. Canadian post codes are more similar to English than USA is.
It just seems like a dumb form to me. 🙂
Hm, I used my US post code and never had any trouble. Oh well.
Sometimes it’s easy to forget this team is missing players such as Sanchez, Wilshere, Welbeck, Rosicky, Carzola, Coquelin…and the captain. Happy New Year, Walter, Tony and all Untolders!
Happy new year to all Untolders, here’s to a great 2016!
Happy New Year UA ladsand lassies and hoping for an equally impressive 2016 campaign by our Arsenal.
Happy New Year dear fellow Untolders!
May you all be full beneficiaries of all the goodness the year 2016 brings.
Happy New Year all Untolders ! “Bonne et Heureuse Année” from a faithful french reader and gooners fan ! COYG !
Btw Walter, I love your idea about the Ozil song. And what about an Alexis’ one 🙂
Happy New Year Untolders! Wish you all and the club a wonderful year and many more!
Happy New Years people! Still almost 2.5 hours for me to wait here.
It was kind of odd to see news of Neville being suggested to coach ManU or England, when he is still waiting for a first win in Spain. I guess his team hasn’t broken enough legs yet, to enable his team to score.
The sky people are talking about aurora likely tonight. I seen a nice picture from new Zealand of New Years aurora at Spaceweather. Comet Catalina is supposed to be visible just before sunrise on Jan 1, near the star Arcturus. The moon is supposed to be about 1/4 full and could interfere. You might spot this comet in the next week or so. This comet has 2 tails, and is greenish. Apparently just about any old digital camera should pick it up better than our naked eye can. Sorry, I don’t know settings for this.
Happy New Year to all of you – lovers ot the great game
2015 was, to me as an Arsenal fan, a happy year. Did we win it all ? No. But we had such emotions, such moments of brilliance, excitement, contentment, success.
as far as I am concerned, we are blessed to be fans of such a team/organisation/management
And to me Oezil is directly in the lineage of the greats : Cruyff, Platini, Maradona, Zidane and he wears our shirt.
don’t worry…be happy.
Chris
This year’s play to step up will be Joel Campbell.
Happy 2016 to UA, Arsenal and all that wish Arsenal well.
COYG
Happy new year all Untolders! Walter I salute ur perception,I tell u dis blog is a must read for me daily bcos ur blogs express my perception abt many issues pertainning to Arsenal dat I hve often wondered abt;bravo , we are togeda here for d gunners always!wishing all Untolders d very best Of 2016!