@LaboGoon spies out the Land of My Fathers
Good morning Positivistas.
It’s the day before the transfer window slam shut and Arsenal is travelling to Swansea City, and as it’s known on these streets, to escape the transfer hoopla even if just temporary.
Last time we played Swansea they were in a bit of a mess but in Carlos Carvalhal they now have a new man at the helm. Life has been pretty kind to him thus far as his new team, while still rooted to the bottom, seem to be finding their stride a little bit as they come in this fixture having lost just once in his seven games in charge. Them playing in the FA Cup this past Saturday make this a short turnaround while Arsenal is coming in a bit fresher and off the back of two convincing victories, which they will want to follow up with another win to stay in touch of top 4.
When Carlos looked at the Swans’ fixture list and saw Liverpool and Arsenal in back-to-back PL games he probably told his team that if they can pick up 3 out of 6 points here it would be a great return. After picking up the 3 points vs Liverpool it now mean that although they can still fancy their chances, they can also afford to revert to a more defensive approach by looking to just restrict us whilst waiting patiently for chances to open up, which would be fair enough when even getting a single point will do it for them.
That being said, with our away form a bit of a worry we can expect a difficult game, so tonight we will have to put in another great all round team performance to batter through a proverbial bus.
On team news: Giroud is back from injury and our new boy Henrikh Mkhitaryan look set to make his debut in what is expected to be a very strong line-up and bench.
After a bumpy start to the year this last week has been great for us. We can sense there’s a real feel good feeling in and around the club, so win here tonight and we will have an opportunity to really kick on as we approach the final quarter of the season.
Good luck to everybody going to the game and all watching via the small screen. With Deadline Day looming… the Arsenal squad look set to be in much better shape than we started the season.
Come on you rip roaring you know what’s!
( a little musical interlude to get you in the mood – very emotional the Welsh)
Positively Arsenal 
Thanks Labo – setting us up nicely although I’m struggling to recall when last our away form was so ropey.
Predicting the post-Sanchez bounce to continue for us; I’ve zero doubt every player is keen to ride this particular wave and in so doing make a statement about Alexis’ overall contribution to the team.
A small confession – I’m almost as interested to see how MU accommodate the Chilean maverick. He always ended up making his teammates work harder – but not in a good way. Maybe they’ll appoint a teammate to act as his very own sweeper. Point being that on those wages for that amount of time, he HAS to work out well in Manchester.
I’m not entirely confident he will.
Enjoy all the games!
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Good morning all. With our improved ball retention that accompanied the post-Sánchez bounce could be that oppo teams have even less of the ball to cause us any harm. Hope I didn’t put the mockers on our boys after just saying that.
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Morning all – bright morning up here in tune with my mood. A brisk start required tonight, I have a feeling the opening goal may be the decider.
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I see it will be up to the Arsenal Player to provide the commentary tonight, so I’m bracing myself for the usual round of emails from Sid and Doris Bonkers every time we are in possession.
Yes Labo – it will be fascinating to see how it all pans out. We bought him (much to general surprise) to be the 25-goal a season talisman that would take us to the League title, it being generally considered that the HFB wasn’t quite up to it. But what happened in his successful first season was that the pundits pretended that he had nothing to do with Arsenal and Arsene and was somehow (and against his will) keeping the club afloat. Too good for Arsenal was the refrain, and being a bear of I suspect little brain he came to believe that, as did the dreary souls who profess most loudly that they only want what’s best for the club.
And then injury and disappointing form saw the goals dry up a little, leading to frustration and sulkiness from him and several others. It nearly worked for us and him, but in the end it just went sour. I am sure he will have some brilliant moments at United, but however good he proves to be I shan’t mind, because he ended up spoiling it all for us, which can sometimes happen with talented heavies (as we used to call the likes of Imran Khan and Kepler Wessels).
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Traveling on business so won’t see the game. But like AA and company I expect the post-Sanchez bounce to continue. More significantly I expect more signs of the return to Wengerball; slick passing, ball retention and speedy counter-attacks to break open these deep lying defenses.
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I am soooooooo looking forward to seeing Henrik although whether he starts tonight is unclear. Not since Freddie L have we had a real attacking dashing-in-to-the-front-post sort of midfielder, a creative player who is also at home in the box.
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A little tweak to the text there Tim
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Nice one Labo.
In another 40 hrs silly season B will be over. Thankfully.
Hoping we keep OG.
Away @ the Swans’ is rarely ever a walkover and they seem to be rediscovering their passing identity with Carvahal. An intriguing game of positive attacking intent could be on the cards tonight and with the extra days of rest we should be treated to more Wengerball 4.0. With the freshly-minted good vibrations around the club I am quite optimistic about the outcome.
Especially since they gave up on Gylfi while we opted for Mikhi…ha!
A corny W by 2 sayeth moy soothsayer.
COYG!!!
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“Mikhi – Mikhi – Mikhi – Mikhi – Mikhi – Mikhi !!!!!!”
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reports that Arsenal are to recall Martinez from his loan in spain and loan him out to Leeds for the rest of the season
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despite all the attributes of xhaka, i’m one of those who have a concern about him playing our holding midfield. this is partly becauseof his lack of pace and occasionally drifting out of position due to the fact that he want to have a chance to shoot. the sale of alexis may be the magic now as we will not lose possession as often as we use to. so xhaka can concentrate on build-up and less on ‘what if we lose the ball?’.
maybe now we’ll finally see jack, ramsey and xhaka playing regularly in the middle.
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Just seen a video of Auba arriving at the airport , so he could be on the way
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ianspace, I suspect he is, but the club won’t want to distract from the important game of football going on tonight, so there’ll be no announcements until tomorrow.
Re Giroud, I’m seriously torn about these rumours – he deserves to play so that he gets a chance at his last world cup appearance, but damn, I’d hate to see him at chelski, especially when he has been so effective for us from the bench. Given that Arsene was prepared to let him go in the summer, I suspect he is on his way somewhere, so I best start preparing to say au revoir.
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I think we are all ABC on Giroud Pass
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Arsenal U18s have beaten West Ham 5-1
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Arsenal U18’s are away to Middlesboro in the 5th round of the FA Youth Cup
the winners play the winners of Colchester v Reading
the winners of that would play winners of Blackburn or Notthingham Forrest v Ipswich or blackpool in the semi finals
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Arsenal U18s thrashed West Ham U18s 5-1 in the U18 Premier League clash at the Little Heath Sports Ground on Tuesday afternoon, with three Nigerian youngsters contributing to three of those goals in the encounter.
After Bernard Rusa had opened the scoring for the young Hammers after 14 minutes, midfield sensation, Folarin Balogun struck home the equalizer on the 25 minute mark off an assist from fellow country man, James Olayinka before Harrison Clarke doubled the lead 13 minutes later.
Another Nigerian teenager, Armstrong Okoflex teed up Balogun to bag his double on the brink of halftime as the young gunners took a commanding lead into the break.
Clarke scored again to make it 4-1 eight minutes past the hour mark before Balogun returned Okoflex’s first half favour, setting up the 15-year old to round off the resounding victory.
Alongside the Arsenal youngsters was defender, Tobi Omole who came off in the 76th minute for Matthew Dennis while his compatriots would last the entire duration of the game.
For West Ham, Joshua Okocha would equally go the full ninety of the game.
Emmanuel Chinaza
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Extremely impressed u18’s could get that result with, near enough, their entire first choice eleven not playing. Even the best schoolboy is now being replaced by another schoolboy who then chips in with a goal
Less good is the news Marcus Mcguane has departed for Barca. Coming on the heels of Willock’s exit, a worrying trend could be developing.
I struggle to see what else we can do beyond give a good football education and have an excellent track record of promoting youngsters. It may just be that it is going to become a trend right throughout English football. Though maybe Chelsea and co will be better insulated by bunging extra money to agents and their charges.
I liked Mcguane. First saw him play on the wing but moved to centre and seemed to be putting in a lot of work on defensive side of game. Looked a bit stronger and more capable in defence, but without any loss of technique, than our typical midfield prospects.
Surprised me that Willock seemingly jumped ahead of him this year, but latter has come on very well in fairness and maybe the expiring contract played a role as well.
Now the wait with Nelson. Got to be concerned as we have surely offered him enough opportunities to date, but maybe players’ mindsets are changing so they think ‘why not wait and see?’
Or again, could be a tricky agent. Willock was with Doyen, which I think are Mendes owned, so that was always likely to be a problem.
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Marcus McGuane has agreed to join Barcelona for an undisclosed fee.
A product of our academy, Marcus joined the club at under-6 level and went on to become a mainstay of our under-23 side.
The 18-year-old midfielder also made two appearances for our first team, featuring in away wins over Red Star Belgrade and BATE Borisov in the Uefa Europa League earlier this season.
He is an England youth international having played at under-17, under-18 and under-19 level.
We would like to thank Marcus for his contribution and wish him well at Barcelona.
The transfer is subject to the completion of regulatory processes.
Copyright 2018 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 https://www.arsenal.com/news/marcus-mcguane-joins-barcelona#P0t6rPfiMZQMVXxv.99
Read more at https://www.arsenal.com/news/marcus-mcguane-joins-barcelona#xO6pPz3m2euupiYj.99
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Rich there was some rumors that Willock initially got ahead of McGuane cos MC would not sign a new deal.
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Rumors that Mahrez has put in a transfer request to try and get a move to Man City. LCFC are said to be asking £90M for him
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looking like Giroud is off to Chelsea, not clear if Luiz is coming the other way or not.
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Rich, we have so many talented prospects coming through at the moment that they are not all going to make it here. I think it is a good sign that we are now producing players of the technical level to interest the likes of Barcelona. It’s probably payback for some of the talent that we have taken from them over the years, so we can’t complain too much! I also think it’s encouraging that more young British players are willing to go abroad to further their professional careers. I say good luck to him whether he comes back to bite us in the butt in the future or not.
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Aubameyang for Giroud – Yes. I was always the strongest defender of Larry in my blogs and on twitter when the vast majority slagged him as useless. But Wengerball demands speed on counter attacks and getting behind defenses, not the traditional target man. Love him dearly but needs must.
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reports that Giroud has left the arsenal hotel in Swansea and is traveling back to London to complete transfer to Chelsea for a fee in region of £18M
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But shotts, won’t that make us predictable when we’re struggling to break down the parked buses there will be no plan ‘B’ off the bench to get us a winning goal? Aside from the fact that OG’s greatest goal in an Arsenal shirt was from a counter-attack.
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I’d say as at the moment we are a side that cant score enough goals we need as many tools available in the box as possible Shotts, sharp, fast ones, and tall, heavy ones too.
I know nothing about the financial dynamics of the deals in progress so I wont bother worrying why it had to be.
I can see what Larry is desperate to play first team football so he starts for France and that will not happen at the Ems with Laca and PEA in front of him. I am not entirely sure what he is being offered at the Bridge – unless Morata and Conte have had a bust up. Surely he will be on the bench in West London ?
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At least we’re not due to meet chelski again this season and by next season I will have had time to adjust.
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would suggest our squad tonight will be something like this, with Jack a major injury doubt.
Cech
Bellerin Mustafi Koscielny Monreal
Xhaka Ramsey Elneny
Ozil Lacazette Mkhitaryan
subs Ospina, Chambers, Kolasinac, Maitland-Niles, Willock, Iwobi, Nketiah
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It is the either/or I don’t get.
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if Giroud is sold, won’t Welbeck be plan B off the bench
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what you mean anicol
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Assuming Danny is still here February 1st eddy (taps nose meaningfully and winks)
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Giroooooo..Noooooooo
Sigh. It’ll be so weird to see him in Chelsea blue. Just like it’s weird to see Walcott at Everton.
But I think it is the right thing to do. Aubameyang is no slouch in the heading department (He’s 6’2) but Giroud’s power is something we’ll lack. However, it is better to upgrade Plan A massively, even at the cost of a plan B. That’s what I think anyway.
So sorry to see him go, especially to such a disgusting club, but can’t begrudge him or the club this move. It makes sense for all parties. The very definition of a good deal.
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I mean why did Giroud have to go to accommodate PEA ? I would have been delighted to keep him, to leap off the bench and to be available for what will hopefully be a busy final phase surge in the season
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Dont get me wrong, I think PEA is a better footballer than Olivier just, but two very different styles are hard to compare
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well anicol, Giroud almost left in the summer after we signed Lacazette. Wenger had an agreement with Giroud he could leave if we brought in a striker ahead of him(both have confirmed this). Giroud decided to stay anyway. But now with Aubameyang coming in, maybe Giroud has taken Wenger up on their agreement to let him leave. so its simply that Giroud wants out, and we are allowing him to go, having promised him we would, if we signed another striker.
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Plan B, sitting back and letting the Chilean do his thing got us into 6th place Pass. I am all for Plan A which won us 3 titles. We need to get back on the front foot and play the way we want to play.
PS: I am planning to see us launch a real title challenge in 18-19.
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On Welbeck, yes anicol, there has been talk that several clubs have been in for him this window, and maybe with both Mkhitaryan and Aubameyang coming in, to play in positions he normally gets game time in, he will want out too.
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Arsenal legend you say
‘It’s like losing £10 and finding £5’ – Ian Wright criticises Arsenal for letting Olivier Giroud go to sign Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
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If Ian wright didn’t have a studio gig, he’d be outside the stadium waiting for the AFTV cameras.
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The joy of an incoming PEA has been significantly dampened.
If OG does leave us, AFC has just replaced one headache with another.
We go from despair to the joy of gazumping the naysaying twats to giving them new ammo to go after us at every instance again???
I mean how much attack can a gooner take?
Why the f**k is OG being “discarded” to a crosstown top 4 rival ?
Don’t our bloody board have any PR understanding?
Why not give up the extra 10m for PEA and wait till the summer to properly sell off OG?
Symbolically Olivier Giroud deserves way more respect than this.
The 10m would be come back in the summer.
Even a loan is better than selling.
Selling him to West Ham, Everton or whomever in the summer gives his family time to plan ahead & adjust……oh Arsenal.
Forget balancing your damn books for 6 months.
Lets hope the team doesn’t get thrown off by this…we don’t need to be gobsmacked @ the Liberty by a Gylfi-less Swansea.
Sh***********TE!!!
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Aman you talk about respecting Giroud, well then show him some respect, he is better than an everton or west ham, he is a top 4 team striker, it would be discarding him to a lesser team that would have been a show of disrespect.
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I’ve got tears in my eyes again…(sigh)
(this sucks…)
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http://arsenal.news/news/olivier-giroud-scorpion-kick-do-these-snaps-prove-it-was-better-than-mkhitaryans-goal
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This REALLY is the end of an era.
Thanks for EVERYTHING..the goals, the love, the loyalty…OG12.
Your self confidence and POSITIVITY.
I am truly going to miss you
best of luck in Russia.
(…I’m done for the evening)
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Wow… I will personally miss OG12
really sad to see him go… so nice and loyal
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anicol
The suggestion, Ornstein endorsed, is that Dortmund refused to sign off on Aubameyang until they got a replacement; Batshuiyi was one who they wanted; Chelsea unwilling to sanction that until they got a striker/Giroud.
It may sound farfetched, but if the deal goes through for Giroud, at 18 mill, much less so.
I’m inclined to believe it myself, as otherwise I really don’t believe we’d sell him there at that price.
Bad luck I’d say, with Chelsea ruthlessly capitalising on an opportunity.
Fingers crossed the lads and staff have managed to keep their focus for tonight’s game. I sure as hell haven’t and it seems to me it would be impossible for Wenger to follow his normal routine * with all this going on at the moment.
*They had the beach walk, at least, in a spot where i had a coffee last week!
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