Tactics, formations and set ups. It seems every Arsenal fan is an expert on them. Yes we all know them well, all of us bar Arsene that is.
I mean its easy, right?
Start with a world class goalkeeper. One that dominates his area and controls the defenders.
Next we want a couple of centre backs. One of who should be big lump that flings himself in front of everything and heads the ball far far away from his area. The other, a smaller beast, who can cover the big lumps lack of pace and play out from the back. Oh yes ,and they should have a telepathic understanding and work as a pair, as one.
Now we want two fullbacks No nonsense players that defend first and one of who never passes the halfway line unless his mate is tucked in.
Right, now we want two big “physical presence” midfielders that can play a bit. Pace and power, thats the key here, pace and power. Protecting the back four and setting the platform for the forwards to enjoy themselves. Don’t forget they need pace and power. This is the Premier League, pace and power is vital.
The next thing we need are a pair of wingers that have, err, umm, well, pace and power. They must be able to help the fullbacks and also attack with gay abandon, and score 20 goals per season.
A world class No.10 comes in handy now. He must have vision and creativity as well as being able to drop into midfield and help out by being a physical presence. Obviously he has to be able to score, but his main job is to create for others.
Last but not least comes the world class striker. He has to be lightning quick, strong as an Ox, and score at a rate that no other striker in the league does.
On the bench we need seven outstanding players that would walk into the starting eleven of any of our rivals.
There we have it, management by numbers. The default team of every expert layman fan.
The formation is 4 4 1 1, or the No.10 can fall back and its 4 5 1, or the wingers can push up and its 4 3 3 .
Yes this management malarkey is a piece of piss.
You may be detecting a hint of sarcasm by now?
Still. I’ll soldier on.
On top of this extensive knowledge we are all also experts on player development, training regimes, fitness and last but not least – we all have medical knowledge far beyond that of specialists that the club hire.
Of course our knowledge doesn’t stop there, oh no ! Club and global finances are well within our understanding. The negotiation of transfers is a task we would absolutely excel at.
Its true that every fan has one thing in life that they are outstanding at, and thats running Arsenal football club . And doing better in every field than the useless experts that the useless board employs.
When challenged on our credentials we have no problem here. “I know my stuff, I’ve been watching Arsenal for X years”
I mean its easy to prove how right you are. As soon as Arsenal lose, you point to which of the default team settings that were not used and claim that had they been, the result would have been better. Its foolproof because no one can prove it wouldn’t. This is evidence of your genius.
“We didn’t win because we had no power and pace in Midfield”
So basically we all want a manager that uses this template.
Sort of like the 1998 Arsenal team ?
We need a manager that understands this set up works and does it !
Players need to be told by the manager , exactly what to do and when to do it, following this template . The one we understand. The one that won stuff.
We certainly don’t want some visionary that thinks his old template needs revising because football evolves. No, we want a manager that thinks like us and does stuff we understand.
Look, we all know this squad has huge deficiencies and Arsene refuses to address them. I would list these deficiencies but I just cant think of one at present.
Anyway, we should all be happy because the very smartest among us can write blogs and do Podcasts to show just how smart we are. Spare a thought for the previous generations that had to hide their genius under a bushel.
Positively Arsenal 
I see many gooners on the web saying Theo Walcott should be dropped for Saturday’s game for Alexis if fit or even for Welbeck or Rosicky, this despite this two goals in two games and the fact that in his last six league games v Tottnum he has scored four goals and also has three assists. More management experts I’m sure.
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Diaby in our CL squad?
Abou Diaby?
What about Bielik?
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Who else would you leave out of the starting line-up, eddy?
If Alexis is 100% fit, he has to play. He gives us more defensively than Theo.
Theo is the obvious one to make way for him.
I’m not saying he will be – just that he’s a clear candidate.
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Oh, and thanks for posting that clip of Mesut’s assist – I had been wondering if it wasn’t a tad lucky. Clearly not – intention and execution in sublime harmony.
What a player!
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dkg we could only add 3 new players to the squad, – giroud, coquelin and gabriel – picked as the
as for the team on saturday, I’d actually leave out Ozil if Alexis is 100% fit, and if he is anything less than 100% fit, I’d leave him out. And the main point I was making is that many want Welbeck or Rosicky in the team ahead of theo, I find at the moment that Theo along with Ramsey has become main targets for the whingers and boo boys.
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not sure what happened part of my previous post, but bielik could not be added when we could only add 3, Giroud, Coquelin and Gabriel
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Deano Spyrou @DSSFootball · 31m 31 minutes ago
Since Lukas Podolski went to Inter Milan, their record is W2, D2, L3. By the way, the German has only started 4/7 games.
I blame Wenger
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https://o.twimg.com/2/proxy.jpg?t=HBhZaHR0cHM6Ly9hbXAudHdpbWcuY29tL3Byb2QvZGVmYXVsdC8yMDE1LzAyLzA0LzIxL3VwbG9hZGVkX2ltYWdlLTkxMWI3MzliLWYtcG9zdGVyLTAuNi5qcGcUwAcUnAQAFgASAA&s=cUKzL30c4Af7TldulCWzgmouyOrH2AdzcpepTUGZphE
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eddy – thanks for the clarification regarding the CL squad. You certainly seem to be on top of things.
I agree with you about Theo being in ahead of Welbeck or Rosicky if Alexis isn’t 100%, but I wouldn’t drop Mesut.
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its such a shame we have such a weak squad, only going to have a couple of Ozil, Walcott, Welbeck and Alexis in the team and the other two on the bench, Wenger out, I want my Arsenal back, Hawley, Hankin, Allinson and Chapman all day long over this lot.
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That’s what I call a good club man – well two – Hummels and Weidenfeller
Clambering over the fences to take a punch at a booing fan or fans – and at the end of a tiring to 90 minutes too
I could not fault the spirit
I hope our lads are watching
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Wot! No new signings this morning! WTF! Vengah Ahhht!
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The big talking point this morning among digital Arsenalistas is who Arsene is going to cast into the wilderness on Saturday DK – will it be Sanchez/Theo/Santi/Ozil, Chambers/Belerin/Ospina/Szcz, will Danny be maybe a surprise starter – and will Gabriel ever get a game ??
An unusual but quite pleasant sensation of having far tooooooo many top quality players fit and ready to choose from.
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Andy Nic: I’m sure that come 1245 on Saturday the sporting gods will have managed to injure a few. I am reading a lot of negative stuff about Jack Wilshere. Am I right in thinking that he was playing quite well last February before breaking a bone in his foot while on England Duty? An unnecessary challenge by a Liverpool layer if I remember rightly. And having found his way back to form this early Autumn he was then injured again by a clumsy challenge from a United player, and needed surgery? But apparently he is wilfully harming his own chances,has regressed and certainly won’t make the starting XI any time soon.
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Indeed FH – it is there in five foot high headlines that it is CRISIS TIME FOR JACK – CAUGHT AGAIN ON THE (crack) PIPE
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Much as the Jack drama is being overplayed,there are others moving past him in the pecking order. We have seen Diaby and Tomas not become recognised (by many) as world class due to injuries. Lets hope it doesn’t happen to Jack.
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https://amp.twimg.com/v/02d9d879-b5ae-4741-85ac-5ba57a878830
Heh
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Brilliant isn’t it Fins – next time any booing breaks out at the Ems the players should get straight over and into the crowd – get hold of Bully and sort him out
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Better still the next time the “banner” comes out – get Coquelin to sort it out
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No Alexis on Saturday it would seem, but apparently a possibility for the Leicester game. I don’t think this is a bad thing, but would anticipate it giving welcome relief to the more doom-laden amongst the fan base.The better news is that the Gnabster is due to play for the Under 21s on Monday, as is our shiny brand new Polish midfielder.
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Thanks again to Ian & Andrew(AA) for the heads up on players like Gnabry, Bellerin and Akpom. I had high hopes for Coquelin myself: didn’t know much about this injury he’d had last year or the year before which makes recent events all the more interesting.
Those lauding Coquelin whilst slating St.Jacky in the same breath won’t see the connections between fitness and form, that’d mean paying attention to the footy on the park! Such as Chambo’s admission that he like Welbeck had had to play through the Xmas crunch with niggles, which was fairly obvious. Giroud’s suspension was annoying for that reason alone but hopefully this break will have worked out as a mid-season refresher for both Chamberlain and Welbeck and hopefully Alexis too if he’s out till next week. Probably too much to ask for Welbeck to return as a starter in the NLD away, I expect one of Walcott or Master Rosicky to get the nod. Rosicky starting is unlikely, but it could be fun (for the songs alone). I’d like to see Welbeck to start in the away derby, I think it’d be game that’d suit him but if he’s not ready he’s not ready.
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I wonder if the self-declared redzone experts were taking notes as Walcott, Giroud and Ramsey were all given a breather on Sunday where possible with Ozil left on to complete his first confidence boosting ninety minutes.
Astute stewardship is what it was, but they won’t comment upon it. Giving credit where it is due? That’d require too much class from our classy groaners.
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Think I was wrong about Ozil playing LF till he got his fitness back after the WC!
After the gaffer has taken to referring to him as a “Forward” safe to say he’ll be playing higher up the pitch then Cazorla a lot of the time. Though he was quite dilligent on Sunday, often covering for Monreal at LB….
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Alexis out, so it will be more or less the same starting XI as Villa.
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Coqtime:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52wjKunBfMQ
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http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20150205/coquelin-the-story-behind-my-return
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so has any of the AAA taken credit for this yet
Goalkeeping coach joins academy
Arsenal academy have appointed Serge Van Den Ban as a goalkeeping coach.
Van Den Ban, previously goalkeeping coach at Dutch club AZ Alkmaar, has also been a coach at Ajax and Utrecht and Netherlands Under-15s.
He will be responsible for overseeing goalkeeping coaching across the age groups at Arsenal’s Hale End academy between under-6 and under-16 levels.
Van Den Ban played 250 professional games in Holland, representing the national side at a number of youth levels, including Under-21s.
Arsenal youth academy head Andries Jonker said: “I am delighted that Serge is joining us. He brings great experience and is an expert in developing young goalkeepers.”
Copyright 2015 The Arsenal Football Club plc. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to http://www.arsenal.com as the source
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Team news: Welbeck, Alexis and Wilshere
Arsène Wenger has revealed the latest team news ahead of Saturday’s north London derby against Tottenham Hotspur:
on the team news…
Welbeck is back in the group. Apart from that we have the same squad available as last week.
on Alexis…
The latest is that Alexis is not ready. He is not far away, the Leicester game is a possibility. He is of course very difficult to keep quiet! He is training but it’s light training.
on Jack Wilshere…
Jack is back in full training next week, hopefully from Sunday.
on Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain…
Alex is still out, but he is starting to practice again, not full training.
on Serge Gnabry…
Serge will play on Monday night at Newcastle, with Bielik. Bielik is coming along very well.
Copyright 2015 The Arsenal Football Club plc. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to http://www.arsenal.com as the source
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our CL opponents Monaco lost in the French league cup semi to Bastia on penalties, and our old friend Seb Squillaci scored the winner
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clearly Alexis’s injury is Wenger fault
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I’ve seen some chaos in my time linked to football matches but the Equatorial Guinea Ghana Afcon semi final has added a new chapter
Seems quite dangerous that police helicopters would be allowed to fly that low, about 40 feet above the crowd, with such thick clouds of tear gas reducing visibility?
And at 40 feet they are probably still in bottle range
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And it has kicked off again
No really
After 30 minutes of a top quality riot the game is back on
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Do I give Franks masterpiece a run tomorrow?
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If you can ever find him again George.
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Coq and Akpom have signed da tings.
Gnarby and Bielik will be playing for the U21’s on Monday night.
The future is bright.
The future is Red and White.
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is Yiddo66 not willing to put up a preview ?
Or is he up the sleeve for the post match write up !
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If not and unless anyone else has the muse fluttering I would be happy to put something up tomorrow ??
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Are you going to the game AndyNic?
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No DC – I am not among the elect
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That will be champion anicoll5
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great to see the youngsters signing proffessional forms and Chuba and Le Coq signing long extensions. They can sign my long extension any day!!!
Also great to see all the stats being produced about current form over the last ten games puts us top however this game,like many last season, will be considered a test fail and all the old crap will emerge from the crapites we know so well. We are going to shite hart line with a better side than the one that took a three points last year but they have a better side as well.
it should be a good game, not that I care about that, just the three points is all I ask.
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aob – 1-0 will do fine for me too.
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Oooooh cant go wrong with anything penned by Frank. But a Yido preview would just be so much fun. Just my 2 cents.
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Arsenal must be seen as a serious challenger now seeing as the media have gone into overdrive to try and de-stabilise us, first we had the over the top bull about Wilshere smoking, now today we have Alexis looking to leave cos our fans have not picked him for player of the month, and we also have the rubbish that Arsenal broke the rules when signing Chambers. And to think some still says there is no agenda against Arsenal in the media.
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Ben Sheaf has signed his first pro deal with Arsenal, the midfielder was signed from West Ham in the summer. He is the second youth player to sign a pro deal this week, following on from Kaylen Hinds. Chris Willock is expected to be the next to sign.
Hector Bellerin is in talks to extend his Arsenal contract too.
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im going to work at 4 tomorrow morning so wont be able to add to the comments so basically ill say it now COYG
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I love Kung Fu George.
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Le Coq signs the TING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
#Proyek Yufffffffffffffffffffffffff
#InArseneWeRust.
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Chuba tooooooooo!!!
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