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 
MOTD Starting on BBC.
Lets see the unqualified praise Arsenal are due.
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http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/wenger-ramsey-can-hit-double-figures
Wenger knows, doesn’t he? That’s from an interview in 2011 when a good number of fans would’ve probably given their right arm just to see the back of Aaron.
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Is it legal to have orgasims in public?
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@dc
I ended up watching the game when I had some family over and told everyone that they should treat today as one of the happiest days in their live because they’ve been honored to be able to witness one of THE great team goals live. The looks I earned didn’t exactly spell agreement, but I think expressions of joy such as those are not outlawed yet.
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Who let Anthony Taylor out of his gimp box?
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Evil
At least you had pants on(??!?!).
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I… guess? To be honest, I lost track of my surroundings trying to follow the whirlwind that was our mesmeric passing in front of the Norwich box.
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Chavs up first.
No mention that Taylor is a shit just yet, and the causation effect back to the retards first game is quite beyond their collective cognitive ability.
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I thought Tomas R7 was a bit rusty against West Brom, but today… Wow! Classic stuff from the Czech.
I hope that Santi’s rust will have been polished off by next week too.
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@DC
I think Tomas benefited from not playing in the internationals. Two weeks for him to prepare properly.
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Evil
So many midfield combinations, it’s such a big box of chocolates.
And the Ox Diaby, Esfeld, Frimpong on the tray underneath!
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Yeah, it’s crazy. Not only have we so much choice, but I think if there was a top 10 of midfielders in the league, half of them would probably wear our red and white.
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WhennTomas came on, the whole quality of the tram improved.
No better man for fast paced Oe touch passing.
The whole cadence of the team improved.
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Egil
Arsenal have the best two midfield 4’s in the league.
Plus even more class players ready to come in.
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Oh! “The person at the start you would never ever thought to be part of this equation is Aaron Ramsey”, when talking about our midfield permutations. Not sure who of them said it, but didn’t that person watch last season? Ramsey was incredible in our undefeated run at the end of the last season.
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NEWSFLASH
Hansen compares Ramsey to Zidane!
Who knew he was a Positive Arsenal reader?
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And they set themselves up for more humble pie. One says “no”, the other one says “Chelsea will win it but I have been soooo impressed.” when asked if we can win the league.
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I thought Nik 23 was quite respectable in his 20min or so end game role.
Why spend stupid money in January?
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@dc
Either someone world class is available for a decent price — and this usually NEVER happens in January — or we won’t spend, unless forced by some crazy injury crisis. And that’s the right way to do it. Spend if you have money AND you can genuinely improve the team, don’t spend just for the sake of having spent some money. Bendtner is going to be fine, he is still a menace in the air and he can do many of the things Giroud does in our formation.
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Evil, most footie fans and pundits can only see the bleeding obvious. Subtlety is completely lost on them.
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@Pass
Thankfully the team is playing in a fashion that is pretty obvious to anyone who takes a minute or two to watch us: we are title contenders and no amount of repeating tired cliches can help it.
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EVIL
what a wall of silence from the shysters when asked whether Arsenal can win the league.
The problem is, there is no way of stopping the gunners winning the next ten league titles, if it was just about the football teams.
AFC: Legendary club & history, Kings of London, rich, manageable debt, huge revenues, legendary manager, perpetual big time entrants, legendary coaches, sane owners and board, commitment to the beautiful game, loyal (yeah, I know) fans, homegrown players, big stadium, an exciting league, cool city, big performances expected, que of players wanting to join…..
name another club with this on offer?
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Passeral.
The problem is they can’t see the bleedn’ obvoius.
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Arsenal play the spuds in the shithole close to St. Paddy’s day next year.
Patrick is a very close friend of saint totterringham.
(‘Tis the mutual binge drinking in their honour).
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We will midfield anyone to death.
But another awesome Giroud performance as well.
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Our Club.
Our Team.
Our Way…. Positively Arsenal.
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Where on earth is PG? His silence is deafening……..
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Anthony Taylor let out of the ward for the day, I see.
#Disgrace to refereeing.
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GP.
Yes, it looks like the idiots have taken over…
🙂
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If this doesn’t get response..
🙂 🙂
🙂
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From some punter on arseblog:
Ramzidane.
I like it. I like it. a lot.
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“I believe that our future is very positive. Of course the Premier League is tight again this season. We will need your support and we had some moments where at the Emirates we did not always feel that, but I can understand that, because it is up to us to give you the belief and it is not for you to give us the belief.”
With all due respect Mr. Wenger, you are wrong for once in your life. It is up to us to give the team that belief.
Maintain Unbelievable belief in the Arsenal, always.
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http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x166e6f_arsenal-vs-norwich-4-1-motd_sport
MOTD was posted up earlier than normal.
Ramsey = Tywysog Cymru (Prince of Wales in Welsh).
Now all I have to do is learn how to pronounce Welsh and I’m good.
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Please include the correct pronounciation of tywysog cymru in the next arsecast. Princely, indeed.
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Wow Steww!
I read the blog after the match – listening to Eric Clapton, take what you will of that – and it was still fantastic.
You are a Legend!
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Now for the comments.
But what about that first goal. It had me saying ‘what the fuck’ in Sydney at 2am in the morning!
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BLOODY HELL. I’m on cloud nine and can’t get a good night sleep.
That’s all right with me…. LOL
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So that was coming off the back of internationals, our team lacking 100% cohesion, a few passes astray from tired players, other key players still injured while Santi not fully fit, but able to shift a gear as needed and such produce magic football and threat seemingly at will. I was blown away.
I thought Bendtner was effective, he has presence, and he has threat. It was only 15 or so minutes, but in that time, he did not panic or lose any ball, was involved in several productive moves, took a tremendous instinctive shot, and did his part to create a goal. In fact, you didn’t notice Giroud’s absence, if anything the pace increased (Giroud was dropping a bit, tired legs). This is getting interesting.
I noticed something. This team expects to score, seems to have a mentality of defiance, and when we don’t score as we would prefer, for example leading 2-1 and needing to get back in comfort zone, we ratchet up a kind of power-play at will. Goal threat comes from every part of play, passing, excellent 20 yard efforts, counter attack, and wide play from the byline, with intelligent crosses.
I noticed another thing. Three Arsenal players hounding an opposition player to get the ball back late in the second half.
I felt a bit for Norwich. After a little period where they might have stolen a goal and camped in defense, we played them ragged for a spell, their heads fell; it looked as though we might score every time we attacked.
Mesmerising, impressive stuff.
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Top observations from ZimPaul…….
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ZP – excellent observations ref Big Nic. He will flourish in this latest incarnation of Wengerball because it plays to the strength of the type of player he is. He plays in a not dissimilar fashion to Giroud and I believe will be the perfect if somewhat serendipitous understudy given the circumstances that kept him here.
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Can anybody here help me? How many times can I watch that Wilshere goal before it becomes stale?
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serendipitous at 8:24 in the morning stew your in a different league
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apart from having the patience/brilliance to train young players and bring them through at the right time, buy quality to add to that and blend them into the teams style , to have the determination to carry on when everyone else is telling you your wrong sometimes things just happen and you just have to see the opportunity and be brave enough to run with it, Flamini/Bentner might just be a case in point both have re-entered the squad in unusual circumstances but could prove very important.
yesterday was unreal because this wasn’t a Napoli performance we only played well in patches but oh those patches were sweeter than Clarence Carter pure excellence
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The hacks on Sunday supplement are suggesting that Manure are smashing their structure for young players to hold on to Adnan Januzaj. They were burned by not holding onto Paul Pogba
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Paul Smith is a sorry example of a football hack. He was one of Wenger’s biggest critics for not spending big (his words). He and the others cannot understand why Manure didn’t get Özil. What would Manure be like today had they acquired Özil….
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Depth of Arsenal squad still a problem? Bollocks….
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Wilshere goal includes two back-heels, three one-twos, four first-time passes and a volleyed finish. Needs a few replays to take in……..
Tweeted by Jeremy Wilson of The Telegraph
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On another afternoon I would have been cooing like a flock of doves about Aaron’s goal – a strike that finally broke Nohweeech’s will to survive
And on another afternoon I would be gurgling like a drunken walrus that Ozil’s running for his opener was exactly as Freddie would have done it – only more so
But Jack and Olivier saved me the difficulty with an OUTRAGEOUS goal
You’ve seen it – I won’t mention it again
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Folks
Some tragic news about one of our posters on Positive Arsenal.
Adam Brogen.
You can go over to our friends at Untold Arsenal to leave messages of appreciation.
http://blog.emiratesstadium.info/archives/31982
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Most of us here defended Aaron when he was subject to the abuse of the yahoos but which of us really believed he would be this good within a year? I didn’t. Just to imagine he is only 22 years old with 3-4 years to improve. Something tells me if he keeps his head he will become the best British player of this generation.
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