I don’t want to rehash or go over old ground. I told you what I thought of the recent internationals and you told me what you thought of me telling you what I thought. Back in April I told you about all of my Norwich related memories and associations and right now I wish I’d saved a couple so I’d have something personal or interesting to say.
Here’s what I’ve got. I’ve been pronouncing the ‘w’ in Norwich like Arsene does just to get in the mood for today’s match. Try it. It sounds like this – nor witch. See? Fun Isn’t it? Otherwise I tried to read up on a couple of Norwich blogs but there don’t seem to be any. So. Here we are then. Saturday has arrived, the boss is confident that three of our injured players will be back which means a first choice back five and then perm any six from twelve for the more offensive part of the team. The real question on everyone’s lips is will we get to see Santi and Mesut together at last? Arsène always plays a good game of poker at the press conference so if he seems to be dropping a hint you can bet your life it’s on purpose. To my mind when he said Santi is fit but lacks match practise it was a strong suggestion that he’ll not play the whole game. Now whether that means he starts and comes off at sixty nine minutes and fifty seconds or whether he plays for the last twenty minutes plus injury time, we shall have to wait and see. On the Arsenal Player video of the guys doing their one touch training Santi clearly miscontrolled the ball once and played with a fairly poor touch on another occasion and as such you’d expect a severe disciplinarian like Arsène to stick him straight on the bench. There was a lot too much laughter for my liking as well. Honestly if these players cannot take their training seriously they don’t deserve to wear the shirt.
When I said perm any six places from twelve I was being a little disingenuous. In truth it’s perm any five from eleven because there is one midfield berth bolted on due both to the significant relationship between the player and the defence and his proven importance to the team.
I am of course talking about Mikel Arteta Amatriain.
I am of course talking about Mathieu Flamini.
You see what happened there? This is, for me, the dilemma. Last season and indeed the one before, if Mikel didn’t start my heart sank. Put simply we were more assured and less likely to lose when he was in the team. I would have said he was the only truly undroppable player in the squad before the start of this campaign. Before, that is, Arsène pulled off the transfer master-stroke of the summer. Yes, yes there was the Özil signing, the one that excited both football fans and sports journalists alike, but as the manager said yesterday you can’t have a transfer policy based solely on players of his (Özil’s) proven calibre. For one thing there aren’t enough of them and for another there are more hungry teams at the top table and with more loot to buy them than ever before. So Arsenal works by carefully educating and promoting from within the club and by making deliciously unexpected or audacious signings like Santi Cazorla for a fifth of Gareth Bale’s fee, (just take a second or two to let that one sink in; five Santis to one Simian. Blimey, that’s what I call an exchange rate.) or Arsène pulls a rabbit out of the hat. It’s known as ‘doing a Kolo’. Back in the summer when I was being attacked by friend and foe alike for daring to suggest that any new signings would be the cherry on an already very rich cake and were in no way vital, I also took a bit of stick for adopting what appeared to be a volt-face in welcoming the return of our prodigal midfielder with open arms . I wrote that he was the perfect signing. Versatile, experienced, particularly as cover for Arteta (a position where we did look maybe a tad understaffed) and most important of all he was already well versed in Wengerball and familiar to and with the manager. Of course I am not claiming I foresaw his explosive return to the Prem. Nobody could have known he’d land like a burning meteor into the heart of our midfield and galvanise us to such a run of results and performances.
Now we have two names to bolt onto one position and two players more different you would struggle to find. It is Suavity and the Beast. ‘So how about playing them both?’ I hear you cry. Well maybe. Away from home that can work where we might expect to come under more pressure, where the defence might need more cover and a draw might seem a good result. Careful though, because do that and you are down to perm any four from ten for the rest of the team. Oh, and by the way, that’s before Podolski, Zelalem, Diaby, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Theo are fit. Also with the Prem as wide open as never before I’m not sure away draws are quite as valuable as they once might have seemed. The top six clubs will see any sharing of points as points dropped except when playing each other. So the emphasis must surely be on control and attack. Who gives us the better platform for that? I’m going to say Mikel Arteta gets my vote. Just. I look forward to a lively debate about it in the comments. In fact I’ve already started one with myself as I try to imagine Arsenal without that rabid terrier charging about in front of the monolithic rock of tranquillity that is the Per and Kos axis.
All of this is of course just a long winded way to reiterate what has become blindingly obvious to all but a few self appointed supporter’s spokespersons and internexperts. Arsène and Ivan with the quiet backing of the board have assembled one hell of a squad. Even when down to our most threadbare we only had to slot in one youngster and of course it was comparatively easy for him to find his feet in a winning, confident team which plays in precisely the same way as all the youth teams in which he learned his trade. Which is kind of what Arsène has been talking about all these years and still was yesterday at the press conference. Promotion from within. A club ethos translated into a playing style with an educated young workforce augmented by the occasional stellar signing. The only difference for me is that a lot of the youngsters have now come of age. Kieron, keeping out an extremely good left back in Monreal. Aron, never out of his depth alongside Santi or Mesut. Jack, the saviour of the nation. Theo, a boy no more but true premiership quality.
Sorry for all the football talk, I’d love to wax lyrical about the time I met Delia in Aldi or the day I made love to a Debbie Harry lookalike while watching Arsenal put five past Norwich one sunny bank holiday weekend but you’ve heard it all before and I wouldn’t want to bore you. It’s not easy once you’ve already written about the opposition. I have to say my respect for proper bloggers who do this every day rather than occasionally (as I do) has gone off the chart. It is very easy to pick up on a phrase or two and beat someone about the head for the next few years with it, but trust me, just try walking in their shoes first and you’ll feel differently about things, I promise. Anyway on to the team predictions. No. Actually I’m not doing that here. It’s boring and pointless, but what I will do is point you to a fun tool so you can do it yourself and share your ideas on twitter, a far more suitable place for such flim-flam and guesswork. I’m talking about Line Up Builder and I’m grateful to @Limpar_Assist for introducing me to it.
I’ll see you all back here at three for the match, unless you’re going to the game, in which case, well, you’re a lucky bastard.
Positively Arsenal 
Ah well, Flamini off. I guess we won’t risk him running against a brick wall or something. And how did Ruddy keep that Giroud shot out? Seriously?
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Flamster looking a little bewildered.
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Gainsy quite agree but we are surrounding the man with the ball the moment we lose it. Good to see.
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Interesting how much more of the ball Norwich had the moment Flamini left the pitch though isn’t it?
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Good half, I hope Flamini isn’t “proper” injured. I am going to watch that goal on replay until the second half now.
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Norwich are no mugs, they came on really strong at the end of that half. We lack the pace to destroy them on the break so need to find another way.
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Jackie is back on the right.
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Bobby Pires jr. looks just like his old man.
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Looking a little ragged here. Need someone to steady the ship.
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Oh my.
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Sweet cross by the handsome bastard.
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Mesut’s name will be on the stat sheet but see what Giroud did with what was actually a pretty poor pass from Santi. genius.
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Why do we have referees like this? Clear foul on Wilshere not given at their end and then he gifts them a shot at goal by not blowing for a clear foul on Mertesacker.
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Pretty important games these with players coming back from injury needing match time. Tomas, Mikel, Santi all need minutes to get back to their best.
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Fair play, that was a really good goal.
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Fine finish. Can have no complaints about that.
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Referee getting roundly booed
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Ruddy is keeping them single-handedly in this…
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Oh my, Ramsey has destroyed them.
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Oh fucking hell. How much better will this boy get?
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Even a thumbs-up from Wenger, that’s how good Aaron was in that situation!
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3 out of 4 goals we scored tonight should be in the running for goal of the year.
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Oh so impudent, Aaron! But what a brilliant Marseille turn!
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Oh my look at Aaron turning it on. Never mind all of us talking about Santi playing with Mesut – how happy must he be to have Aaron on the pitch with him?
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And a penalty not given!
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Lets all be realistic here. Aaron is world class and he will only get better.
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For a while now we’ve been saying we were playing as if there was always another gear if needed. Today we changed up and up and up. Just as Norwich were looking threatening. Brilliant, so very very good.
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I wanna watch that again.
Hope Flamini is fine. What a signing.
But once we found our balance and mojo, hooyaah.
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Just looking at the offensive display in the last 15 minutes will, I hope, make people understand why it is either Arteta or Flamini not both especially at home. We simply were unstoppable, especially with Ramsey coming from deep and space being created as defenders key on whoever has the ball (Ozil, Mozart or Jack) and creating havoc.
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Evil@4.54 “Lets all be realistic here. Aaron is world class and he will only get better.”
Love it.
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I must be a very nasty bloke. We win well, as far as I heard (not seen the game yet) and I juts want to know why those miserable whiners and doomers are so quiet. Take for example that twat, Az from Cardiff….why is that miserable twat not the first on the phone line to the post match show or the Clock End show (he usually is)…Fuck people like that make me angry….I’m experiencing a Pedantic George moment….cunts…
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CONGRATULATIONS TEAM& AW.. great result , top of the league still.
The game not perfect still but coming along fine. Three great games coming up. And we are ready..
Have a great weekend everyone. I know I shall..
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Easy Georgaki.
That said, it is really pissing me off that the sports commentators with 0.01% of a brain cell are saying that Ozil has transformed our fortunes. Fuck you. We were on a 15+ game streak before that. Another comment made me laugh. The guy said that Wilshere can learn from Townsend.
Let us just cherish the match. The first goal was orgasmic. I didnt get it when some of you said that word in a sporting contest, but I do now. Damn, I genuinely felt something below my stomach when we scored that goal. It was in the back of the net before I could even comprehend what was happening.
Is Giroud our new assist meister?
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End of An Era … La Belle Epoque….
…ramsey on for flamini..didnt know who to sing/clap more for…..
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The first goal was orgasmic. I didnt get it when some of you said that word in a sporting contest, but I do now
i need to watch it again on replays cause even though i was watching i didnt get it…i lost the plot in them miliseconds between giroud and jacks scorpio kick one twos…
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ive seen it…its outrageous..
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Evil October 19, 2013 at 4:53 pm
yes..denied ozil hat trick
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steww October 19, 2013 at 4:16 pm
you mean that 7-8 min period without flamini in midfield and poor mikel stretched all over the place and always second yes? mathieu flamini….mathieu flamini…mathieu flamini…
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heart wrenching news about diaby.
i hope he hangs in there!
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its becoming a privilege to watch ramsey play.
i hope we draw Barcelona in CL this season, assuming this team makes it through to the knockouts, which in my mind i am quite sure of 🙂
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We score more goals without Flamini.
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ramsey is quite shameless for putting the game of football in disrepute like that…its not fair for the rest.
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Nice stuff as always Steww.
Just back from game and have witnessed some marvellous stuff since I left my house yesterday morning. Oxford yesterday with couple old mates watching “from The Jam” – effectively a Jam tribute band but with Bruce Foxton in it on Bass… At one point, rather filled with alcohol whilst jumping around with a bunch older chaps like myself all clutching our chests at some point or other, I tried to battle with the thought as to whether the band playing Eton Rifles in Oxford to a crowd dotted by a noticeable number of university student types was Ironic, ir indeed, the irony itself was ironic or my thinking it was ironic was indeed… irnoic… or maybe I was just ratarsed and enjoying myself too much to thinking a load of old bollocks to myself.
Anyway, from leaving home, meeting old mates at Premier inn, having bite to eat, trying a couple of pubs, going to gig, drinking more, going to pub – drinking til oneish and getting up this AM feeling, remarkably, only mildy hungover – made completely insignificant by a full english breakfast, I was hoping my weekend could only get better. Train back into town, met couple folk at a pub, couple more pints, went to match came out having categorically decided my weekend had got better and now sitting at home – sated as can possibly be – waiting to lounge in my favourite chair for MOTD later and a gently fall into a sleep that will hopefully continue til late tomorrow morning.
Some weekends are just rather grand I think
One nagging doubt tho… Santi and Mesut in same team is, I think, going to be a luxury not oft afforded…
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hahahahaahah that first goal …
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Steve J, I think Santi and Mesut were unstoppable before Flamini came off and Wenger put Jack on the left.
Mozart was unplayable when he came on. It’s easy to forget how incredibly good he is when there are so many exceptional players in the team. He’s a legend.
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Gains yep i think they played well together and, as you say it was noticeably different when flamini went off and he certainly is SO much more valuable and influential than many – including myself, imagined he would be. I just think that, once we have our more regular wide players available I actually feel the options to play santi and mesut together will be less readily at the top of Arsene’s list of combinations. But, of course, I’m just a rathe rdrunk and happy middle age chap who doesn’t worry really as I know Arsene will do what is right and a lot of the time it won’t be something I would even have thought of.
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Good piece Stew, as always. Haven’t seen the match yet, but I get the impression we were rather good, yes? (smiley). Until I get home tomorrow and can watch the recording, I’ll just be watching that gif that’s making the rounds on Twitter of Aaron making three defenders look like mugs. On repeat. That’s my boy. Seriously, though, how good is he going to get? My lord…
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We don’t need a striker in January. What I’ve seen from Bendtner over the past few weeks is proof enough that if he was really needed, he could do the job. If there is someone good available in January for a decent price, I am certain Wenger will get him. But there is no pressure on us to buy a striker.
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That’s a shame, my post match thoughts have disappeared into cyber-space and there’s not much chance of recreating them now!
I think Ozil/Santi will work well once they have more time to practice together and the latter gets back to full match fitness. They both seemed a little off today, but between them contributed to 3 of the 4 goals.
I have re-watched that first goal so many times since getting home, but I still can’t believe it really happened that way. Arsenal walking the ball into the net as usual. But please God, let us not have the post high comedown against Dortmund. Hopefully, the opposition will bring out the best in the lads.
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I agree Evil – he made a good contribution from the bench in those last 15 minutes and seems to be settling back into Wengerball really well.
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