Good morning to you from Norfolk on Saint Andrew’s Day. There may be dancing in the streets later on. Thus far not.
I do not intend to write much about yesterday’s game at Carrow Road. It was not a game that inspired the muse, well my muse anyway. On the day a point was earned. I have to be content. The PL ground we hoped to be able to make up on our rivals we did not, but other than Citeh none of those rivals did much this weekend to extend their scintilla of a lead or close the gap behind us. We lose two more players to injury, two players who had been injured came back. We require a week of rest and of careful preparation for the Black Cats who come into town with sprits and results raised by the balloon that is Fat Sam. As I mentioned yesterday perhaps after all, not a bad week to be out of the Capital One Cup and another potential battering. Sunlun appear to have unearthed a good young player in Watmore of whom we shall hear more. I shall be there. I expect every man to do his best. As we move into December our spirits traditionally rise, and so it should be this year.
Taking a pace back from the daily fracas that is the Premier League, or so it sometimes feels like, it does no harm to place recent domestic results in perspective. Two points off the front of the pack and no one in the top four/five/six teams playing with consistency. For each of the sides, other than Leicester ironically, one game excellent, by the next game their piecrust has crumbled. As we led the PL after 14 games two seasons back in early December we had 34 points. Chelsea had 39 points after 14 games last season. ( Whatever happened to Chelsea?) The joint leaders today have 29. The opportunity is there for us, indeed for any club, to seize this trophy.
Is there a reason for this pile-up at the top of the PL with clubs tripping over one another and not able to put a string of decent results together? In line with the discussions on here last week on the topic of ‘luck’ there is undoubtedly a set of elements causing the chaotic effect. I’m buggered if I can see what has changed so radically over the past few months.
If English League football is a riddle inside an enigma at the moment then our European form, horribly shakey at the start of the season, is now much more on track. We were superb against Zagreb in case anyone’s memory has faded over the past six days. Progress in our own hands. I see Olympiakos had an straightforward win over the weekend at home and have two domestic games before meeting us on the 9th.
Right that will do me this Monday morning. I have my own opportunities to seize!
Positively Arsenal 
O eff me, it’s on. You see, in the space of an hour I already forgot to tune in. Tut.
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Bobby Madeley ? I know Arsene has put a lot of effort in bringing this youngster on
He’s one for the future I think – give him two seasons and he’ll he right up there with Mossy and Mickey O
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Soz Steww!!! Bowie Sylvian Bono
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shag! Bolan sounds well like Sylvian!!! Duh!
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bad luck mills but Mel takes some beating
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Im listening in from Cologne, but its pretty close.
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Blimey, Kelly listens from Alabama!
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Koln? That might be a winner if Shotts or Kelly aren’t with us
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Separated at birth the Bitterest pill and the theme from Bagpuss? Great song (bp)
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Cheers Steww! Sonja (my partner) and I are really ENJOYING the show!!!
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No I am from Hemel Hempstead! Live in Cologne,(Im an artist) used to live in Berlin, bit its had its day.
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You flatterer you.
In my case, I’ve pretty much given up on presenting a blog to PA, cos yours are so wonderfully good. And that’s the truth, Ruth. (Steww).
Indeed, this is my first time listening to digital radio via an ipad. I had to use “side by side” in order to multitask. I thought I was ahead of the game due to having FM radio, but no, that’s apparently “old school”. My hi-fi is just that. My car is over 20 years old, a Honda, so you can see where I’m coming from…
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You should have seen her face! Sonja didnt expect that Steww! Thanks mate. Any shes moved as far as East as possible…
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Ha ha – it’s official Sonja wins. Sorry to have come between yoiu as it were.
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did you announce it? My bloody laptop just crashed!! Grrrr. Good track on at the mo…
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Top tune!!!
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Sonja says thanks Steww! she said to say its been a great time tonight, an uplifting show.Vielen Dankl!
Top tunes tonight mate, certainly will be a regular! Thanks mate!!
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so whats this about Arsenal and at least two other English clubs facing transfer bans, for the signing of youth players. Similar charges/ban to Barcelona’s.
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Man city, Everton and Stoke into the COC semi finals, southampton v liverpool tomorrow.
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Exciting times in Ligue 1 this evening, I see.
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Apologies for the temporary take over of the site. Thanks to those who listened.
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Apologies from me too.
Steww; to listen in was really great, you played some great tracks.Was also great to have some banter on air.Thanks again.
Night lads.
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the two of you are taking advantage of George’s absence through illness,
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I sometimes wonder if Alexis plays better when Welbeck or Walcott lead the line, so if so a few weeks off right now might not be the worst thing. And I also hear gloomy reports about Santi, who seemed to get a right bang on Saturday, but again a few weeks enforced absence for him might be a blessing in disguise, especially if Jack Wilshere is on the comeback trail, and should Ramsey also continue his return to full match sharpness. Oxlade back in the mix is a significant bonus too, a much, much better player than the more fickle fans seem to remember.
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Well said FH, above.
I very much enjoyed the inter-radio-action last night.
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just another AFC injury
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He’s been overplayed eddy – every match since 1994, ever since he was an egg in fact, it was bound to happen – I blame Wenger.
Enjoy the history of our large green mascot;
https://sports.vice.com/en_uk/article/gunnersaurus-explained-the-guy-who-dreamt-up-arsenals-mascot
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an interesting comment on Arseblog, that puts some perspective on the whole “Alexis was over played/rushed back” angle.
Double98
December 2, 2015 at 11:24 am
Ive said this else where but… Come the end of this season Sanches will probably have played in excess of 30 PL games he will also have played 10 or more cup games and 6-8 internationals.
So i am not sure what this caterwalling is about – Wenger played him because so many senior players were missing – ok now he has a hamstring injury that will keep him out for a few weeks.
Now we could have rested him for a couple of weeks in an injury crisis or hope to get through the worst of that crisis and then rest him. so its 6 of one and half a dozen of the other. As long as he is not rushed back he will benefit from an injury enforced absence – possibly better than a rest – he is less likely to run and strain his other muscles until they all heal.
The blame for over use should lie with Fifa for their mad international schedules.
Ronaldo has played 14 times for portugal in 2014/15 – Alexis has played 27 times for Chile.
oh But Ronaldo never played in the copa last summer i hear you say – sanchez needed a rest he was brough back too soon he’s played to many games – wenger doesn’t have a clue…. blah blah – rubbish
Lets look at other top players from that competition playing in top leagues – did their managers take extra precaustions? lets see
Higuain Played the same final as Sanchez and has played 1 less game this season (yet 2 more league matches)
Messi played the same final and was back playing for barca on the 11th August – 2 days after sanchez player 23 minutes against West Ham
Arturo Vidal has played the same final and then managed to play 3 more games since than Sanchez
And nobody is criticising Pep Guardiola, Marco Sari Or even Luis Enrique as Messi Ddd pickup an Injury that kept him out of the barca team for over a month.- This is a media fiueled campaign against Wenger that has no substance
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a5
Ta for posting about Gunner Rex and Peter. Great stuff.
edu
Ta for posting that from arseblog.
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Congratulations to Gary Neville for putting his money where his mouth is, so to speak, and taking the Valencia job. I thought it was a joke at first but there you go.
The only downside is I am likely to have to endure more of the ginger village idiot spreading the very thin layer of knowledge he has about football over the broadcasting universe.
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It looks like Aaron is going to get an extended run in central midfield after all, whahey !
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one of our schoolboy players has started a blog
http://jordanjohnperrin.org/2015/12/02/all-quiet-on-the-jordan-front/
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PG, how are you?
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I have had a gander at the Spurs’ plans!
Basement parking and concerts, will interest the Arsenal?
As for the Chelsea plans, still looking for the basement and non-football events.
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so why do the journos pedal the line that AFC need to sign a CM cos Cazorla is said to be out for 3 months, and why do they make it sound like signing Sneiderlin from Southampton in the summer would have been easy, after all it was only Man Utd who were in for him, also it is not like the lad has actually been very good for utd so far either.
with Wilshere due back around Christmas time, Ramsey fit again, Flamini available, Arteta injury said to be only short term, Ox an option for CM, as is Chambers at DM, why does anyone think AFC will be forced to sign a midfielder or two as so many fans and journos are saying.
I’m not saying we won’t, or that we could not do with signing a quality midfielder or two, but I don’t see that “we have to”. In fact for me signing a midfielder is no more of a priority than signing another Striker, or winger or CB. Its all about the quality of the players we can get.
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what about bringing back Hayden from Hull, Maitland-Niles from Ipswich, Gnabry from WBA, and just for the meltdown Sanogo from Ajax. that lot would cover DM, CM, wing and Striker, problems solved.
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London Gooner @LondonGoona 2h2 hours ago
Arsenal’s had 23 injuries of all types so far. Man City have had 35, Man United 30, Liverpool 24, Tottenham 20. There is no ‘curse’.
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Speaking of injuries, any news on the boss?
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There may be no curse However multiple long term injuries seem to be part of our collection.
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Ed, I would Love to bring the loanees back but I think it depends on the host club agreeing to cancel the contract and in the case of someone like Maitland Niles it is unlikely Ipswich will agree as he is central to their progress
Fins, I think the Boss is back in training
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Large number of empty seats on the Exchange today for any who are keen and un-ticketed against Sunlun. Lower tier, upper tier. Christmas shopping beckons for some.
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arsenal may not be getting more injuries than others, but we certainly are getting more long term injuries, which keep players out for months and not weeks or days. Wilshere, Welbeck and Rosicky have not played a competitive game since April or May. 2 of them are not expected to play again till February at the earliest. Cazorla and Coquelin also 3-6 months injuries.
the thing I find fault with is that the same players miss large chunks of each season, and knowing this why for example were we so keen to re-sign two of them, Rosicky and Arteta and why when we did, and with the other injury prone players, did we leave 3 available spots unfilled in our 25 man squad, also as it was known that Wilshere, Welbeck and Rosicky were certain to be out for at least half the season.
we have the situation so far this season, be it from injury, form, ability, managers choice, where out of the 22 players over 21, that make up our 25 man BPL list, 3 have not played at all, 2 more have not started a game, 1 more with 1 start, 3 with 2 starts and 1 with 3 starts.
we have 2 more players on 6 starts each
that means 10 players out of 22 have started 9 games between them, just over a third of the way through the season.
of our u21 players, Bellerin has 12 starts, Chambers has 1 start and all the rest have no starts.
so you can see that 11 players have started more than half our 14 games so far, 9 of them have started 10 or more of the games.
Cech, Monreal and Cazorla have started all 14 games, Alexis 13, Ozil 13, Koscielny 12, and Coquelin had stated all 12 till his injury.
the use of our subs has been
Oxlade-Chamberlain 8
arteta 7
Giroud 6
Gibbs 5
flamini 3
six other subs have 1 or 2 appearances each
We can say we are unlucky with injuries, and I would agree that we are, but we are unlucky with injuries every season, so why not prepare for our bad luck, by actually having the largest squad possible, in Arsenal’s case that is only 3 more players over 21, is that too much to ask for.
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ah anicoll it must be all the non local fans deserting the sinking ship, the local fans would never do such a thing, they are the real fans
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I would love to see George back from his illness. That is the injury I am most concerned about.
PS: Cheers to all. I have been very busy and it won’t quieten down until after christmas.
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You make a fair point about the regularity of our injury ‘crisis’ eddy.
One small point occurs to me in that Danny Welbeck was not expected to be out half the season and it was not until the transfer window closed that his knee surgery took place or the length of his absence was known. There was a loud hoohah at the time with accusations from the Scarfists of Arsene “lieing”. Given that Wenger had signed Danny at the end of the preceding Summer’s transfer window at very short notice after Olivier broke his leg the accusation he would allegedly lie is bizarre. That’s the Scarfists for you though.
The more general point is that we have gone from a well stocked and largely fit squad, with more fit players than places, to a shortage of players and multiple and apparently serious injuries. That turnaround has happened in what ? 5 weeks at most – Some of those players have poor injury records, others like Santi and Alexis certainly do not. There is no guarantee that if AW had added a player or two to the squad which side of that fit/injury divide they would have been on.
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My recollection of Tomas’ and JW’s injuries in the Summer was also that they would be out for only a short time which in August, appeared at least, to be the case.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2315888-tomas-rosicky-injury-updates-on-arsenal-stars-knee-and-return
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/arsenal-injury-news-jack-wilshere-ruled-out-for-another-month-while-danny-welbeck-and-tomas-rosicky-10465311.html
Three months+ on clearly on the estimates for their return were wildly far off the mark, I do not see how AW would have known that at the time though.
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both Rosicky and Welbeck have the same injury, AFC tried the rest cure for both, and ended up having to go the operation route. They knew on both players that if rest did not cure it, that operation would be needed. And it was known before end of the transfer window that both were having ops and would be out till the new year. It was also know that Jack got injured just before the season began, and that it was at least 3 months out. the injury jack had last may had cleared up, he got hurt in training.
also the main point about our injured list this season, is that 6 of the players out injured for long spells this season so far, Wilshere, Rosicky, Arteta, Ramsey, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Walcott have missed large chunks of the last few seasons, so its not like we should be expecting this season to be any different. We also know that Flamini does not have a great injury record the last couple of years and that Kos has an Achilles injury that needs special management.
Anicoll were you actually surprised that Wilshere, Rosicky, Arteta, Ramsey Ox or Theo ended up injured, I know I was not, of course I hoped they wold not get injured, but with their injury histories I really don’t know how anyone would be surprised when the got injured. Coqeulin’s injury record is not great either. The only big surprise injury is Cazorla’s, as he has a fairly good record.
the welbeck one became a worry the minute it went, at the end of last season, to a few days, to a few weeks, to it needs time.
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Wenger admitted that he knew before the window closed that Welbeck was having his op, he had given a press conference on the Friday when he had said Welbeck was having a fitness test that morning and if all went well he would be back to full training. At his next conference he said that once Welbeck failed that fitness test there was no other option but an operation for him, and it was January at the earliest for his return. He even went as far as to deny he had lied at the Friday press call, as decision for op was only taken later in the day.
But that still gave four days of the window to get a deal done.
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I would also say it is better to have and not need than to need and not have.
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