By Bulldog Drummond.
Hmmm… bit of an early slot for me, a Thursday, but there’s news so time for an early early preview. A preview of the preview in fact. Or a preview of the pre… [Get on with it – Tony]
Carl Jenkinson has decided that he will NOT play for the Very Large Man of Dubious Dealings at Palace at least not without a hell of a lot of compensation and certainly more than £40k a week. Personally I don’t blame him, although I’d do pretty much anything for £40k a week.
The reputation of the very large man has always been over-hyped, and the notion that one can sack a manager and just put the Big One in charge is totally ludicrous, as shown by the fact that he has gained one point from four league games at the Palace and just squeaked through against Notlob Wanderers in the Cup. (Remember when we used to crack the Notlob joke twice a season. Ah those were the days)
Here’s the Enlarged Entity’s league run – would you go to this club?
| Game No | Date | Opponents | Venuye | Result | Pos | Pts |
| 18 | 26.12.2016 | Watford | away | D1-1 | 17 | 16 |
| 19 | 01.01.2017 | Arsenal | away | L0-2 | 17 | 16 |
| 20 | 03.01.2017 | Swansea City | home | L1-2 | 17 | 16 |
| 21 | 14.01.2017 | West Ham United | away | L0-3 | 17 | 16 |
Quite honestly if WHU can beat you, so can anyone.
So Carl stays at the Arsenal, and if he can get his confidence back together becomes the back up to Bellerín . Personally I think he is a fine full back who just lost his nerve – and it can happen to all sportsmen and women, and I don’t blame him one iota in not going into a relegation scrap.
Although we have a full squad, that doesn’t mean we can let players of his quality go. He knows he has to work hard and wait his time with Arsenal, and if that’s what he wants to do, good on him. The beach it is, once his mind is ready. He’s contracted for another 18 months so he has to show the boss he’s up to it.
Unless he goes to Watford or West Bromwich Albion. Hopefully he will reject West B because after what happened to Gnabry there is no telling how any player will be treated, and the boss there is the Pulis, a man whom even the high court reported was basically just a liar. Thus any player who takes what is said at face value at that club after even the Telegraph described as one in which “Pulis was accused of fraudulent behaviour in a High Court judgement” needs his head examining.
Elsewhere Mr Wenger has reacted against the idea of abandoning the off-side rules, as Untold mentioned yesterday and talked a lot about the need to beat the smaller teams if the games against the big teams are going to matter.
“Burnley are a top-10 team in the first part of the league so what they have done is absolutely unbelievable,” he said. “They play everybody at home and they beat everybody, so now we need to make sure they don’t find a solution away from home on Sunday. It’s a big game for us – we have to prepare well.”
Moving on to other players Mr Wenger confirmed that Per Mertesacker has had his contract extended by a year. “There is an option with Mertesacker that we have taken,” he said. “There was no negotiation. He is back in training, not with the squad yet but he is two weeks away now.” So that will give us one more centre back option.
Mr Wenger continued, “Héctor Bellerín, Francis Coquelin and Kieran Gibbs are back in the group, and should be available for selection for Sunday. It is still too early for Theo Walcott but Olivier Giroud is back in training since yesterday. With all the important games we have of course it’s important we have all the experienced players back.”
I wonder if the Ramsey / Xhaka pairing in midfield with continue with Francis Coquelin held in reserve for one more game. The RX combination has been developing rather nicely I feel, and although it is not perfect yet it has shown its possibilities, so this would be a chance to give it one more go.
If Giroud is fit to play after indicating (following his goal at Swansea) that he was ready to come off, then I would imagine he would also start against a team like Burnley not least because Burnley’s away form is interesting in this regard…
| Home | Away | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | W | D | L | F | A | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |||||
| 4 | Arsenal | 21 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 21 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 27 | 12 | +26 | 44 | |||
| 5 | Manchester City | 21 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 19 | 10 | 7 | 0 | 4 | 22 | 16 | +15 | 42 | |||
| 6 | Manchester United | 21 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 17 | 9 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 15 | 11 | +12 | 40 | |||
| 7 | Everton | 21 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 19 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 13 | 16 | +9 | 33 | |||
| 8 | West Bromwich Albion | 21 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 19 | 14 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 9 | 14 | 0 | 29 | |||
| 9 | Stoke City | 21 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 13 | 13 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 14 | 20 | -6 | 27 | |||
| 10 | Burnley | 21 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 20 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 3 | 20 | -8 | 26 | |||
No wins, one draw, eight defeats, scored three and conceded 20 away from home. That is actually the worst away record in the whole league, worst even than the clubs looking to be relegated. So they are going to drop back and look to clog their way out of trouble, although without the fear of yellow cards – they only have four more than Arsenal this season.
Elsewhere there is an amusing headline which reads, “Emmanuel Adebayor: ‘I have a bad reputation in England and I don’t know why’.” The big fella who caused us so much enjoyment while he was at Tottenham, earning his dosh while not playing, has been unemployed since he left Palace last summer, but is now playing in the Africa Cup, and seemingly getting plaudits. Perhaps someone will sign him.
Who knows. It’s a funny ol game.
Untold Arsenal and the Arsenal History Society… recent stories
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Football in crisis. Football in chaos. Football as a fairy story.
Arsenal need a new striker. I know this because last summer lots of journalists told me so
Would Arsenal be higher up the league if we had Pep Guardiola instead of Arsène Wenger?
The value of Arsenal’s players is not what you think. Or at least not what we thought.
April / May 1937: Arsenal slip back and Man City triumph – for the moment
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The Index of major articles about Arsenal players throughout the club’s history: A to K L to Z
I don’t think Emmanuel Adebayor is unable to find a club to sign him. But for his insistence to play in the ANC for Togo, his country, the offer by Leon to him to sign him in the summer, or is it in this winter window fell through according to reports.
That said. Looking at the three PL and one FA Cup matches Arsenal will play in thirteen days starting this coming Sunday against Burnley at the Ems, I think it has become imperative for Le Prof to do rotation of Gunners team for these 4 ganes.
Since Bellerin, Coquelin and Gibbs have just returned to training after a short spell on the sidelines that saw the trio missed one FA Cup and a PL games, and Giroud who has just returned to training today from his ankle strain last week, I think it will be wised if Le Prof leaves the quartet to start this Burnley match from the bench to allow the quartet to have a deep healings to their injuries for enhanced match fitness in readiness for their better use for the tough Southampton FA Cup match that follows this Burnley match six days later..
In this my assertion, save the starting of Giroud from the bench, I think Le Prof can count on his other ten remaining starters he played at Swansea City who collected all points in that game. And I am confident these same ten sterters with one starter addition to them can repeat the same big win against Burnley on Sunday.
My starts:
Cech
Paulista Mustafi Koscielny Monreal
Xhaka Ramsey
Chamberlain Ozil Iwobi
Sanchez
Bench:
Ospina Bellerin Holding Gibbs Coquelin Adelaide Giroud.
I think I have to drop Adelaide from my bench to allow Welbeck start the match from the bench instead. It was an oversight that led me to forget a senior player of Welbeck’s caliber is now available to play for Arsenal after his comeback.
OT
Not a team that I would normally bother myself with, but Millwall look to be victims of some dodgy goings involving Lewisham Council an offshore development company & fake claims of public funding.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/jan/19/millwall-stadium-false-funding-claims-the-den
….dodgy goings on
Slightly off-topic..
The article below is from March 2013 nearly 4 years ago. Published by Positively Arsenal (Excellent blog, give it a read)
Its spot on even 4 years later…
https://positivelyarsenal.com/2013/03/10/ignorance-and-stupidity/
Usama
Is that as good as it gets on PositivelyArsenal? The writer (ArsenalAndrew) isn’t the sort of person you’d want to have a pint with is he? A more unpleasant blogger I couldn’t imagine. The complete antithesis of (just to pull a name out of the air) Andrew from Arseblog.
Leon,
That piece was done at that time as quick summary of the aaa, naysayers, and the so called big arsenal supporting blog (LG) and managers on twitter. So yeah it was bit subjective and scrambled, but gets the point across.
The people PA post 2-3 times a week, well reasoned and well constructed articles.
The link above can be an exception.
They are one of the good blogs that support the club completely. (Arseblog, goonerholic, a bergkamp wonderland, daily cannon, untold arsenal, 7am kickoff, full90gooner, goonershpere, arsenal vision, purely arsenal.. some of the good ones
Usama
I’ll keep my eye on them then.?
Usama
I wouldnt call it an excellent blog.The writer is as biassed towards Arsene and Arsenal as much as sites like le Grove,Goonersweb and goonersworld are biased against.
nik – don’t you feel ashamed of being anti Wenger on a site like Untold? Perhaps you are a football & enjoy being kicked (thick skinned).
We have to not underestimate Burnley, 10th place with their away record is still good, and as AW says, we do not want them to start improving their away record at Arsenal.
Concentration, focus and determination is all we ask in every match now, and of course the wins that come from that.
//
Getting players back from injury is great so we can have a full squad ready for the last run in. Players will get knocks and if a good replacement is ready its all good.
@ Usama Zaka – 20/01/2017 at 1:14 am – A very nice link . Thanks . From the lop sided comments here, praising AW or the club for a job well done is a sin . Especially when they claim that they are being unbiased, factual and sincere . All of which they are most definitely not !
I particularly like the reference to the plumber , as I have had a friend of mine who is a diabetic once claiming that a plumber friend of his was really good in treating diabetics , and diabetic ulcers . Much better than doctors .
Sometime later , he developed a big carbuncle on one side of his back which necessitated admission and surgery and a long stay in hospital. After weeks of daily dressings , he underwent a skin graft . Never heard nor met that famed plumber during this period of time .
Years later he developed another carbuncle of the other side , which again required to undergo the whole treatment again . Not sure if he had reverted back to the plumber’s treatment , as most of us doctors kept clear of him by not proffering any unsolicited medical advice , but would collectively roll our eyes whenever he started to ‘teach’ others .
But I once did earn his ire when I remarked that some fancy tatooing would beautify those scars of his !
I do also hope that Arsenal continue our winning ways to usher in the brand new Donaldian Era in world history .
And I’m sure you are all also looking forward to …..err,…..whatever it is that you looking forward to!
Up the Gunners !
Just to clarify, I’ve nothing against what the mouth artist in Usama’s link is saying, just the way he says it. If he spouts off like that in a public place he’ll get a dozen or so bottles aimed his way.
I’ve now read the current post on Positively and find it very worthy, but what about about that comments section? It’s been hi-jacked by an obsessive.
Carl Jenkinson is a Gunner through and through. He is an Arsenal fan. That’s why I like him as a person.
I’m really glad he avoided being coached by people like Fat Sam or Pulis. He deserves better.
But … If the truth be told, Carl Jenkinson’s footballing abilities are rather limited. He is an honest trier. But sadly, Carl Jenkinson is NOT Arsenal-quality. Arsenal gave him a chance (just like we gave Aluminia and Nikolas Bendtner excessive opportunity to prove themselves).
Some people are just not good enough for Arsenal. And being sentimental about such people will NOT help Arsenal win the League or Champions League.