With the unconfirmed news that Ozil is leaving us, @shotta_gooner and I voice our appreciation for the talent that is Mesut Ozil.

We are available on Apple Podcast, Spreaker, Soundcloud, Google podcasts and many other platforms. Just search for UncensoredArsenal podcast.

Good morning campers.

On this podcast @shotta_gooner and I look at the grim draw with Crystal Palace and I predict a grim future for the club and team. Our star players are either gone or fading fast and our hopes are pinned on the youth. We are hoping that all our prospects develop into top class players, understandable yet unlikely.

We are available on Apple Podcast, Spreaker, Soundcloud, Google podcasts and many other platforms. Just search for UncensoredArsenal podcast.

I fear I’m beginning to sound like a broken record on this blog and these podcasts while adding little to the discussion so please feel free to add comments that help. The content has become just a vehicle for my opinion, this was never the intention for this site. Originally the idea was a collective, but it seems now that it’s just me boring you and me to death. So please, if you have an opinion that you feel you would like you express, let me know either directly or in the comments. Let’s get back to being the collective that we were supposed to be. The site should go in the direction that the collective leads it, not where I go. The very essence of the site is at stake.

Pedantic George.

Good morning all, it’s been a while.

Tonight we face Crystal Palace in what I suspect will be our biggest test in quite some time. Roy’s boys will set up in a low block and look to hit us on the break, with players ideally suited ,like Zaha, Eze and Townsend. We have struggled, to the point of incompetence, against this system for over 12 months, but that might be about to change. The belated emergence of ESR has made look much more likely to break down such a system. Who knew a 10 would have this effect? Everyone bar Arteta I suspect, but Covid ruling William out saw Mikel stumble on ESR, like a blind Squirrel finding a nut. Still, having found his nut, at least he appears to have the good sense to make use of it. That’s a bonus.

Leno will start, being he is the only keeper we seem to have now. Hector and Tierney are both in good form so they are nailed on and I think the back four, which thankfully we are back to, wil be Holding and Mari. Gabriel is available again, but it would be harsh on their of the other two to leave them out. I’ll whisper this quietly so no one hears, I think Mari has been better than Gabriel anyway.

That takes us into the engine room of midfield. Our captain without the armband, Xhaka will surely start, the question is , with who? Partely is ready and would be his partner normally , but he might be nurtured back from the bench, so Ceballos or Elneny with likely start, the experiment of Willock in CM ,having not worked in the cup.

The front 3 of Aubameyang, Lacazette and Saka looks our best bet, so that’s what I expect.

We all hope that we can turn the season around, the wins that started against Chelsea have at very least given us hope. Arteta’s nut is a game changer, ESR could be the real deal. Ok, he’s still a mile away from Ozil, but that ship has sailed away and been scuppered, so no point crying over spilt magic.

Enjoy the game. COYG.

Pedantic George.

On today’s podcast me and @shotta_gooner take a look at the Brighton and WBA games, but mainly I go ballistic about the stupidity in the media and our own fanbase. So sorry about that.

Pedantic George.

Good Morning all.

In today’s podcast @shotta_gooner and me talk about the great 3 points we got from Chelsea and wonder if it will be the start of a change or if we will revert to previous when the “old guard” become available again?

You can also listen to and download this podcast over on uncensoredarsenal.com .

Have a good holiday

Pedantic George.( @arseblagger )

#CHEARS match preview by Shard aka @shardgooner on Twitter

Time can be such a weird thing. I was away from Arsenal and Twitter for about a week and it feels like everything has passed me by, and yet nothing has really changed. We lost again. The same arguments are raging. The same outrage, counter outrage, and outrageous opinions, all mixed with some hope (denial) that things will work themselves out.

A week may not be much time, but what of 3 years? In that time frame we have gone from complaining about top 4 not being enough and why Wenger is wrong to somehow it still being Wenger’s fault.

Well, if plus ca change is to be the theme, that might work out well for Arsenal. 5 months ago Arteta was celebrating winning the FA Cup against Lampard’s Chelsea. After all that has happened since, could things be the same again?

No.

Shoelaces tied and lead weight in our socks

Unfortunately, we go into boxing day with our shoelaces tied together, some serious lead weight in our socks, and with our gloves filled with hot air. Our mouth piece though. PRsenal is gritting its teeth, and showing that it is alive and kicking itself in the shin. All good there, then.

Meanwhile our opponents’ pockets and gloves are loaded, and pack quite a punch. They average over 2 goals a game. Tammy Abraham and Timo Werner lead the charge and the likes of Mount and Chilwell provide the ammunition. Kante is their leading tackler, while Zouma is a rock at the back who has also scored 4 goals. Arsenal have to stay sharp for the whole 90+ mins in this game or it could very easily lead to another goal fest against us.

Not that goal fests are bad if you can attack. Chelsea can be got at, but I have no faith in us doing it. I’m not sure anyone really knows what the plan is. The best I can figure is that we hope to repeat by sitting deep and hoping to catch them on the counter. Do a Mourinho. I mean why not. Arteta has been doing that more and more off the field, so maybe this is just the best we can hope for.

Gallows humor to open contempt

Here’s all I care about really. Arsenal are not only no fun to watch, they give me no sense of pride to follow. Pride which has nothing to do with results. By now my gallows humor has turned into open contempt. I never thought such a day would come. Well, at least it’s something new.

Not new is Granit Xhaka being a figure of hate for Arsenal fans and we can look forward to tweets blaming any and all failures on him as he’s back from suspension. Gabriel is back as well, but the Christmas Partey is cancelled. Auba and Martinelli are both being assessed, while Lacazette is only going to be judged. Oh well, we need martyrs for the cause, don’t we? What cause? Can I say MAGA?

Oh, and just to add some good cheer, take a look at where Ivan Gazidis’ new club sit in Serie A. (Anyone who quotes Emery and Villareal at me is getting banned)

I’m not even daring to wish for a Miracle on Hornsey Street. If one is due I hope it goes towards something more important and more deserving than Arsenal FC. I recently got called the Grinch. I hope I’m not ruining anyone’s festive celebrations, but Arsenal doesn’t bring me any good cheer any more. Enjoy your eggnog to go with the likely goose egg coming our way in terms of points.

Merry Christmas, folks…… If the guy(s) in red and white let you down, you know you can only blame yourselves for having been naughty and flying those planes with banners…… And a Happy New Year to all.

Written by Shard aka shardgooner on Twitter.

You can also read this and comment over on https://uncensoredarsenal.com

Good morning all.

Tonight we play the Manchester City Globetrotters in the Carabao Cup quarter-final at The Home of Football.

Under normal circumstance this would be a mouth-watering encounter, but these are anything but normal times. We are in the midst of a run of form that is the worst in living memory for most of the Arsenal fanbase. I know City would visit us expecting to win no matter what form we were in, but they must expect to brush us aside tonight. I don’t joke when I say I can’t remember when we last played well enough that we might have a chance. They are unlikely to play their best eleven, but their 2nd best 11 is so much better than our best that it’s not even a comparison.

However, all is not lost, stranger things have happened, freak result regularly pop up, but make no mistake, for us to go through we would need the freakiest of freak results. Look, it’s not impossible, we did get a freak result in the FA cup semi just a few months ago. We can hope, so let’s do that? Hope! Hope for the best. Hope for a Christmas miracle.

Normally team selection and set up is difficult, but today it’s impossible for me to even hazard a guess, so I won’t bother.

It would be a good night to throw Ozil into the mix, Arteta could blame him instesd of the maths.

Personally I would play all the youngsters that are on the fringes of the first 11 and the likes of Saliba. However, even then it would mean allowing them to play something other than the PLAY BY NUMBERS rubbish that Arteta churns out week after week. And that won’t happen either.

Try to enjoy the game , IT’S CHRISTMAAAAAAAAAAAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pedantic George.

In today’s podcast @shotta_gooner and me take a look at the recent games and look for a way out from the vortex we are in. It’s grim stuff.

Pedantic George

Arsenal have a trip to Merseyside to play Everton at 5.30 P.M. today.

Given our recent results and form, this is somewhat daunting, they are in good form and we are not. And that’s being kind to us. An unkind man might say our best chance is to get a player sent off early doors, and put up the barricades in the hope of a 0-0, but not me, I wouldn’t be that unkind.

It’s not all doom and gloom though, oh no, not at all. Everton are short of two vital players in James and Allan. They might be rubbish without them? Right? They will have to be rubbish for us to win. I’m joking, I’m joking.

Ok, that was the good news, so what’s the bad news?

Well, Xhaka is out, although many fans will say that’s good news. Many fans are thick though. Partey is out injured, for the foreseeable, so I think it will have to be Elneny and Ceballos. These two have long since been labelled “not good enough” so it’s an ask for them to pull a Rabbit out of the hat today, we can but hope.

I suspect we will go back to 3 at the back, with the 5 being Bellerin, Holding, Luiz, Tierney and perhaps AMN?

I also think we will see Aubameyang back on the left with Lacazette in this weird No.9/false9/No10 hybrid thing with Willian back on the right. This isn’t what I’m hoping for, just what I think will be the case.

Any kind of a result will be welcome and any sort of performance will be acceptable if we get one. Wengerball is a distant memory and Arteta dishes up football by numbers that is better called sufferball, but we are in such a desperate situation that somehow, anyhow, we have to get some points. I don’t believe we will be relegated, but if we are not careful, we could be in the mix. I said before the season started that top 4 was out of the question, after a couple of weeks that top 6 was out of the question and now I think top half is out of the question. We are in a real fight to be a mid-table team for the next few years.

But what do I know? Actually, I can answer that question, it’s Feck all. So don’t let me dampen your spirits, it might be grand in a week or three.

Pedantic George.

Good morning any positive gooners left.

It’s the worst of times, at least the worst of time following 20 odd years of the best of times. I feel like not only is hope lost, but we are struggling to find the hope that there could be hope. It’s grim folks, grim I tell ye.

At 6 P.M. we take on Southampton, a team at the opposite end of the hopeful spectrum. They are a good team playing well. Sometimes teams go on a good run that is a surprise, getting results which are as much a result of the rub of the green as they are to good play, but Southampton are not such a team. They are good players playing well. They are a team preforming in the way that I think Arteta is striving to get us playing like. Every player has a specific role and they action it well. They are hard working, solid and inventive. Just a good team, I won’t be at all surprised to see them in the top 6 come the end of the season.

As for us? Oh my word, it’s hard to think it could get worse, but it likely will. Two of the current whipping boys, Xhaka and Bellerin, are out. Whatever people think of these two (personally I think they are two of our very best) they have both been mainstays for Mikel. Options to replace Xhaka are very limited, what with Partey also being out, so it looks likely to be Elneny and Ceballos in the middle. Cedric will probably come in for Hector, as AMN seems to somehow have become another  persona non grata since he said the whole squad was behind Ozil.

I suspect we might even see a return to 3 at the back tonight, we have lost every game with 4, (as far as I can remember) and as Aubameyang can’t scrore right, left or centre, he may as well go back on the left, allowing our new creative hub, Lacazette, to be this No.9/false9/10 hybrid thingamabob. Pepe should come in on the right, but who knows?

All that said, I think we could win tonight, I feel strangely optimistic, 5 home losses on the spin is unacceptable, well when I say “unacceptable” I actually mean unthinkable. So, if I can’t think it, I must think we will not lose. Brilliant logic, don’t you agree?

I think that’s enough nonsense form me, but if nonsense is your thing, here is another chance to listen to yesterdays podcast.

Pedantic George.