By Tony Attwood
It’s a funny ol’ game.
The surprising headline of the day comes in the Telegraph, normally rather pally with our old mate Arry the Red and his dog Rosie.
“Stop playing the blame game, Harry – if QPR are relegated it’s nobody’s fault but your own” the headline writer screams while also telling us that Manchester United have sacked their European scout for racial slurs. So just another day in football.
Meanwhile in a survey people were asked to vote what position Arsenal particularly need one new player for. You could only vote for one.
The answers were
What is interesting is that some people actually think we need a new keeper, full back, attacking midfielder, or centre forward. It is as if they haven’t seen any of the three keepers who have appeared this season, not noticed the arrival of Bellerin (or want to make sure that he feels unwanted by having a new player brought in ahead of him and so asks to leave), hasn’t recognised the growth in skill and ability of Monreal, and doesn’t know that besides Giroud we have Welbeck and also wants to make sure that Akpom feels unwanted.
As for wanting attacking midfielders, where on earth are we going to put them, and who is going to drop out? Santi Cazorla, Ozil, Ramsey, the Ox, Rosicky – and that is without considering Alexis and Theo as midfielders or the return of Jack in that position.
But still it is central midfield where everyone is clambering for replacement bodies. So helpfully up pop the inventors to find us some, and off they go saying that we are making a bid.
Latest on the line are Mats Hummels and Ilkay Gundogan both currently members of the German squad.
Hummels is the Borussia Dortmund captain and has been there since 2009. He was part of the team that were runners up in the Champs League in 2013. He’s got over 30 caps
Here’s his record
| Season | Club | Lge games | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006/7 | Bayern Munich reserves | 42 | 5 |
| 2007/9 | Bayern Munich | 1 | 0 |
| 2008/9 | Borussia Dortmund (loan) | 25 | 1 |
| 2009– | Borussia Dortmund | 181 | 16 |
The story is that the player won’t reveal his intentions, and says that he never has done.
İlkay Gündoğan is also a central midfielder from Dortmund who also plays for Germany
| Season | Club | Lge Games | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008/9 | VfL Bochum reserves | 2 | 1 |
| 2009/11 | 1. FC Nürnberg | 48 | 6 |
| 2011– | Borussia Dortmund | 65 | 7 |
Also on the list today is Bafetimbi Gomis from Swansea, but they’ve told Arsenal to bugger off.
Meanwhile it is being said that we have agreed a fee with Legia Warsaw for Krystian Bielik, although the Daily Mail is still saying that Bielik is thinking of going to Hamburg because the weather’s better.
But there is always something for people, no matter how strange their voting habits. Indeed those people who voted that we need a new goalkeeper will be excited by the Express’ version of events in which we are bidding £12m to sign Mattia Perin from Genoa. Quite why we are doing this is not explained..
Meanwhile back in the midfield world we have another name: all the way from Dinamo Zagreb, it’s Marcelo Brozovic.
| Season | Club | Lge Games | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010–2011 | Hrvatski Dragovoljac | 22 | 1 |
| 2011–2012 | Lokomotiva | 33 | 5 |
| 2012– | Dinamo Zagreb | 56 | 9 |
Still at least no one is this week saying that we are going to sign Balotelli.
So overall I reckon we must now have covered at least 50 names in these occasional reviews of supposed transfers, which on the basis that only 2% of all transfer rumours are right, means we’ve named the man who is coming our way.
But hopefully matters decided in court are less of a lottery, because Archway Sheet Metal Works the firm that has been battling with Tottenham H and its new stadium, has gone to court to try and get the noisy neighbours to give him some peace.
The owners of Archway are fighting the compulsory purchase order that forces them to move. This is the firm that suffered a fire last November and have had “bomb threats” delivered to their door.
And staying with dubious doings, comings and goings, the Football League has decided that maybe Birmingham City are perhaps still talking with Carson Yeung who is banned from being a director because of his money laundering.
He’s in prison in Hong Kong but from there is apparently still running his empire and telling the club which directors he wants in and out. He wants his partner and his chauffeur in, to work with his hairdresser, it is said.
If Birmingham are guilty according to the League, they can deduct points, fine the club and stop transfers or expel them from the League, so that Birmingham could play QPR in the Conference.
BIHL which owns Birmingham is registered in the Cayman Islands and listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange and is 15% owned by British Virgin Islands company, U-Continent Holdings.
A spokesperson for Birmingham City said they were trying to get information from BIHL.
Like I said, funny ol’ game.
off topic but not really…. Bad news about Arteta http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20150115/arteta-has-successful-surgery-on-ankle
Arteta had “a bony spur” and if my medical English is good enough this means a little splinter from a bone that caused him trouble in his ankle. Might have something to do with being kicked a bit ….
@ Walter – this article explains it quite simply. I think that his recovery from surgery should be quite quick.
http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/bone-spur-topic-overview
What is a bone spur?
A bone spur (osteophyte) is a bony growth formed on normal bone. Most people think of something sharp when they think of a “spur,” but a bone spur is just extra bone. It’s usually smooth, but it can cause wear and tear or pain if it presses or rubs on other bones or soft tissues such as ligaments, tendons, or nerves in the body. Common places for bone spurs include the spine, shoulders, hands, hips, knees, and feet.
Walter, sometimes when a person is healing, a calcified region starts to develop on bone where the bone was (slightly) damaged. There are other ways (probably not applicable in Arteta’s case) for them to develop.
This presence of bone where it isn’t supposed to be, can be a problem is something rubs against it (nerve, tendon, …) or if produces a pressure point on tissue between the spur and say the ground (for bone spurs on bottom of foot). Having a muscle sitting on top of a weight bearing bone spur would be an example.
Here is the Wikipedia page (quite different spelling than bone spur).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osteophyte
Debuchy out for 3 months also after a shoulder op. Can’t quite understand how Arnautovic got away with that reckless assault.
And bone spurs can be very painful. A close family member had one on the ankle, requiring an op.
*Sigh*
Pete
Is this a fact? If it is, then Arsenal FC and Arsene Wenger in particular need to shoulder some of the responsibility for it.
I agree a 100% with most of UA contributors that there’s an anti-Arsenal bias exhibited by PGMO and perhaps by some referees more than others , but allowing the Charlie Adams challenge on Alexis go without a single comment from a person in a position of power from Arsenal FC was a huge mistake.
The total inaction from the club in tha face of a blatant assault on our star player by Adams, who has along history of agricultural and dirty challenges ( three on Bale alone), could’ve only sent one message to the likes of Stoke.
I’m not at all surprised Arnautovic did what he did , when no one is protecting our players. Not the FA, or the PGMO, and not even Arsenal FC.
Challenges like McNair’s on Wilshere are hard to take because they result in a long term absence of a star player, but at least they look to be honest challenges ( as bad as they were).
The two challenges from Stoke players , Adams and Arnautovic however , have nothing to do with football, and deserve a condemnation from all around but this can only happen if the person with the opportunity to speak out does so.
Instead we heard from Charlie Adams after the game at Britannia stadium that Stoke are not a dirty team , and we heard from Mark Hughes after the reverse fixture that Arnautovic is not ‘that type of a player'( whatever that means).
I think it’s time we have heard from Arsene Wenger.
Tom – it’s on .com…
Pete/Tom
From the Independent
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/these-cheap-shots-must-be-stopped–footballers-are-endangering-the-careers-of-their-peers-by-needlessly-pushing-them-9979805.html
I think Wenger has said that there was not a lot in the Arnautovic challenge. I disagree, I thought it totally reckless.
Tom
Sure you remember me saying most of our longterm absentees were due to thuggery on the pitch that went unpunished, glad you seem to be coming to the same conclusion too. At least thuggery is the reason why Walcott, Ozil, Giroud, Debuchy (the first time), Wilshere, Arteta and now Debuchy again will have missed at least three months of the season.
As for Wenger or Arsenal not coming out to complain about such obvious fouls is not a simple act of negligence. I mean, even a blind man can see that our players are getting butchered. I’m absolutely sure they’re making complaints to the right people behind the scenes, they are just not doing that via the media in press conferences as that’s proven to only achieve the negative effect. And before anyone dives in saying what negative effect I say just ask any football fan in the land who the worst whingeing manager is and they’ll tell you, without even pausing to think about it, that it’s Wenger. Is that true, absolutely not. I can’t think of an interview he’s attacked a ref in last two or three years (just to be on the safe side, but it could be longer) yet any fan will shout his name as if he was banging on about refs yesterday. This is because, over the years, any genuine complaints he made resulted in him being overhauled before the biased FA disciplinary committee, got fined and ridiculed in the media. At the same time if another manager made a ridiculous claim the media would give credence to that claim by arguing his case out. Mourinho is getting credit for questioning refs but he had three players dive in one match only a few weeks ago.
Why should our club keep donating money to the FA coffers when in reality nothing will change, complaint or not.
I posted a comment regarding what I think is happening regarding the club and handling the media, but unfortunately it went into moderation.
Thanks for the link Mick. Unfortunately that article came a few days late. Had it been published on Monday artunovic may have been punished. Couldn’t see anywhere in the article where Wenger said there was no malice though, where did you see that Mick? Is it not a question of being misquoted if it wasn’t on arsenal.com?
The stomp on Arteta’s ankle in the first fixture of the season by the he ormer Gazprom employee occurred right under the nose of the UEFA offical.
As with the Debuchy and Wilshere injuries the simple call for a foul was made.
Are any self-declared Redzone™ Experts out there still confused as to why AFC pick up more injuries? Please watch the Football.
I think Arsene Wenger’s comment was immediately after the match and he may therefore not have had the full facts.
The photograph and the article in the Independent say it all. At least one journalist has said it – pity it’s not more. And you’re right, AL, this is a long time after the match and might have made a difference if it had been printed the day after.
< Was not made
Either the officals in these multiple instances suffered temporary moments of blindness or they simply forgot the rules on hacking, for a moment, as written down in the (blackfriars?) pub, oh, only about a hundred and fifty years ago.
I would not exonerate Mc.Nair of MU. I said at the time that it was a deliberate and cynical foul, which was intended to cause injury and put Jack out of the game. I instantly feared that it would cause a long-term absence and, sadly, I have been proved right.
All those questioning Arsenal’s PR on this matter are ignoring AWs use of the term:
“Special Circumstances”
Used in reference again last week when referring to the officals performance in the second half of the Stoke Away game. Not difficult to understand or interepreted what was being said. Although people arer entitled to ignore what was said, please don’t state that no comment has been made.
Special Circumstances. The question remains:
Is Arsene Wenger an Iain M.Banks fan? 🙂
Damn those Stoke thugs.
People shouldn’t underestimate the effect injuries are having on our league campaign. I imagine many here will celebrate if we signed a defender, midfielder or striker tomorrow, as rightly such a player will certainly aid our title push. Getting two such players will even be better. The opposite is true with injuries; losing one player for a period of three months or more per season is almost the same as having the said player leave for one season (say a loan – he can’t help you). When that becomes five or six key first team players it’s the same as having these players left.
And yet every time we hear how other teams will be struggling to cope after loss of one or two players; we beat Newcastle because they didn’t have Cissokho, Hull because they were missing one or two players, Southampton struggled against Ipswich becausde they were missing wanyama and schniederlin. Even money bags city, a team with at least two ‘world-class’ players in every position, were being excused when they had a poor run because two or three of their players were injured. Everyone gets excused, everyone but never Arsenal. And it’s all supposed to be our manager’s fault.
AL @ 4:34
Very well said. I agree with every word, especially:
“And before anyone dives in saying what negative effect I say just ask any football fan in the land who the worst whingeing manager is and they’ll tell you, without even pausing to think about it, that it’s Wenger. Is that true, absolutely not. I can’t think of an interview he’s attacked a ref in last two or three years (just to be on the safe side, but it could be longer) yet any fan will shout his name as if he was banging on about refs yesterday.”
It is of course possible that something is being done behind the scenes, but personally I doubt it.
Not because they cant see what’s happening, or indeed don’t want to do something about it, they just know it would be pointless. Worse, would be leaked to the media who would have a field day.
AL @ 5: 34
Again, spot on my friend.
Yes jambug. Only a fool would keep trying the same thing even if they’re clearly not getting the desired result. The club realised it’s pointless, if not costly too, to keep making these complaints. I’d like to hope though that they’re doing something about it behind the scenes, but would fully understand too if nothing at all was going on.
AL
Can you just image how the media would treat it:
‘Devious Arsenal trying to influence referees’
‘Wenger telling referees how to referee in secret meeting’
Blah Blah Blah.
It would be a media shit storm.
Sorry about that unfortunate surgeries on Arteta and Debuchy that could see them out of the rest of the season. To those Gunners that are physically fit-okay to play, I advice them to be careful in their games and not give-in to any Paddy Mac Nair’s kind of tackled on Jack Wilshere. And try to avoid being pushed or wrestled down to any potentially injury causing fittings around any field of play. All Gunners must henceforth have an eagle’s eye and the alertness of a fly to thwart off any intentional or unintentional injurious challenge. I have read through the latest press release of the boss Gunners update on Arsenal.com. He said we won’t have Welbeck for the Man City game. Walcott should then double-up. I don’t want to hear any lack of match fitness about him. He replaces Welbeck and starts the game. Akpom will be the cover for Giroud. Bearing any unknown and the unforeseen. My Advance Asundering Gunners Starts to cut Man City asunder are: Szczesny; Bellerin; Rhinosacker; Koscielny; Gibbs. Flamini; Cazorla; Coquelin. Walcott; Giroud; Sanchez. A (4-3-3) formation. My bench: Ospina; Monreal; Chambers; Rosicky; Ozil; Ramsey; Akpom. Experience, Power, Fitness and Pace are the bedrocks for my starts. Those on my bench are to start our next FA Cup game away to Brighton. On the Arsenal transfer front. The rumour are too much. But I have learnt to understand that is the tradition of press on transfer speculations. The boss said he is in for 1 or 2 players transfer in this window that could includes the 17 years old Polish midfielder. I am waiting for the confirmations of any Arsenal buying of player(s).
True jambug, it would be utter chaos.
The press does not seem to talk about those acts when mettedout to our players…hopefully that might change next season as we would have one of our own on sky sports..thierry henry…he is Arsenal through and through…he will never keep quiet about things like that.
Here in the States I subscribe to a British football magazine called Four Four Two. In the February 2015 issue on page 13 and 14 is a two page picture of that asshole thug Charlie Adam choking Alexis Sanchez to the ground. The caption describes asshole Adam as feisty, What kind of FUCKING BULLSHIT is that. The name of the game is called football, Not professional wrestling. Check it out, MOTHERFUCKING UNBELIEVABLE. Asshole Mike Riley and his moron minions from the PGMOL or whatever that fucking shady organization is called should be lined up against a wall and be gut-shot so they all die a slow and agonizing death. Then strung up in the Tower of London so the crows can peck their beady little fucking eyes out. I am as serious as a motherfucking heart attack about this. According to the British Media the Premier League is on the up and up. I can’t stand it when someone tries to piss down my back and tell me not to worry it’s only the rain.
Bill. there are also the euphemisms of:
Industrial
Old Fashioned
Let them know you are there
Tough tackling
Midfield Terrier
Biting tackle
All of which means excursively violent and aggressive.
The question of why Arsenal get so many injuries has been asked to death but the answer is the same as ever:
BECAUSE WE GET KICKED WITH THE REFS’ CONNIVANCE!!!
Glad the lead article mentioned Monreal. After the obvious one, he would be my second vote for player or the season so far…..albeit in a close race with Cazorla.
Above, meant to refer Arsenal players of the season so far, of course the leagues player of the season would have to go to the aaa/media favourite, Mr Matic, by far the greatest player ever to grace these lands.
Finsbury,
You’re dead right. Special Circumstances means we were fkd over by the ref. Unlucky equals being otherly subjected to being fucked over.
Man o man, i really thought Arsenal were going to buy Dortmund and rejoiced.
But seriously, there is so much information in this next paragraph of yours:
“The owners of Archway are fighting the compulsory purchase order that forces them to move. This is the firm that suffered a fire last November and have had “bomb threats” delivered to their door.”
Guess the world has not really changed as much as we all like to think.
A couple of interesting points (to me anyway) have been brought up in this discussion, great points and link to the Debuchey injury and these should be dealt with by refs properly, surely they can see it and I’ve been complaining about it for a long time now. That lead me to the Giroud red card, his reaction was due to being pushed in the back which could easily have resulted in either of Debuchey’s or Cahills injuries, maybe worse, and as Lescott states worse than a strong two footed tackle, once the player pushes someone in the back in this way he is totally out of control of his “tackle” and the outcome, he could quite easily have put two players out for a season.
The second part of this is Girouds reaction, rightly a red card as violent conduct you would say, but what of Routledge’s red card? He was sent of for violent reaction to a “heavy tackle” as it’s been called, he reaction was technically worthy of a red card but yet was rescinded, this is now 3 fold.
1) should we have appealed the red card handed out, it was a red card offence but he was on the receiving end of a tackle potentially as bad if not worse than Routledge’s.
2) Will all red cards now given for a reaction in this way either be appealed or rescinded due to the proverbial can of worms which has now been opened.
3) Will refs now stop giving red cards to players for reacting to “heavy tackles” in the first place, I often wondered if this should’ve been the case before as teams used this wind up or injure mentality and got away with it.
ob 1977
You seem to be missing the point completely.
Giroud plays for Arsenal and by definition is as guilty as sin. Appealing would be futile and probably end up in a points deduction.
Get a grip man, do you not understand how these things work 🙂