After a gruelling November, writing every day until I’d hit 80,000 words, I’ve not really had the stomach to pound the keyboard since opening the first window of my vegan chocolate advent calendar last Tuesday. I still have a couple of chapters in which to bang the final few nails into the coffin of my misbegotten, ill fated central character but the thrill at sitting down and spooling a blank sheet of foolscap into the trusty Remington has all but left me.
You may readily imagine my horrified reaction therefore to waking up and discovering that not only is it Saturday but my team is in action today and I am expected to find a few hundred of the old mots justes for the entertainment and delectation of the blog hungry hordes of Positively Arsenal. The problem is not only are my index fingers sore and my Tippex supplies running dangerously low but apart from writing the other thing I’ve steered well clear of lately is bloody football.
We have, after a great start, stumbled in the league. It’s no big secret and I hardly need tell anyone not recently arrived from Betelgeuse. We all know the reason and I’m sure those of you with a greater appetite for dissection of the bleeding obvious have been over and over and over every possible nuanced nook and rooted through each over rooted cranny where our injuries are concerned. I shall not add to such a tedious and sterile debate as worthless and pointless as it is other than to say that it just makes me sad.
I try to enjoy following my team. I wish with all my heart that our manager might get some reward for all he has done for the club and I begin each campaign full of optimism and hope. Then every single season we suffer the worst possible rotten bad luck with injuries and fall behind the leaders. It sucks the fun out of the thing as it ceases to be a contest in any meaningful way. One is left with watching a handful of knackered first teamers augmented by understudies and often understudies to the understudies going through a Sisyphusian nightmare when they ought to be strolling to glory gaining in confidence with every victory and filling their supporters with joy.
How the few remaining fit players find the will to go on when it’s such hard work just to sit and watch them on the telly I do not know. It is a testament to both their professionalism and the manager’s motivational expertise I suppose, but as I watch them standing hands on hips while another two and sometimes three team mates limp out of the fray for an unknown length of time I wonder how much longer they can keep their spirits up.
A gloomy state of affairs I hear you cry. Even the most resolutely positive among us are starting to feel that the whole journey is a bit of an uphill one, and who could possibly blame us? However there is a whiff of something different this season. A tiny crack in the darkness through which the weak and febrile light of hope may just still give off a small glimmer. Despite a disappointing run of results with points dropped left, right and centre the league tells a story unusual and, in light of recent seasons, perhaps a little encouraging.
Before going further I must apologise for even mentioning the table so early in the quest. As those of you familiar with my funny ways will be all too well aware I don’t pay the league table no nevermind this side of New Years Day. Some like to get all excited after a few weeks have passed, others pore over the relative standings and goal differences virtually from the moment the first ball is kicked, while those more seriously deranged fans like to play fantasy league table from the day the fixtures are published. You hear it all the time, “We’ve got West Brom and Norwich and Sunlan so that’s a guaranteed nine points which with the others dropping on average 1.6 points over the coming weeks should see us seven points clear by the first week in December.” that kind of lamp oil makes me fear for the well being of these people. I suppose it’s all harmless fun really but I swing the other way dear.
I prefer there to be a good chunk of the season done before I get interested in the table, when there’s more to get my teeth into so to speak. I’m making an exception today because despite a November horribilis we have somehow contrived still be very much in touch with the leaders and some might say fairly well placed. I know those with a tendency to self harm will say we’ve blown a golden opportunity to establish a lead over our rivals what with them all dropping points like a one armed juggler with crabs. I prefer to say they’ve failed to capitalise on our poor results and as such have left us with a slender lifeline. Whether it breaks under the strain or not remains to be seen but as Joseph Addison said (or at least is purported to have said) there are three grand essentials to happiness in this life, “something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.”
What of our opponents today? According to the form guide Sunderland are only three places below us so this ought to be another tight, close encounter. They sit ninth in the table based on the most recent six matches with a real half and half, Jekyll and Hyde run of results. They’ve lost three and won three whereas our results are more mixed having won three, drawn two and lost one.
Sam Allardyce was playing down his sides chances in advance of today’s fixture trotting out some historical nuggets such as when Sunderland last beat Arsenal in London he and most of his coaching staff were still in short trousers. He also pointed to the Black Cat’s hard fought draw last time they travelled south to play us and it will be no surprise if we see a similar tight, organised defensive display from them today.
If that is the case then we can expect to hear and read much muttering from our fans. My Arsenal Twitter Bingo card will have ‘We need to move the ball faster’ scratched through very early in the game I’m sure. I just hope we at Positively Arsenal have a little bit more wit than to trot out such clichéd gibberish. When teams pack the defence and have their midfield sit deep you simply will not see lightning fast football. That kind of speedy interchange comes about when we counter attack. So obviously we need the opposition to be attacking for that to happen. Teams aren’t well organised at the back because our build up is too slow, our build up is necessarily cautious precisely because of their defensive organisation.
In games like that we need to be hugely patient and keep possession. Working the opposition, pulling them wide, switching the ball to the other flank, taking it back into defence rather than pissing away possession with hopeless high balls into a crowded area. We need to tire them out, wear them down and then exploit the gaps as they appear. If the first goal comes early enough then we can look to control the game, draw them out in search of an equaliser and counter. Of course, given that these are eleven premier league footballers and not a collection of shop mannequins we’ll be facing it is just possible that in this stage of the game they might actually succeed and score their equaliser. This is not unusual in football, trust me, it happens a lot. If so we need to start over and build the pressure again. Calmly and patiently.
A few years ago the popular stick with which Arsenal was beaten was that the players lacked maturity. They would go chasing a game even when they were ahead and leave themselves vulnerable. Nowadays it seems the fans are even more venomous if the players attempt to play with control and professionalism after going ahead. The popular opinion now is that we should put the opposition to the sword. Never mind a second goal we ought to be chasing a third a fourth. People piss and moan and wonder why we let the other team back into the game as if we just walked off the pitch after scoring and left them written directions and an invitation to a party in our goal. It shows a lamentable lack of appreciation for what the players are trying to achieve and is so inconsistent that I just feel we’re damned if we do and we’re damned if we don’t.
Here’s an idea. Give the other team credit when they manage to score rather than blaming your own. Try to stay positive, and if it all gets too much scream into a pillow rather than trying to infect everyone else around you by a public show of dejection. I’m not trying to tell anyone how to live their lives, these are just suggestion to perhaps help spread a little happiness and limit the dispersal of despair.
We all know that the Arsenal team trying to stay in touch at the top today is not the one we would choose given even a half way decent run of luck with injuries but it is what it is and the result will be the same whether we grin and bear it or wail and gnash our teeth. Let’s all try to hang on through the difficult days, there may still be salvation on the road ahead.
Positively Arsenal 
Well worth those couple on hundred extra words Steww.
Everybody seems to a dip in form, the usual blip however our’s always coincides with several players picking up not just injuries but three month long injuries. the two/three week injuries can be coped with from the very talented squad but we struggle with the longer lay offs.
If previous season are anything to go by today will be a boring match of attrition with sunderland trying to get 500 men behind the ball and us just trying to get back to winning ways, 1-0 being enough.
With the Santi/Le Coq axis now out until Febish it will be interesting to see a new partnership develop. Sanchez is brilliant and any club would miss him, however his style of play allows us to keep the ball more when he is missing.
The injuries are what they are and it is time to watch the phoenix rise from the flames COYG.
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The Return of Samwise Allerdici. I’d struggle too.
I expect lots of hype about the Sunderland kid from the match day plundits but little chat abou the return of Chamberlian.
Enjoy the footy all you lucky lucky people. Even though Cazorla has been hacked off the park with a nod a wink and a push from Riley’s Crows you might still be lucky enough to see players like Chamberlain in full flight.
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the line up/squad I expect today
Cech
Bellerin Mertesacker Koscielny Monreal
Flamini Ramsey
Oxlade-Chamberlain Ozil Campbell
Giroud
subs: Ospina, Debuchy, Gibbs, Gabriel, Chambers, Iwobi, Walcott
there is no reason that this lot can not beat Sunderland, in fact there is no reason if they play anywhere near their best that they will not have a comfortable win today.
A valid point I seen elsewhere is that even with all our injuries the teams we have been and still can field, is on paper, well ahead of the best Leicester, spurs, man utd and liverpool, all of whom have been able to put good runs of results together.
Its time our players stood up and took responsibility for their own performances and results, less of the pointless “we will learn from setback” interviews and more of the performances that mean said interviews can be replaced with “good team performance and win” interviews.
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Thanks Stew, articulate as always and full of sharp observation and wisdom.
Its out of date now, but still pretty funny,or is for those immature like me,like:
https://youtu.be/Gzdbc6KPwA0
COYG!
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the Guardian quote Wenger saying Cazorla may be out for the season,
from the Guardian
Wenger understands that when the lateral ligament is only partially torn and is, effectively, still hanging on, it can pull and cause extreme discomfort whereas a complete rupture can lead to less stability in the knee but, strangely, less pain.
Cazorla could not make sharp movements but he was able to struggle through the game in straight lines. It would seem more likely that Cazorla has suffered the rupture.
Speaking about the injury, the Arsenal manager revealed a chat with Cazorla, saying, “I said: ‘Santi, are you all right?’ he said he was OK. He loves so much to play.
“Sometimes, you don’t know how bad it is – he did not know how bad it was either. He said he had a big pain but he could play on. It could be a rupture.
“What happened to him was that the ball was in the air, he wanted to pick it out and he didn’t see O’Neil, who came in and went through him. I don’t know if he needs an operation or if it will be the whole season.
“I have to wait until we have a complete assessment from the specialist. We know his external knee ligament has been touched, and he might have a capsular problem as well, but I don’t know for how long he will be out.”
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Just need a win today, that’s all. Unfortunately, lesser teams know they can play a very physical game against us unpunished, expect more of that today. Fortunately, don’t think we are stupid enough to put camera pits pitch side, which will help with the current trend of shoving our players off the pitch, with impunity of course. We have some fairly strong health and safety legislation in this country and our lawyers should be looking at what happened to Alexis at Norwich, not that that helps us at this moment of course.
With Ramsey in the centre, expect some bright, attacking performances. Hopefully, if the gods of injury change tact in Dec, the likes of Ramsey in the middle, Ox and Joel have the chance to shine through the winter gloom.
But agree, it is sad when you consider what becomes of our players, year in, year out, and this season seems to be one of the worst for serious injuries, just hope they get well soon, and that the crowd patiently back those called in.
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Mirror is reporting that Alexis is out till January 13th
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the WOB losing their shit over Wenger’s comments that Alexis could have been killed by being pushed into the concrete camera pit by Bennett at Norwich.
The one thing I don’t understand about the placement of the camera pit at Norwich, is how H&S actually allows it, as it would take very little to make it safe, it only has to be covered. Multi million pound league that allows such a dangerous structure so close to the pitch is a real joke, and the fact that the PFA have stayed quiet on the matter shows them up for the clowns that they are. I bet if an English star had been shoved into the pit, the PFA would have been all over the story.
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The wind in my sails this morning, and a little more puff from Mr Black for the voyage.
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Top stuff Stew. In the opening salvos I thought, oh dear, don’t tell me recent results got to you too. Then bang, you “calmly and patiently” tell us why this team is far from being against the ropes.
You rightly say this is a team of professionals that know how to pick themselves up and perhaps get us back to winning ways 1-0 results at a time, which would be perfectly okay by me.
It’s a new day, a new month and I’m full of optimism and hope. COYG.
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I am afraid camera pits are one of those “oh my god how can that be allowed” that almost always comes out after a player has had s serious injury. Fortunately the warning was clear and hopefully someone somewhere takes the necessary action.
While a different problem I don’t think the Ems pitch that slopes down sharply beyond the white lines has been thought about in terms of the safety of players who are falling/lose their balance/ knocked over on the edge of the pitch. The eventual drop they have is two feet more (or so) than it needs to be.
Irrespective of camera pits/ sloped edges players have got to stop shoving each other on the edge of the pitch. It is risky and totally pointless from a football point of view. Pure petulance. A few cards might bring players into line
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weak refs are the cause of so many of footballs problems
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Good Morning Posidivas everywhere.
The problem with Steww’s blogs on Saturdays is that I agree with every word he writes, even the ones I have to look up.
No doubt the Makem’s will have brought along a rather large omnibus for the occasion, Ozil will have to be at his mercurial best to find gaps around it, but the last time Ozil met John O’Shea in a match the man from Waterford was the victor. Freaks can happen – even in a football match.
Robert Madley is today’s ref, or corrupt Mike Reily stooge, take your pick at 4:50pm.
Should we be getting worried about our George, he hasn’t gone and done a Frank on us, has he???
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City travel to Mordor today,
all hope is not lost yet.
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George has been felled by the same infliction that has sidelined Joe Hart at Man City, a bad case of dandruff
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No Kun Augero in the City squad today (no Yaya or Kompany either) ……
… and Arsene gets criticised for his handling of injury prone players…
…..ho hum.
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George is head and shoulders above that kind of stuff, Eddy.
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FA Round 3 draw numbers
http://www.thefa.com/news/the-fa-cup/2015/dec/third-round-proper-draw-041215
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A wee bit of wind swirling around at the Britannia.
That would normally suit the home orcs.
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Goal!
Inbreeds 1 – Plastics 0.
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2-0
The goal difference with City is only +2 now.
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first half ends.
Stoke completely out-footballed Man City there.
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I’m sorry everyone. Just got home. My usual jinx should guarantee a City comeback.
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What an inspired piece of blogging by my friend Steww. To paraphrase d_c every word is spot-on even those for which we needed the dictionary. Apart from the sheer bloody mindedness it took to fulfill a totally voluntary commitment, this blog captured the essence of this difficult period for our club. The injuries have been like a George Foreman body-blow. Like Mohammed Ali in that famous “rumble in the jungle” we may be down but not out. It is important we use all our reserves and stay on our feet, playing rope-a-dope until we can get some of our big guns back in the fight. To continue the boxing metaphor, the Premier League is a 15 round fight, not an easy 12 rounder. We all know there is a large section of fans who have already rolled over Roberto Duran style squealing “no mas” but an attitude like that never won a fight.
PS: City being currently being taught a football lesson in exciting technical by Stoke of all teams fully confirms Steww’s thesis that there is a glimmer of hope in the dog eat dog world of the Premier League.
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Interesting fight analogies, perpahs we could take inspiration from an underdog fighter who recently convincingly defeated the boxing establishments man in his own adopted back yard, despite attempts to soften up the ring floor to help the defending champion and fit his gloves hidden away from his opponent.
That is assuming you can take inspiration from a seemingly homophobic sexist buffoon of course
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… and Stoke lost to Sunderland last week.
Funny ol’ game.
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Sorry to miss Andy Nic before the game. Atmosphere building a little but quite subdued all around the outside of the ground. No great optimism in the snippets of conversations I hear.
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nice work Joel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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joel makes it 1-0
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Ozil with the assist, played the ball inside the fullback and Campbell slotted home easily
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English League BR @EnglishLeagueBR 3m3 minutes ago
GOL: MCCLEAN 38 (WBA). WEST BROM 1-1 Tottenham.
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Giroud just slams the ball into his own net, 1-1
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fackin mackems
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HT: 1-1
Ramsey misses a great chance right on stroke of half time
AFC been poor today so far, bit off with the passing, shaky at the back too, need to step it up big time in the second half.
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well sums up our passing that goal… passes meant to go one way going another.. he certainly meant that ball for a corner and it s in!
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Another 45 minutes of getting round the big green bus
As usual we played all the football and managed to allow the opposition back in.
45 minutes more of pressure though and we will be through them again
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Lovely finish from Campbell as well – very confident
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Grrrr! Just couldn’t hold on to the lead. Now Sunderland will sit really deep in the 2nd half.
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come on you Gunnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnerrrrrrrrrrrrrsss!!!!!!
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two for Giroud so far!!!
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Bayern Munich lost their first league game of the season today 3-1
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ffs COYG!!!!!!!!!!!!
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ffs Arsenal (ha ha) Nice work Arsenal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Goooonerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrssss!
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FT: 3-1
3 of the favorite targets for our boo boys got our goals, Campbell, Giroud and Ramsey.
Ramsey dominated in midfield, his energy and forward play gave us this win.
Spurs drew after leading at WBA,
Man Utd drew 0-0, they had 20 shots but only 1 on target, and by all accounts WHU had by far the best chances.
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oh how much would you give for a Bournemouth win
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The plus points today
Cech very good
Ramsey outstanding, goal and an assist
Ozil outstanding, his 12th assists in the league so far
Giroud scored
Campbell scored
Walcott made his comeback
No injuries
the negatives
some sloppy defending
Oxlade-chamberlain looks a well off form, hopefully he gets to his best quickly
conceding right before half time for the third league game in a row.
Leicester won, so we are only second.
overall a very good day so far, city lost, utd and spurs both drew,
just need CFC and LFC to drop points this weekend to make it a very good weekend
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if AFC beat Aston Villa next weekend we go top, as LCFC don’t play CFC till Monday
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some great news for Arsenal today in the Swansea City v Leicester City game, Swansea losing surely means Gary Monk will soon be sacked and so available to take over from Arsene Wenger, and we will finally have one of those new modern managers.
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This:
“If the first goal comes early enough then we can look to control the game, draw them out in search of an equaliser and counter. Of course, given that these are eleven premier league footballers and not a collection of shop mannequins we’ll be facing it is just possible that in this stage of the game they might actually succeed and score their equaliser. This is not unusual in football, trust me, it happens a lot. If so we need to start over and build the pressure again. Calmly and patiently.”
Psychic he is, I tells yer – bloody psychic.
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That’s a good win with a lot of positives.
The biggest negative for me was the linesman in the second half. Three clear offsides and he didn’t give one of them. All of them could have led to goals.
Maybe he had a problem with his shoulder.
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