Aston Villa v Arsenal FC

Hello!

I hope you’re doing well and that you’ve had a good week?

The opening day of our ninety-ninth consecutive top-flight campaign seemed decent enough, but you can imagine that both the Arsenal and Wolves when they meet again later in the season will be much tighter, sharper and less wasteful than last Saturday. But even so it was pretty enjoyable to watch the fun in the sun and I’m sure we all felt both victorious and harmonious all week in reflection?

Saturday August 24th (17.30pm western European time) sees the mighty Cannon take part in the second of our two bouts against west midland Mannschaften. So its on the train and over the southern borders with cheques and postal orders up to Birmingham New Street and onto Villa Park to take on the much resurrected Aston Villa. 

The long beards amongst us will remember the days of glory in the 1980’s (and later) when Villa were a menace in European Cup competitions and in our own domestic league and cup matches. Over the years they won seven league titles, seven FA Cups, seven brides for seven brothers, five league cups and one Charity shield, one European Cup, a European Super cup and an Intertoto cup.

Villa had some misfortune in recent years echoing what has often happened in their long history and were relegated into the Championship for a few seasons but came back up for some fizzy Premier League air in the 2019/20 season. And immediately fought their way to meet The Oil City in the League Cup final, and skidded in the oozy slickness of City’s rich game and got beaten. 

And who of course can forget the 2015 Cup final, well obviously Villa fans, but for us that followeth the Gun, Alexis’ magical power-super hoof goal was a spectacular moment, and it was that juncture that I knew we had won that final. Not one Arsenal player from that game is with us now, and how swiftly things change…

“oi! stop getting sentimental, its a sign of weakness, all life is in flux you fool!”

“hey cod-piece face! are you sure your name isn’t scrap-heap services? Are you something from a Sleaford Mods lyric?”

Their manager Mr Unai Emery needs no introduction to us, so I won’t give him one. But he’s mastered wonders at Villa since joining as manager, taking them from a team sniffing the toxic, anxious odours of relegation into a challenging side (finishing fourth last season) although Unai’s win rate is around the 53% mark. Regardless, we irritatingly lost last December to them and hit that negative spell as we were blinded by the festive lights and too many light ales from the night before. 

Unai seems a proud man and will be hoping for another avenging win against us, and having beaten the Irons 2-1 at the London Stadium, and also having the hint of home advantage may well feel confident. But we shall see…The Arsenal artillery might have something to play about that, perhaps with another brillant, cheeky goal from Martinelli..?

Well that’s it, lots of bits and pieces of snore that you already knew. Even so, here’s to a great game for us and lucky horses! 

COYG and keep on keepin’ on!

Mills

Good morning to all that remains of you in our little community.

I find these reviews very challenging on many levels. By the time you come to read them, you have seen the game, read other blogs that published within minutes of the final whistle, watched vlogs and YouTube analysis and likely watched Match of the Day. So what the hell can I add, especially given that most of you will , at very least, understand the game as well as this old lump of coal at the keyboard.

I don’t know if my enthusiasm for the game is fading as I plod towards the finishing line of life, or weather the monotony of City’s relentless hovering up of titles has drained it but what should have been a game that filled me with joy, just left wondering if I have changed or the game has. Ok, let’s cart on……..

First of all I suppose we have to say “it was a game of two halves”? The first 45 saw us as the only team in it. It was like we had just carried on from the efficient and often entertaining football we consistently churned out in the second half of last season. The players were the same, the set up the same and the patterns of play, the same. This in itself is very is admirable for the opening game of a new season, it’s not always the case.

The second half was much less impressive. Wolves pressed more and we started looking a bit shaky. Even Saliba was misplacing passes, one of which, a simple though hurried, ball across his box, went straight to the opposition and could, and perhaps should, have cost us an equalising goal. Partey, who to be fair had been decent first half, started looking a bit of a liability, Zinchenko, who again had added much before the break, did become a liability and Mikel rightly hooked him and brought on Timber. This substitution seemed to perk us up after being second best for half an hour, it became an even contest. Soon after up stepped “Starboy” ( I’m sorry but I hate that name, it’s so cringy and overused it turns my stomach ) with a truly wonderful near post strike which 99 times out of 100 he predictable goes far post curler. At this point I should mention that it was also a magnificent “starboy” cross that Havertz made a late run onto and banged home with the confidence of a man riding a wave carried over from the second half of last season.

Martin Odegaard has reached a level, that even having a quiet game , he is magnificent and efficient. Decan Rice looks a bit jaded and Martinelli continues to flatter to deceive, for me Trossard is the better option on the left and I expect that change come about as the season progresses.

So , despite my muted enthusiasm, that was a great start to the season, 3 points and in the end a fairly routine and comfortable effort. Don’t let my miserable demeanor dampen your spirits.

See ya.

Pedantic George.

Hello! And on the off chance you sometimes still look in here…as you know the seasons back again! And if you start a blog like that no wonder the blog o’ sphere is more blocked than Old Toilet itself. 

Being the start of the season its expected that I run through the signings and speculate on what will be and give you some scoop or valuable oblique insight, but it can only be speculation and that’s wasting my time and yours, plus I don’t have any kind of scoop or oblique insight to share and its much more interesting surely( don’t call me Shirley) that we shall see in our own time how new players will fit in and who will fly to new nests having said goodbye to the mighty Cannon. Anyway, the season doesn’t really seem to get moving until October starts creeping in, which in these dog days of August seems unlikely to ever happen.Until it does.

Really I wanted to write something in order to open up the comments section which closed automatically, as it seems a bit sad things have ground to a point and closed up like a necropolis and no chance of reading comments from the other side.

Personally I love the routine of the football season, and as much as the summer football festivals, baseball or speedway try, they don’t fill the empty space left behind during the summer. The Olympics did to a degree in our house and at times there seemed a lot of sportspersonship/ camaraderie and friendliness that seems missing in the world (or the world of the internet for sure) and the pole-vaulters seemed to exemplify that the most?

So its good to have football back. I don’t trust the preseason games as indicators of how things will be, and who knows the effect of the case against City will have on the season?And that’s what makes the fresh starts interesting, that we just don’t know…

There is a sense of expectancy though that this might be the year that Arsenal win the league again, but then we expect it every year until we run out of logical hope! 

COYG and keep on keepin’ on!

Mills

If anyone is interested in doing some writing dor the blog, please let me know, be it previews,reviews of occasional articles.

George.

In this podcast both Shotta and Blackburn George acknowledge this was a brilliant season for Arsenal. Taking Manchester City down to the wire, on the very last day of the season, wan an outstanding achievement. Arsenal can only blame itself for losing its lead during the final weeks when it dropped crucial points to Aston Villa when the manager made the crucial mistake of playing Havertz in midfield despite pre- and post- New Year evidence that the German was best suited as a #9. They conclude that there is no guarantee Arsenal will overcome City in the future as they have limitless funds to again improve their squad.

In their review of Arsenal away to Manchester United, Shotta and Blackburn George conclude that while the Gunners were conservative in their approach they were excellent defensively as they as they comfortably edged a poor United team. They were able to secure the three points necessary to keep their slim title hopes alive. Special kudos to William Saliba who in the eyes of most observers was Arsenal’s man-of-the-match.

In the opinion of both Shotta and Blackburn George Arsenal performed splendidly to defeat Bournemouth and this is a very positive sign if the club is to stand any chance of holding off Manchester City in the final two weeks of the Premier League season. They share the bookmakers calculation that Manchester City are favourites but in their current form Arsenal stand an outside chance of winning the title should have a slip up. And let’s be honest, only Arsenal are stopping the PL being a farcical one horse race.

It was a nail-biting finish but Arsenal prevailed over Spurs to earn maximum points as the club battles to remain in the hunt for the title. But in this UncensoredArsenal podcast both Blackburn George and Shotta agree that despite being a huge win it was a relatively poor performance by the Gunners. However they reserve praise for Kai Havertz for his exceptional performance as a No.9. They conclude that the remaining fixtures favor Arsenal in comparison to Man City, who have two difficult away games of their remaining four. Despite City’s record-breaking consecutive wins to date, Arsenal still have an outside chance of winning the title.

A massive win over Chelsea following a positive result over Wolves marks an impressive rebound by #Arsenal, after earlier setbacks, putting the #gooners firmly back in the title race. In this #UncensoredArsenal podcast Blackburn George and Shotta identify the key reasons for this turnaround emphasising the most significant players, notably David Raya, the unsung hero who is the 2023-24 Golden Gloves winner.

After a surprising loss to Aston Villa at home, Arsenal suffered a major setback to its title chances but the #Gooners are still in the race as emphasized by both Blackburn George and Shotta in this edition of the #UncensoredArsenal podcast. In their analysis they identified team selection and tiredness in the 2nd half as the main factor behind the defeat. They conclude that if Arsenal remain perfect for the rest of the season there is a chance of edging Man City to the title.

After a historic draw at ManCity, in this #UncensoredArsenal podcast, Blackburn George is swinging from two extremes; from outrageous enthusiasm at the massive effort it took to stop City from scoring to regret that it was a boring match of football for neutrals. But george is convinced that Arsenal has proved it has one of, if not the strongest defense in the league and defense win titles.