by Tony Attwood
According to José Mourinho, Arsène Wenger is afforded “more respect” than he (“M”) gets. He doesn’t explain why this is so, nor does he give any evidence, but he says it.
Personally I don’t think it is true, but I do think it should be true, if nothing else because of the fact that one of the two has conducted himself most of the time with decorum, and the other not. Because one of the two has developed a huge range of young talent and brought those players to the top level, when the other hasn’t. Because one has taken his club to the lower reaches of the league table and then failed to get it sorted, and the other hasn’t.
Because one has been sacked by his London club twice, and the other hasn’t. Because one called the other a “specialist in failure” and the other hasn’t engaged in such name calling.
Anyway, back in the real world, we know we are without Santi Cazorla and without Hector Bellerin two players we could really do with for this game. The Telegraph called Bellerin an “attacking defender and a defending attacker” and that is indeed about right.
But in particular what Bellerin does is allow Theo Walcott to get into his game wherever he wants to be – in the middle or on the wing. In fact Bellerin can even move into the number 10s position if Ozil has wandered off elsewhere. It not only increases our opportunity to outplay the opposition, it also causes confusion, because few managers prepare their teams for a right back that turns up all over the place as Bellerin does.
Carl Jenkinson seems likely to come into the team, as there has been word that Debuchy is injured, and of course Jenkinson doesn’t play this far forward. But I am not sure that is going to be too bad a thing for this match, in which Man U will be desperate to stop the relatively poor run of results. I think they will be pouring forwards at every opportunity, so Jenkinson could well be told to play his natural deeper lying game. This in turn will make the defence more balanced in that Monreal doesn’t go so far forwards.
As for Santi Cazorla, we have the natural replacement (although a different sort of player) in Aaron Ramsey, and Alexis’ late return from Chile and the issue of whether he did play with an injury could mean that we will have Giroud as centre forward – which given the other changes to the squad is no bad thing.
As for Man U we have heard that they have multiple injuries and Zlatan Ibrahimovic is out due to a suspension, so the chances are Man U will concede possession to Arsenal and play on the counter attack – which with Jenkinson playing further back he and the very solid central pairing that we now have, should be not too much of a problem to to deal with.
Of course all this could mean that we have two more defensively minded teams out on the pitch, and defeat will be handed to the team that forgets its focus first. Or it could be a 0-0 draw.
| Home | Away | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | D | L | F | A | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pt | ||||||
| 1 | Liverpool | 4 | 1 | 0 | 17 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 13 | 10 | +16 | 26 | ||||
| 2 | Chelsea | 5 | 0 | 1 | 18 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 6 | +17 | 25 | ||||
| 3 | Manchester City | 3 | 3 | 0 | 12 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 5 | +15 | 24 | ||||
| 4 | Arsenal | 3 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 3 | +13 | 24 | ||||
| 5 | Tottenham Hotspur | 3 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 9 | 4 | +9 | 21 | ||||
| 6 | Manchester United | 2 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 9 | +3 | 18 | ||||
Arsenal have won four and drawn one away, while Man U have won two, drawn two and lost one at home. Arsenal have scored 12 and conceded three away. Man U have scored eight and conceded four at home. It all suggests Arsenal are in the most positive position.
| Team | Shots | Shots OT | Dribbles | Fouled | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chelsea | 16.8 | 6.8 | 15.8 | 13.2 | |
| 2 | Liverpool | 21.4 | 10 | 12.8 | 11.4 | |
| 3 | Manchester United | 20.8 | 7 | 11.6 | 9 |
And Arsenal offensively away from home, per game…
| Team | Shots | Shots OT | Dribbles | Fouled | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 17.2 | 6 | 14.6 | 9.4 | |
| 2 | Manchester City | 16.2 | 6 | 15 | 15.4 | |
| 3 | Tottenham Hotspur | 16.3 | 5.3 | 12.8 | 11.3 |
There is a certain similarity here, so we could indeed expect both teams to sit back and wait and see where the game goes – but if that happens I suspect the speed of Walcott and guile of Ozil might just give us the advantage, what with Man U have injuries both in defence, and a suspension in attack.
Thus Arsenal are, without a doubt, the away team of the season thus far. How much does that depend on Alexis and Bellerin? We shall see – but I although I suspect we shall have Giroud starting, we shall also see Alexis on the bench, and coming on in the second half, just as the rearranged Man U defence starts to get used to how Arsenal are playing. That could be the moment the game turns.
Wenger v “M”. Tactical naivety, blaming the medics,
Manchester United v Arsenal 19/11/2016 – The Match Officials
Previews: A (Possibly) Thrilling End to a Great Year
It’s November so it must be injury crisis time (and ticket price analysis time)
Ref Review: Arsenal – Tottenham: 25 fouls and one yellow card
Alexis played for 84 minutes for Chile last night while Man U face their own problems
How could anyone respect a classless scumbag like MaureenO?
Obviously I’d exclude the equally classless hacks from that question as many of them have spent hours worshiping at the alter of classless MaureenO…
The boy is a petulant narcissist – a perfect fit for Man U and a perfect reflection of the age we live in.
That man (M) cannot answer a simple question.
“”We have some injuries but I’m not crying about the players we have or don’t have – it’s a window of opportunity for others and others are ready for those opportunities.”
Always with some type of dig and some type of failsafe for his ego.
Will be a tough game anyhow, they will be prepared, we just have to be better than them, which we are.
Come on Arsenal, lets thrash them at home good, it’s time.
Utd are faking, they do not have that many injuries at all!!!
Let us hope that our eleven can defeat their twelve.
I was typing my comment posting on this my Nokia C300 to make my own contribution on this article posting that is currently trending. But after labouring to put my thoughts into typing my comment and about to post it but remembered to add one more thing, but as I was about doing that, my Mtn network just went off and I lost all what I’ve typed. Mtn is the only network that do this kind of stupidity to me severally on the net. Why?
For we the Arsenal fans, we can read all about Jose Mourinho’s jibes which he uses when he’s about to have a big game played especially a game against Arsenal.
I’ve asked myself why is he found or like to do this? And my instinct has told me that, he purposely does that deliberately to distract the opposition team from focusing on their game completely. And instead start to focus on his jibes to get the manager & players of the opposition thinking on his jibes to lose some focus on their game.
Jose Mourinho is a specialist in jibe. It’s a weapon he uses to get the opposition manager and his players angry, confused and lose total focus on their game.
Therefore, I strongly advice Le Prof and the Gunners to ignore Mourinho’s latest jibes of, ‘not getting respect as Le Prof gets’ and ”18 months not 18 years”. All these his jibes are intended by him to make Le Prof and the Gunners thinking more on his jibes to lose some of their focus on tomorrow’s match against the Red Devils.
Therefore, Le Prof and the Gunners MUST totally focused on their game of tomorrow from this night and forget totally about Jose Mourinho’s latest jibes.
You command respect and not demand respect. When will this jack ass learn the difference between the two?
I still want to advance my belief to Le Prof on why I believe he should start Sanchez tomorrow for the Man U game. But only if Sanchez is reasonably strong to start the game. I mean if he’s not fatigued and not hamstring scared.
Currently, Sanchez has the consistent goal scoring form edge on his side. And it’s quite possible he’ll use this his consistent goal scoring form edge to advantage in the Man U game tomorrow and score goals for Arsenal and also give assists to other Gunners to score too.
And I have noticed Sanchez performs better and scores when he starts than to come from the bench to play but only looked to complement the team efforts as a squad player.
Sanchez is a natural starter kind of player and not a squad player that complements the team efforts. For these reasons, I want Le Prof to seriously considered starting Sanchez tomorrow at Old Trafford against the Red Devils of Manchester United. I believe he’ll bind them and cast them out of the match.
OT: Arsenal Ladies: Jordan Nobbs wins player of the year
The snippet I seen was from the BBC, which I don’t visit any more. Probably in other places too.
Moan , moan , moan .
Moan , moan, moan, moan ;
Moan , moan , moan , moan ,
When I want you pissed , and up in arms.
Cos I hate you , and all your charms.
Whenever I want you down , all I have to do is
Moan , moan , moan , moan .
When I feel blue in the night
And I need to piss you off right ,
Whenever I want you down, all I have to do is
Mooooaaaaaan !
I can make you mine, hear my lips of whine
Anytime night or day
Only trouble is, gee whiz…,
I’m moanin’ my life away !
I hate you so that I could die.
I detest you so and that is why.
Whenever I want you pissed , all I have to do is..,
Moan , moan , moan , moan ..
Mooaan !
I can make you mine, hear my lips of whine
Anytime night or day
Only trouble is, gee whiz..,
I’m moanin’ my life away !
I hate you so that I could die.
I detest you so and that is why.
Whenever I want you pissed , all I have to do is
Moan , moan , moan , moan ,
Whine , whine , whine , whine ….
Moan , moan , moan , moan ……
With suitable apologies to the Everly Brothers .
I’ve been listening to TopShelf Oldies. I think they played that song today. 🙂
There are lots of websites with Moaninho for a name of that peckerhead. Google still tries to correct my spelling.
Not to be taken with any seriousity what so ever. 🙂
We all know that Arsenal is the best team in UK. Fact.
Proof 1: They use refs against us to gain an advantage.
2: They try to injure our players to gain an advantage.
3: They use all sorts of mind games to distract us.
4: They even “employ” the media to write nasty things about us.
5: They whisper nasty things to our players on field to get them angry.
6: They whisper things to the refs to build a false impression in that poor person’s mind.
7: They have secret equipment in their opposition changing room to disrupt our brain connections.
8: They try to demoralise us by showing their last win against us on tv panels all along the route to the field.
and on and on and on…. 🙂
We need the game, they need the game badly. I think the first goal may be key in this one, should we score first, I have a feeling we will hold out this time. I also pray that Coquelin and Xhaka start, two defensively minded midfielders, at least for the early part of the game. I also want Sanchez to start and be subbed later, because Giroud’s record as a sub is much better than when he starts.Besides if we are chasing the game and ManU is sitting deep, Giroud would help out a lot.
I’ve just seen the MaureenO interview where he makes this statement.
His Paranoia is clear for all to see.