Good morning Positivistas,
That was much much more like it. Football reared its lovely head across a wet North London Saturday afternoon. The players, all of them in fact, delivered the fans 90 minutes of entertainment, and a comfortable three point win.
I have to admit a cloak of trepidation swaddled the Arsenal faithful on the way to the ground, after recent on pitch disappointments and off pitch shenanigans. It was understandable with January so far having been a month of one-step forward, two-steps back. Palace came into the game on good run of form, over their past dozen Premier League games their only recent defeat to us and points take off Citeh and beating Chelsea.
Looking at the line up I sensed Arsene decided that that is was a key game in our season, and it as the best 11 who were available on the pitch, never mind future games or player “fatigue”. Elneny coming also gave us more energy in the centre of the park and freed Jack to rove forward. A fit again Ozil will always add quality to our movement and attaching threat. To start for what seems the first time this year (? maybe longer) with Nacho, Kosc and Mustafi gave us a more confident base from which to build.
And so it proved. It was a dream opening, no other word for it. After weeks of frustration with us struggling to create chances and thwarted by good goalkeepers when we did the Palace gates opened and we streamed in. 6 Nacho, 10 Iwobi, 13 Kosc and finally, our long suffering strokers, 22 Alexander Lacazette. Did you see him smile after the goal ?
It has been a while since he has enjoyed the grinning feeling, so to speak.
And CORNERS eh ? Who said we cant take corners ! Pffft.
I read somewhere it is four years since a team has been 4-0 in the PL in 20 minutes ( yes it was THAT game). And none of the goals were breakaways, none were lucky deflections, OGs or glaring defensive errors from Palace. It was good Arsenal football, crisp finishing and thoroughly deserved.
The second part of the match ? Clearly 4-0 up we slowed a little and consolidated our hold on the game. Hodgson appears to have done a fair job in rousing his lads at half time to ensure they did not end up totally thrashed and the visitors came out with a lot more purpose. Apart from the goal they eventually did get Palace had another couple of chances that Cech dealt with well. Zaha had an ‘interesting’ afternoon. The referee Kavanagh who I think was making his PL whistling debut had obviously read upon young Wilfried and gave him absolutely nothing, despite the full repertoire of theatrical tumbling and heart rending moaning from the Ivorian. Good.
With 15 minutes to go we wound down the game, packed the picnic away and headed for the car park. The job was done. And thoughts turned to the next fixture that kicks off on Wednesday !
(If he plays his cards right he may get a selfie opportunity next time).
Enjoy Sunday.
Positively Arsenal 
wordpress sounds a lot like you anicol, (banned whinky smiley),
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Get past Chelsea on Wednesday and it will be Alexis who? by Friday morning
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well we have sold Alexis (80) and Walctt (108), who have scored 188 goals for AFC between them, and now big rumors that Giroud who has scored 105 AFC goals, is to be part of our attempts to sign Aubameyang. it would be amazing if we end up having sold all 3 in the same window, and still could be said to have ended up stronger.
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anicol, for me its already Alexis who, he is gone, and all that concerns me is those players who are at AFC and want to play for AFC.
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Quite right – big game this week and every chance to maintain our good run against Conte. Far too much work on Arsene’s plate to worry about transfers unto Wembley is in the bag.
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Very excited with Mkhitaryan’s signing. His style reminds me a bit of Rosicky, a player who does things simply and effectively. I can’t wait to see what he and Bellerin get up to on the right hand side. Let’s see where this leaves Iwobi, a player who I absolutely adore and from whom I expect very big things.
As far as the Sanchez affair is concerned, I have nothing negative to say. He was spectacular for us. I loved every minute of the time he spent with us. I am as gutted to see him go as I was when Hleb left us. Will he rue the day he left us? I don’t know. What I do know is that no coach is going to give him the freedom to do what he wants the way Wenger did.
If I were Wenger I’d put in a cheeky bid for Rafinha Alacantara from Barcelona just to have him in the side as competition for Jack, just in case. I’d also love to see Aubameyang or Draxler sign with us.
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Mkhitaryan has the hallmarks of real gem for Arsenal.
He said he was an Arsenal fan. Back in 2009 he said that he wanted to play for Arsenal because of the style and because of Arséne Wenger and his reputation for giving youth a chance.
He speaks six languages, that makes him smart. Watch his interview. He really is smart. He is a Wenger player.
You’ve read here first. We have a gem and we got the better deal.
The WOBs won’t be happy with most of his reasons for coming here. I live that part too. I have a nasty side to me as well….
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“Thanks to fans who sang Alexis Sanchez Baby”
Not as often as they’ve sung:
‘ohhhhh Santi Cazorla’
Just sayin’
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Klopp’s transformation of Oxlade-chamberlain continues unabated
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Welcome Mkha, under Wenger, I am sure he will again be a very exciting player.
And well done Swansea, great result, and remember it was only the pgmol who stopped them getting something off Spurs as well
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Swansea eh ? Fabianski really good, the welsh bus immovable + just a bit of luck
Brilliant
And now we are 5 points off 4th
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Only saw the second half but a brilliant display of defending from Swansea against Liverpool, a club that had lost their hard built identity of late yet tonight they played well, some breathtaking and outstanding crisp tackles, only one push outside the area which the official missed, worthy of the luck as Liverpool hit the post in the closing seconds.
It was only in the closing moments of the match that the solemn home fans of the bottom club dared to dream and sing.
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spurs are 2pts ahead of us, and LFC are 5
spurs next 3 BPL games are home to Man Utd, away to Liverpool and home to Arsenal
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Interesting first comments from Sanchez. Seems like Wenger did not make him feel special enough.
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Swansea Manager Carlos Carvalhal: “I did an analogy with my players. Liverpool are a top team but they are a Formula one. If you put a Formula one in London traffic at 4 o clock the Formula one will not run very fast.”
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Feeling better than I have since that damned penalty at West Brom with the weekend’s results.
Felt we were one loss away from becoming properly detached and having very little chance of clawing it back in top four race. Now feels more like, do our part, one more loss for them, and we are right back in it. Yes.
Been looking at table and fixtures far less than normal for a couple of weeks so may have to get up to speed again. Lot of top six playing each other next few weeks, I think.
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That’s one cheesy introduction video Alexis, Arsenal would be slated if they did that
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The interview Mad Jens did with a German paper
Mr. Lehmann, you’ve now been one of Arsene Wenger’s assistant coaches at Arsenal for half a year. How did that come about?
I first got in touch with Arsène Wenger, whom I played under for 6 years, in April 2017. I knew he had to change some things at Arsenal, so I spoke to him about it. He listened to my wishes over the phone and said, “I’m interested.” I know him well enough to have known: that’ll do!
Why did you look to get into coaching in England and not in Germany?
I’m very grateful to Arsene Wenger. As a former player it’s not easy to start anywhere today. The trend in Germany is to appoint coaches nobody actually knows because they didn’t play themselves. When that’s how things work, it’s not possible to start as an assistant coach.
How do you see things at Arsenal right now, with an eight-point gap to the Champions League places and the club already out of the FA Cup?
In the FA Cup we gave very young players the chance to show what they can do. Unfortunately the result wasn’t what we expected but we have won the cup three of the last four years. You can’t do that every year. Teams like Spurs or City are now considered great but haven’t won anything in recent seasons. In the league we are indeed behind expectations and need to improve. We’ve also been on the wrong end of far too many refereeing mistakes. We hope that’s compensated before the end of the season.
How intense is your job at Arsenal?
I’ve never worked so long and so hard in my life. One day, at eight in the morning, I arrived to do training with the players who weren’t in the squad. After that I drove to Liverpool for the game. Because we lost, we analysed it for over an hour as soon as we got back. And finally I went to bed.
How has Wenger shaped you (as a coach)?<
At first, I watched training. At some point he came up to me and said: “Jens, I’ve also brought you here to actively coach, as you’ve done before.” Since then I’ve been very involved in training sessions. Sometimes your position makes a difference – I’m no longer in goal, but on the sidelines, so I need to be more diplomatic.
What does your general working day look like?
I get up at 7am and deal with things from my past life, such as answering e-mails etc. Around 8:30 I drive to London Colney, which takes 35 minutes. The 11 members of the coaching staff meet at 9:30 under the instruction of Arsene Wenger. Today before training, at 10:30, I prepared video clips from league games, which the coaching team will discuss after lunch. I usually work at Colney until 16:00 but today will probably be later again.
What are your duties in training?
For example, I oversee one of four groups of six players (which includes the German group). After that a few exercises and finally there is always individual training with different players.
There is a ‘German group’?
Sure. The German-speaking players: Mesut Ozil, Shkodran Mustafi, Sead Kolasinac, Granit Xhaka, Per Mertesacker usually train together (when we are) in the small groups, often with Alexis Sanchez. The boss gives the object and content of the (training) games.
You call Wenger ‘the boss’?
Yes, to me he’s the boss from my time as a player. The others usually call him ‘gaffer’, an English term for the coach I didn’t know before my time in England.
Arsenal will be looked at as a very German club.
Arsenal is more German than ever! There’s still some French influence, though, through Arsene Wenger and other Frenchmen working here. And with players it is often a case of coming and going. For instance, Mesut Ozil doesn’t know if he will stay. But Per Mertesacker will lead the academy from the summer, which will be a big loss for the first team, because he’s very influential as captain. Then we have the chief scout Sven Mislintat, who has arrived from Germany, so the German influence continues to grow.
As a player you were thought of as your own person. What have you had to change to be a coach?
What I needed to improve on for the first few months was being diplomatic. When there’s a lot of staff you need to be careful. As a player being diplomatic was never necessary for me. It was actually a hindrance because it slowed things down.
Does the Bundesliga appeal to you, as a coach?
I don’t feel like an English coach but like a German. The Arsenal staff and team is too international (to feel English). But something I’d definitely take with me is the intensity of the Premier League, the physicality and speed, the training that goes along with that, which is different from in the Bundesliga. Knowing about the differences means the chance to become a coach in the Bundesliga would be very interesting.
How do you see the next step in your coaching career?
Being an assistant is good for me, I can learn the structure, methodology, and implementation of the job from the second row. But, naturally, becoming a manager is the goal. Some things you learn best by doing them yourself.
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What a great interview that is. It’s the sort of stuff you should be seeing from English media, but no chance of that happening, is there? Too busy setting up and reinforcing narratives, and passing judgments, rather than gaining some insight from those that are involved in the game.
Also, a few years ago there was a Sky program on the Invincibles and from the very short bits and pieces of the interview with Lehmann there, I just felt like he’d make a very good manager someday. Maybe even future Arsenal manager. Who knows?
PS. Wenger doesn’t allow anyone else to coach. Wenger doesn’t look at games tactically. Two myths blown apart in a 5 minute read from someone who not only would know, but is also known to be outspoken (Unlike the timid Steve Bould if Tony Adams is to be believed)
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Buzzing about the Mkhitaryan transfer. I see a lot of Arsenal fans bemoaning Alexis’ loss even though Miki seems to soften the blow for them. I feel no blow, just happiness. We’ve got a player that should fit our style of play in exchange for an uncommitted individual talent.
I supported Alexis’ numbers last season because I thought he was having to do too much. And maybe I wasn’t wrong about that then. Wenger obviously thought there was enough upside to playing him too. But this season, I can’t remember which game, but seeing his refuse to pass to an open teammate, keep hold of the ball to do nothing, and then just give the ball away on a simple pass after the fullbacks came up to support the attack, which led to a goal against us, I just blew my top and I wanted him gone. That isn’t a normal reaction for me with players making mistakes, but there was just something about this one incident that infuriated me. I’m sure George knows more about that than I do (banned smiley)
And what of the negotiations done by Arsenal? A player who would be worthless as a bargaining chip in 2 weeks, turned into a player who we wanted 18 months prior, for around 2/3rds the wages we were prepared to offer Sanchez, despite the infamous Raiola as the agent. (It will be interesting to see our agent payment later this year)
If we can get Aubameyang as well, and there does seem to be some very real chance of that, I think we’ll see the return of some beautiful football. We’ll still have issues to sort out with contracts (Ozil, Wilshere, Ramsey) and maybe will need some reinforcements in midfield and defense, but that can wait till the summer. The key here is to get our attacking game going and maybe that’ll settle the defense too. Win League Cup, Make Top 4, and try for the Europa League. I’m a lot more hopeful now than previously.
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Team News
Ramsey has fitness test today, as has Monreal
Welbeck and Giroud are a “fraction short” to come back
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Wenger very non committal on the Aubameyang deal, talks not as far as including Giroud in it. Deal might happen it might not.
We might buy more players, we might have opportunities for several more.
Players not getting game time here might be available for transfer, or loan.
Wenger says he does not want Welbeck to leave.
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Wenger says We have to honor our deals with the banks, so as we get richer we still have to be intelligent on how we spend it, especially now the market has gone mad.
He says he wants the club to improve the quality of our youth players.
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by the way when AW was asked about signing Aubameyang, there was feedback form his mike and he said “maybe that is him on the line”
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AW on Wages and new contracts
we spend what we can afford
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Wenger on Mkhitaryan
our challenge is to get him to express his undoubted talent
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Wenger spoke highly of Alexis and his committed attitude, and he would not confirm or deny that Alexis had verbally agreed a new contract last season.
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seemingly Mustafi was the only player to tweet a good luck message to Alexis on his move to ManU
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I am a bit surprised Danny is not champing at the bit for a loan, although admittedly his fitness would be a concern to any club taking him on. He must fancy his chances to secure a World Cup place and given Southgate’s reluctance to pick players who rarely play PL football he really needs to get some game time somewhere.
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anicoll
re: Danny
That’s if we do actually sign Aubameyang. Otherwise we’ll surely want one fast attacker with Theo and Alexis gone.
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Up to a point Lord Copper. We did not replace the Ox, and we show no signs of trying to go for an actual ‘winger’ to replace Theo. When Danny has had most impact for us I’d say is when he has played in the middle. Is it possible that Eddie could be that fast attacker or is it too soon to say ? It is a bit difficult to know what goes on in Arsene’s head!
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Well my take on Wenger saying he does not want Welbeck to leave, is one of those where there is clubs after him, and maybe the player wants out too, and he could go, a bit like in the summer when AW said he did not want Giroud to go, but has since admitted that he opened the way for him to go, but left the final decision to OG, and he decided to stay. AW is publicly telling DW he wants him to stay, a show of support if you like, but I would not be surprised if he leaves. I would say that its more than likely that one or both of DW and OG goes, if we sign Aubameyang. What game time would they get if PEA comes in, would it be enough for them to secure a WC place. Southgate has already said he will not pick players who are not playing regular, and Dechaumps has openly warned Giroud that his place is in danger due to lack of game time.
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I am sure AW does want Danny to stay – but from the player’s point of view he surely wants to play regular first team football with the World Cup in a few months ? Interesting few days.
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Eddie yet to make his BPL debut, so it is way too early to say if he is the guy.
Wenger admitted we are in talks for Aubameyang, we knew that anyway with Gazidis, Sven and Fahmy all over in Dortmund. So I suppose if we sign him, PEA will be the fast attacker.
I would suggest that for the rest of this season, Nelson will be Theo’s replacement, he will get 20 minutes here and there. Eddie might get game time out wide too. But with Mkhitaryan signed, and if we sign PEA, it would look like Iwobi is most in danger of becoming a sub, maybe even Lacazette too. So the young lads might not get sight of th squad.
Maybe Nelson and Eddie will actually go out on loan
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yes Anicol, I too am sure AW wants Danny to stay, but like OG in the summer, I would suggest that AW would not stand in his way if he really wants out for game time. But its very likely to depend on getting Aubameyang.
I would suggest that AFC would be better off offering Dortmund Welbeck as part of the deal, over Giroud.
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He is always very fair with players, and as we know, an unhappy player can be a distraction.
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Shard
I’d love to know how much of Henrik’s wages are being paid by Utd.
MufcTV (slysports) will not be instructing alan smith to comment upon that, Ian Wrong on BeeTee Executive Laundry TV will be wrong with any comment he makes as a guild PR rep, perhaps it would be unreasonable to expect otherwise from him.
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“As a player being diplomatic was never necessary for me. It was actually a hindrance because it slowed things down.”
Legend!
Always.
What did he say to AW last April?
“Hello gaffer, I’m bored. I’d like to shout at some people. once I work out how not to step on everyone’s toes you game?”
What a shower these lying (about the coaching) and sniping blaggers are.
That does includes their inability to acknowledge as the Coach and former Footballer highlights: it’s not been “evening itself out” chaps, please don’t pollute your keyboards by typing such gibberish, thanks.
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well looking at the playing time some of our squad players are getting, or not getting, and knowing how fair AW is with players, I would not be surprised to see Debuchy, Giroud or/and Welbeck leave this window. Akpom too, with more of the youths like Sheaf, DaSilva, Bielik(if fit) let go out on loan for experience, maybe McGuane too, but only if he signs a new contract.
It seems Nwailki is to be recalled from his loan in Holland, and sent to a club in Portugal so as to get more game time.
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the two big interesting things about Jens interview was
he contacted AW about a coaching role, and Wenger was open to it straight away
once here the control freak Wenger made Jens take a far bigger part in coaching players than Jens was initially doing,
so 2 myths shot down in one interview, – AW don’t like to hire former players, and control freak AW don’t let his coaches do their job. But you won’t see that mentioned by the big blaggers
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oh yeah, one other thing on Jens, what now of the soundbite “Ivan forced AW to hire Jens”,
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Wenger On Aubameyang – “Confident, I don’t know. At the moment we are not close to doing any deals with him or anybody else. You never know how close you are. At the moment it’s one of the possible movements, the final decision is not made.”
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Wenger on Aubameyang: “He is one of our possible movements but there are others.”
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Aubameyang bringing boxes out to his car at the Dortmund training center today, is he packing away his personal belongings
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Unlike Henry, that ungrateful bald-headed mutt, I can never see Jens Lehman bad mouth the boss and club who made him an Invincible. Jens had more courage and conviction in his mitt than most of these “diplomatic” fakers we have masquerading as legends. As a goalie he took no prisoners, team-mate or opponent. That’s what this team needs.
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Jens unashamedly competed for and took the job of the legendary Oliver Kahn as German national team goalie. That is a man with a big character.
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Alexis’s goodbye message to Arsenal included this line
“there are people(former club players) who have spoken with no knowledge of what happens inside the club and cause damage”
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“Mikhi oh Mikhi oh baby
Don’t you know I’ve been wanting you
Mikhi, O Mikhi O baby
Now you’re here and I don’t feel blue
If you don’t believe it’s true
What else is there for me to do?
Look how long I’ve been waiting
For you to come right in
And now that we are together
Please make all my joys come over”
Took an ill-informed detour but now you’re here.
Hope you’ve learned its better to listen to your inner spirit
Than your lucre-worshipping agent.
Welcome to your rightful home
Red & white, the temple of timelessness.
Bless
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To Amexis Manchez
Money makes the world go down
Thanks for the memories
Thanks for nothing for destroying our budding chemistry
Thanks for raising the stakes and shaking the place up
AW now has no choice but to build his 2nd greatest team in his 4th era
Hope you replicate the chaos with the special twat
Enjoy your lucre
Ciao.
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Anicoll
You got me scrolling to see if a Lord Copper posted!
As you say, interesting few days ahead.
I like Danny- for certain games feel he’s an excellent option, perfect for how we played and how game went in cup final for instance, and also really enjoyed that Monaco away game a few years back- but it’s Giroud who’d be the heart-wrencher for me.
Ideal world, I’d definitely want to keep him. Suspect he may have that Niall Quinn thing where he can stay at a high level and continue to do the things he’s very good at until 35/36 as well. Slower players get the last laugh in that respect.
Would be a hard sell for him being behind Lacazette and another top striker at this stage even in a non-world-cup year though.
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