There was an interesting debate on the subject of dumb luck this week on PA. I think we all learned something. I for one now accept that when I say we as Arsenal fans were phenomenally lucky to have seen Arsène Wenger arrive at Highbury all those years ago, his arrival actually came about as the result of a chain reaction of deliberate decisions and events both predictable and controllable. When I say that we have been cursed over many years with unbelievably bad luck in the number and type of injuries suffered, I accept that the injuries are explicable and merely savagely coincidental rather than quantifiably unlucky.
All of that notwithstanding, no matter how explicable the minute alterations made to the universe which all together add up to create an unwelcome event, I still call it bad luck. Just as I call it good luck when we score a goal which from certain angles might look to have been offside. So if my flagrant abuse of physics and the laws of causality don’t offend you too much then please read on. Otherwise can I recommend maybe a book or a magazine instead. Perhaps listen to some music while tidying the kitchen. I don’t want my words to upset anyone.
You see I believe it was the most outrageous stroke of good fortune that Arsene Wenger persuaded Mesut Özil to come to Arsenal. I think we are lucky Aaron Ramsey showed the good sense not to choose Man United when he had the chance and the fact that we signed Petr Čech just as Chelsea’s keeper was about to get crocked is as lucky a thing to have happened as any other in many a long year. Someone certainly burned the right offering to the gods that day.
Despite these strokes of happy chance and the way they’ve started to bear fruit for us this season there is another player who has been on my mind lately. Not the luckiest when it has come to getting a kick in the first team but a lad who has shown himself willing to work his way into contention for a starting place and who, in our ‘make or break’ encounter with Zagreb was simply brilliant.
The swagger in Joel Campbell’s play on Tuesday evening was evident almost from the kick off. He set up two clear chances with vision and panache and a fair slice of technique within the first 11 minutes. For the first he intercepts a loose ball in the area while surrounded by five Zagreb defenders and plays it calmly out to Hector Bellerin. He drifts wide and holds a good position as the defence are dragged infield by a mazy Cazorla run. Mesut Özil who sees things human eyes don’t even realise exist can’t resist Campbell lurking in ten yards of space and drills a precision pass to his feet which the Costa Rican controls with the outside of his left foot, two touches as he runs forward are followed by a swift step over and then he eases the ball wide with his right foot before pickling out Santi Cazorla with an exquisite pull back which the Spaniard balloons over the bar – his unwelcome speciality these days.
Campbell of two or three games ago might have tried to score in the crowded penalty area when the ball first fell to him, might have wanted to be certain of his control and so shifted to his left foot rather than risking his weaker right and might have lofted a hopeful cross to no one in particular. But now that he has been given a few games and his confidence is growing we got to see why Arsène liked the lad in the first place. Aren’t we lucky?
The second chance came about through a combination of positioning, skill, control, strength and vision and the confidence to link with the great Mesut Özil. His pass to Alexis deserved far better as the Chilean hesitated when one might have expected him to shoot. Only eleven minutes on the clock and we saw that we have a player on our hands. I hear you say ‘So what Stew? Should Aaron or Oxlade-Chamberlain boot him straight out of the side then he won’t be getting the chance to show us again any time soon.’
Let’s not be so hasty. Injuries will happen, substitute appearances will happen and rotation will happen. When the time comes again however we will see a confident Joel Campbell, known and understood better by those around him and ready to come in and make an impact, Zagreb was a game changer and I sincerely hope he reaps the rewards because while he is capable of finishing he looks like a provider to me and we can’t have too many of them in our team.
I know I shouldn’t be talking about a forward player when we’re all supposed to be getting our knickers in a twist about Francis Coquelin but it seems to me that isn’t really a terribly interesting or complex discussion. Francis has two hugely capable and experienced understudies who can partner Santi in the middle. One, Mikel Arteta, is injured, so Mathieu Flamini comes in. If he has to come off for any reason young Calum Chambers is most people’s favourite to fill in or of course the ever versatile Aaron Ramsey would give us guile and passing and boundless energy from the centre of midfield. There. Not really complicated is it?
Whoever plays against Norwich today our style will remain the same, pass and move and everyone back when we lose the ball. Close from the front and gradually press higher and higher upfield as we attempt to squeeze the opposition into submission. Santi will wriggle and twist away from their advanced midfielders and Mesut will conduct the orchestra like no one else on earth can do. Alexis will pop and fizz like the fourth of July in Baton Rouge, and at the end Olivier will patiently await his chance while our full backs stretch the defenders to tearing point.
So what of our opponents today? Norwich City are not performing to their full potential so far this season. They are currently languishing in sixteenth place in the table having won only one in their last six so they are either in a horrible downward slide or due a change in their fortunes. Let’s hope the former is the case. Not that I wish them any ill will but if they’re going to enjoy a resurgence let it begin in a few weeks time when they play Man United and not today please.
We are in a curious position. Our last league outing was a crushing disappointment but our performance on Tuesday a revelation. Which result if either will influence us today? And even if it is the surprise reversal at the hands of the Baggies that plays on our mind then our hosts at Carrow Road are in just as bad a position if not worse. They lost their last fixture to Chelsea, perhaps a more humiliating defeat than being beaten by West Brom.
I shan’t speculate on the precise formation Arsène will choose today but I will be fascinated to see if a certain young man from Costa Rica has done enough to allow Aaron another substitute appearance. I’d be happier if our Welsh wonder were to be eased back in gently but that’s because I’m a superstitious fool and not possessed of the facts and fitness information available to those paid to make the decisions.
I read an excellent blog yesterday praising the work of Mesut Özil which was blighted by only one sentence. The author described Arsène’s decision to play our German maestro on the left of midfield last season as ‘inexplicable’. This is the problem I have with many of us armchair experts. The decision to start Mesut on the left or Aaron on the right isn’t ‘inexplicable’ it simply hasn’t been explained to you or to me. There is a world of difference between something that has no reason and decisions taken for reasons to which we are not party.
I much prefer to comment on what I think I see on the pitch, revel in what goes well and forget what goes wrong as soon as I possibly can. The rest I leave to the professionals. As our old friend Mel O’Reilly is fond of reminding us, he doesn’t tell Mr Kipling how to bake cakes, does he?
Positively Arsenal 
Dominate the game go a goal up and then attempt to control things. Unfortunately it didn’t work due to some good Norwich play and awful refereeing. Can see absolutely no reason for the hysterics either here or on twitter. You lot are fucking bizarre.
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Lovely finish from Mesut, Santi and Alexis playing well, Nacho excellent.
Let’s get this done eh ?
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I would not object to Bennett picking up a painful knock – dirty bastard
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LFC 1 up v Swansea
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Alexis off injured, Campbell on.
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Cech with a fine save,
From dominating the game to now hanging on, all cos we took our foot off the gas once we went ahead.
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Oxlade-chamberlain on for Ramsey, about 20 minutes to go.
AFC really need to step it up and get a win here today.
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Arsenal on top again but its tippy tappy football at its worst, not enough players in the box, and no one able to put in a decent cross.
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we have had 12 shots, only 3 on target, norwich have had 6 with 2 on target, about 5 minutes left
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Monreal gives away a needless corner as the ball was going to Cech
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only 3 minutes of stoppage time to be played
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I shall take the point
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That’s the end of November. Thank God.
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FT: Norwich 1-1 Arsenal
3 BPL game in a row where AFC could have gone top with a win, and as with the other two they bottled it, sloppy defending once we had the lead and then did not do enough to win the game.
It is the sort of performances shown in the last 3 league games that is the reason why so many say we will not win the league. and its hard to argue with it. Nothing learned from the WBA mistakes despite all the talk from the players.
spurs only 2pts behind now, and LFC only 4 behind now. AFC without a league win in November.
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Well, that was shit.
Kos off with what looks like a nasty injury.
Alexis off with a hamstring – that’s several weeks.
Two players back – two players out.
Norwich were not averse to playing the man were they? Especially with a referee who let them get away with it 90% of the time. Clear penalty for the foul by Olsson on Campbell. Olsson had been body-checking Hector all game but I guess that’s allowed these days.
Fuck.
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As matters have turned out I am highly delighted we are out of the Capital One Cup. The rate of injury attrition we would be pushed to put out 11 players.
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anicoll5
November 29, 2015 at 6:06 pm
I shall take the point
a sad indictment of the teams performance, in total control, take the lead and proceed to fuck it up, WBA markII
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Yep Dk – even Mossy could not swing it our way – he keeps his undefeated record though so that is a bit of relief.
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Koscielny had what looks like a similar injury a couple of years ago and was in and out of the team for a while, something like a problem with a trapped nerve in his back.
Losing Alexis will be a massive blow. Can’t get Walcott back soon enough now, especially as Giroud has dipped in form and is spending too much time looking for soft freekicks that he will never get.
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scoring 2 or 3 in quick succession was what got us where we were… suddenly it has been change to score and the concede? game after game?
we are better than this that is what is annoying although we had onr or two shouts for pens but still we are better than this!
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We played far better against WBA IMO and got nothing out of it Eddy – Nawridge could have nicked that at the end.
But for Cech’s lightening reflexes we could have had a perfect replay of the game and the result at the Hawthorns.
Fat Sam next
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Héctor Bellerín @HectorBeIIerin_ 1m1 minute ago
Genuinely can’t understand why every loss is down to Wenger not buying / injuries and not how shit we do actually play sometimes 🙈
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anicoll for me both performances ended up a disgrace, both had exact same faults, playing well, taking the lead, then totally switch off, let them back in the game, compound it by making mistakes that lead to a goal, only difference today from WBA was that we did not let in the second, and maybe that was cos Norwich did not have the time to get it in the first half, and we could calm down at HT.
Just as with the WBA game, we just did not do enough in the second half to get the win. Too much tippy tappy sideways passing, with no one willing to step up and go for it, its all “no you have it, no you have it,” too few shots, too few willing to go into the area and challenge for the ball in, and in fact too few balls put in, its all around the house and mind the dresser stuff.
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Oh get a grip Eddy – we won a point on a crap day to play football and losing yet another two important players to injury – we are in 4th and just off the shoulder of Citeh
And best of all its December soon !!
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Wenger confirms Cazorla has a knee injury too, koscielny has a hip injury and Alexis has a hamstring injury. AW says he was set to rest Alexis today but the lad declared himself fully fit.
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If we lose any more players to injury Mr Bloody Kipling might get a game against Sunderland next week..
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since when do you play a player like Alexis cos he declares himself fit? was he not always likely to declare himself fit? he genuinely needed the rest! that was reason enough!
Am just unhappy cos we are better than this, at least we got a point instead of none against WBA where we even seemed to have created more chances
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our injury list
Kieran Gibbs
Laurent Koscielny
Mikel Arteta
Francis Coquelin
Santi Cazorla
Jack Wilshere
Tomas Rosicky
Alexis Sanchez
Theo Walcott
Danny Welbeck
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yes TS its a bit lame for AW to say he changed his mind about resting Alexis, just cos the player said he was ok.
2pts from 9, and now 10 players injured, 7 of which can be said to be injury prone. big fat sam’s team next with a crucial CL game following it. No room for error. Our last 3 league games have all been flat performances, just when the chance was there to take a bit of a command of the title race.
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Sanchez appeared to have a rocket up his arse against West Brom and Zagreb so the notion he was ‘not fit’ today has to be bollocks
If anyone knew why hamstrings ping, or don’t ping, then they would be worthy of £millions
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Remember Campbell was carrying a knock as well and Ox and Rambo only just come back. The line up today was always going to be a difficult decision.
The game itself was all about bad decisions on the pitch and not managerial ones off it, with so many players doing impressions of butch the crab Wilkins.
I really don’t understand how anyone could criticise Giroud today as to play badly you need to be given the ball and not watch it fly over your head, behind you or so far in front a greyhound couldn’t catch it.
Let’s face it going forward we were poor and the roly polys could counter attack quicker.
However on a bad day there were still some exquisite passing in patches they just wernt large enough
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One should remind oneself that, Norwich had the week off. With the Interlull more or less a fortnight of ease. The same with West Brom.
The Champions League will always affect the teams taking part.
The midweek games will finally take it’s toll on the players concerned. Those teams not involved, will have the advantage.
There are no easy games in the EPL, now.
No midweek game this week.
So cheer up and COTG!
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Ryan Bennett: “Genuinely was trying to stop not push Sanchez just to clear that up”
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OptaJoe @OptaJoe 3h3 hours ago
135 – Liverpool have now been awarded 135 penalties in Premier League history, more than any other team (103 scored). Specialists.
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THE BOSS ON NORWICH, ALEXIS AND CAZORLA
Arsène Wenger faced the media after Arsenal’s 1-1 draw against Norwich City at Carrow Road on Sunday. You can read a full transcript of his press conference below:
on his view of the game…
That it was a difficult game. We played against a Norwich side that was at the top level physically and focused. They were well organised and they played every time with 10 players in their own half, and we were not incisive enough. Maybe the turning point of the game was maybe we dropped a little bit after scoring straight away and allowed them back into the game. In the second half I felt we had to dig deep to get though as we were a bit jaded and we lost players. Cazorla played on one leg and of course we played Kosicelny at the start of the game so it was, I would say, a fair point for Norwich and it was on the injury front a bad afternoon for us.
on Alexis…
The players are there to play football and not to be rested when the press decides they need to be rested.
on if Alexis’ injury is serious…
He says it is a kick on his hamstring. I fear the reality is worse than that.
on Cazorla’s injury…
In the first half he got a kick on the knee and it got worse. I don’t know if he has jared his knee ligament or he it was just a kick on the nerve but the worrying thing was it got worse during the game. For Koscielny it was a kick on his hip and he could not move at all. We have to assess all of that.
on whether Alexis is putting on a brave face…
Of course, like everybody. Nobody is scientifically developed enough, not even the press, to predict exactly when a guy would be injured. I must say that with all humility we are not position to predict that, despite all our test he looked alright.
on whether he was okay during the week…
We checked him and when you have no force and no middle stretch in your hamstring then there is no problem and he had that.
on whether Alexis is tired…
I believe that it is normal that a player gives everything in a game and I’m surprised you are surprised.
on the importance of Alexis…
You have plenty of players across Europe who play every single game and at the moment we are short as Walcott is not there, Welbeck is not there, Oxlade-Chamberlain is just coming back. I can take a gamble on one and in case I can take a gamble on another one.
on who could play in central midfield…
We have Ramsey. I can understand you worry for us, but trust us, we will be there.
on it being a nervy time…
We have to go through that spell. We had a bad spell of a few games now with Tottenham, West Brom and today we only have taken two points but we are still not far and going through a bad spell and not being far. It is not enough but at least we had an opportunity to come back.
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
Read more at http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20151129/the-boss-on-norwich-alexis-and-cazorla#jb3SRbGlK1kFOKcQ.99
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I know this will sound bonkers but everything I saw this weekend has convinced me that Arsenal will win the Premier League this year. There will be a hunger about this team next month and beyond that will surprise more than a few.
We will be top of the table by Christmas and out of sight by February.
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Well fh, it’s a bit 50:50 innit?
Either we win it or we don’t.
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Glad the Arsenal November is over. We are losing a lot of players at the moment to injury, not sure how long this is sustainable. Looks like Caz as well now with an already depleted squad.
Hope you are right Foreverheady, I don’t for a minute doubt their hunger, or quality, but they always seem up against it, injuries, refs who seem to allow some cynical tactics against them….To win the league, this team will have a lot to overcome. But the best of British to them, they need it in this league where it seems pushing a player into camera pits or for that matter, advertising boards with feet off the ground doesn’t warrant any special attention from referees.
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foreverheady I hope you are right, but I have no idea what you seen to make you think this.
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Another bad day for injuries but even more concerning is how we didn’t have the energy to get behind the Norwich defense and create chances. All this was lost in the brouhaha on Twitter about whether or not Alexis should have played. Here are my tweets:
(1) “So Twitter managers would have Alexis rested and lost the game? Great management by Wenger eh? You lying hypocrite.”
(2) “Arsenal Twitter: Stop being such reactionary hypocrites. If Wenger didn’t play Alexis and lost the game you would be 1st in a lynch mob.”
(3) “Massive hypocrisy on my TL by blokes who are always bigging up Alexis for his energy but blaming Wenger for playing him.”
(4) “So Wenger is responsible for random injuries to Coquelin, Koscielny and Cazorla? Arsenal Twitter hardly needs an excuse to attack Wenger.”
(5) “Does Twitter-Arsenal recognize that without Welbeck and Walcott, Alexis is the only AFC striker who can get behind deep lying defences?”
(6) “Does Arsenal Twitter have the humility to recognize that without Walcott and Welbeck AW has no choice but to risk Alexis? #PsuedoSupporters”
I will summarize my views are captured
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well out of the 10 AFC players now injured, seven are impact injuries.
Cazorla,
Wilshere
Rosicky
Welbeck
Koscielny
Cazorla
Alexis told Wenger that it was a kick to his hamstring today, although Wenger has said he doubts this,
Alexis was full of energy in midweek, so much so that he won Man of the Match, till his injury today he was as sprightly as ever, and as AW said, the player said he was fit and ready to play, and also our medics said he showed no sign of an injury in their tests, so as Wenger said why should he not play, lots of players play week in week out for lots of teams all across the top leagues in the World. Per, Monreal, Ozil and till this injury Alexis has played week in week out for us this season, all bar Per, with no lack of energy. (by the way that is not a sleight on Per, he is just not the energetic type)
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oh, by the way on most of our injuries being impact injuries, maybe we have to look at outside influences for the reason for that, you know the one the pundits so like to encourage, “to stop Arsenal you have to kick them(get in their faces is the phrase the like to dress it up in)”, maybe the lack of quality refs in the BPL is the reason for AFC having so many injuries, not just this season but for over a decade now.
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The refs are big problem Eduardo. Constant rotational fouling game after game will take its toll when it is allowed to go unpunished. Compare and contrast the media outrage, and subsequent referee suspension after alleged leniency on coquelin in the palace game, with what some of the West Brom players got away with last weekend. would rather see Arsenal beat them than join them, but that is not easy with the standards of refereeing and media coverage in this country
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I didn’t see the game since I was stuck on a train at the time so can’t comment, but I’m more disappointed about yet more injuries than the dropped points. We’re not too far off the top to get back into it, but we just need enough players to stay fit to get us through the next few games. COYG’s we’ve had our little dip now, we need to go on a little winning run to get the confidence back starting with Fat Sam’s boys on Saturday.
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So it was down to the referee was it Mandy ?
Jon Moss
The referee who has never ever presided over a defeat for our lads
That Jon Moss ?
Other than failing to send off the moronic Ryan Bennett today, a unique red card albeit, are you seriously suggesting Moss somehow was responsible for our failure to pick up three points today ?
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As for the ‘outrage’ about referees Dean has barely picked up a whistle in the PL after the shambles at the Bridge – total bollocks
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No anicholl5, today was not down to the ref, camera pit aside. But in many games we have faced this season, against some usual suspects, teams , usually lesser teams use constant fouling against our players which goes unpunished by referees until late in the game, some of the tactics Pulis used….and to a large extent, got away with last week was a case in point, hence my mention of it. These fouls over time will cause injuries, just more subtly so than the leg breakers, and of course break up our attacking play.
As for Mike Dean, I beg to differ, he has officiated some major games since his embarrassment of his profession at Stamford Bridge
http://www.premierleague.com/en-gb/referees/profile.appointments.html/mike-dean
Compare with Lee Mason on the same site, missed several weeks after he ” let Coquelin off” during the Palace game. Of course it is possible he was injured or sick during that time, but nothing to indicate that.
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I don’t think there’s any secret about this. The teams lower in the league know that to have a chance against teams like us, they have to play the man and they know that most of the time they’ll get away with it. It doesn’t have to be blatant fouls – body checks, heavy contact, holding, anything will do. Olsson knew he had a problem with Hector’s pace so he just stepped in front of him every time and Moss never gave it. The foul on Joel was grabbing the shirt and then using his hips to swing him to the ground. Mesut was being leaned on and jumped on all the time. Yes, I know it’s a contact sport but there’s a difference between contact made in trying to get the ball and contact where the intent is clearly to play the man first. And that’s where I think many referees are allowing too much.
It’s no surprise we are getting so many impact injuries, although Alexis’s hamstring went when he was stretching.
Anyway, a week off and Joel will get the chance to continue his run in the first team. He looked a bit thrown by the rough and tumble today. They’ll be a lot of it next week. Sam will be showing his mob videos of West Brom and Norwich – this is how to do it, will be the message.
By the way, what’s Sam doing at Sunderland? I thought he was waiting for Real Madrid to call.
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Joel’s a strong boy, he will cope
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