Hello one and all.

Tonight we play  Dinamo Zagreb at home, a game we want to win in order to get a reduced fixture list after the league stage. So although a win win not guarantee a top 8 finish, but it will take us a good way down that road.

There is some good news on the injury front with  Ethan Nwaneri and Riccardo Calafiori available, not that that will spare us from Thomas Partey playing at RB. When was it a law that you can’t play two CBs that play with their left foot? I’ve seen dozens of pairing that were both right footed, so why not two left footers? I’m sure that there will be loads of experts shouting “passing angles and patterns of play” as they read this, but come on, do me a favour. The solution should be to disrupt the team as little as possible, not play Timber , Partey and Rice all out of their preferred position?

Anyway, this is a game we should win at a canter, and if it were me I would be rotating and have a good number of our over flogged first choice players on the bench for emergencies. But what do I know? Well actually I do know that Arteta will get his whip out and flog them some more.

That’s it folks, enjoy the game.

Pedantic George.

Good morning all.

Before we get into my deep tactical analysis of our game against Mr. Emery’s villains, a moments thought on the loss of the great Denis Law, who has passed ages 84. Some player he was.

We have another home game against a good team that has taken too many points off of us since Emery took charge. This really is a tricky fixture given our injury list and problems putting the ball in the net. We should of course win, but it’s by no means a shoe-in.

As I predicted, the win against Spurs has massively lifted the previously depressed mood, as it should. We really should have ran away with that game, but won by a single goal, so the nerves were jangling right up until the final whistle. That mood could be scuppered if Emery gets the better of Arteta, the “Arteta Out ” boys would jizz themselves.

Given the talk of Saliba’s hamstring injury and Sterling’s unimpressive outing , my team prediction is  Raya; Timber, Kiwior , Gabriel, Lewis-Skelly; Odegaard, Partey, Rice; Martinelli, Havertz, Trossard. By the way, I’m hugely impressed by Lewis-Skelly, it might be early doors, but I’m calling him for an Englans call up before he gets the key to the door.

Well that’s about all I have, all we can do is keep pushing and hope Liverpool faulter, it’s unlikely, but we would be kicking ourselves if they do and we are not in a position to capitalise.

Pedantic George.

Hello one and all.

In the absence of the wonderful Mill’s musings, it falls on me to carry the fading torch today. Me, my sunny disposition and in depth tactical knowledge, oh yes, you’re in for a treat today positives.

I would love to relate a story about a memorable visit to a North London Derby, but as I haven’t been within 200 miles of one, that’s not an option. However, there are some great memories from these games, and at the front of those are the first of two consecutive 5-2 wins during what I’m now reliably told was the “banter era”. 2-0 down against Bale, Modric, VDV and the rest of the Harry all stars. Mikel himself chipped a ball into the box and Sagna ran on to it , heading home from some 18 yards out, then Rosicky took the game by the scruff of the neck and RVP put them to the sword. It really was peak Wenger ball and a joy to behold.

So what have we got to look forward to on Wednesday evening? I would suggest it will be a far cry from Wenger ball, where creativity and players swashing their buckles was fundamental. It will be horse shoe possession inching our way up the pitch in the hope of getting a corner. Harsh you say? Well perhaps, but the evidence is right there in front of our eyes, every game, over and over. Our hope of a good game lies in the hands of the Spurs team, they are so gung-ho that they might drag us screaming and kicking into a good game of football.

At the time of writing this I don’t have the details of what our current injury woes are, so predicting a line up is pointless, but it’s not looking good. On the upside, Spurs have worse injury problems than us.

What I do know is the mood is not good, realistically dumped out of both domestic cups in a week, both home games, one of which was against 10 men of the worst United team the PL has seen. No matter how positive we want to be, we are more or less out of the running for the League Title, and have been since November.

If we don’t win this game I fear the worst, those calling for Arteta’s head will become relentlessly loud and obnoxious. Trenches will be dug and fans will fight each other with new social media whores popping up left, right and centre. I can’t think of a fixture that could be worse than this , if it goes wrong. On the flip side, because it’s Spurs, a win will pick us all up and at very least, kick the “Arteta Out” can down the road a good way.

Anyway, that’s it from me, let’s hope for a good game and a corner being turned into sunnier pastures. Enjoy it, after all, it’s only a game.

Pedantic George.

Hello and how are you?

Saturday 4th of January sees the Mighty Cannon take a trip down Premier League lane to the south coast to take up positions in a bout against Brighton and Hove Albion at the at Amex, kick off 5.30pm (western European time).

Part 1. And?

January the 4th. This day always sticks in my mind, as many famous died on this date. Over the years its left a cold, bitter as the cud taste, a darkling moment before the antics of Sir Andrew Augecheek on 12th night and bye to Christmastide. Unless youre Orthodox, in which case its ‘hello Christmastide’?

This list is long of those that shuffled off the mortal coil on this day and I won’t catalogue them all, but some are; Albert Camus, Glynis Johns, David Soul, Humphrey Carpenter (who I phoned up aged 12 and got on his nerves. Tip: don’t list your phone number in the book because I might phone you up for a chat), Phil Lynott, Eve Arnold, Christopher Isherwood, Donald Campbell, Karl Janáček and my own two personal favourite bass players, Mick Karn and Paul Chambers, all said: adios guy. 

Chambers dead at 33, and yet played on a ridiculous amount of records, some of them true peaks in the agreed highs of musical history. What is it about this day? Ever since I saw the spooky, black and white, slightly out of sync film with personal commentary of Donald Campbells accident, its haunted me. When Mick died it was like a a cruel joke, surely not on this day? Never again would those original, inventive, slithery bass patterns be heard again live.

As a kid you become slightly conscious of life, and are aware that it changes but you think it won’t change that much. Then one day look around and the landscapes totally different. TV personalities are different, values are different, design is different, the reflection in the mirror is different, football clubs are different, even the fans are different.

 I find it exasperating, everything that seemed solid and relevant was just in state of flux and mutation, everything that was important becomes unimportant? How do we choose to find values? Perhaps the dualities themselves are both red herrings? Praise and negative criticism, which one is real, which one is true? What if neither of them are? Or both are real, but not really real? Not really real because, as we can’t find anything in them that is unchanging but they still exist, in some form or other? But I’m an idiot, as I want things to not change, so I suffer more, sentimentality can be a drag, but it can also lead to compassion, and although its the hardest of all humanly tests, maybe its the only one that might have some liberating element? How do you balance nihilistic attitudes like ‘everything goes to dust, so who cares?’and/ or ‘all things are important and worthy no matter their current state?’.

 Any choices we make means elements are left out. Someone is left out, how do we stop this, can it be stopped? What are its ongoing consequences? It might seem irrelevant but such decisions affect managers and footballers as they search for harmony and victory, in a world where everything is against them, at least at some point. Choosing this means neglecting that. But what if that was the choice we should have made rather than this? It might sound pretty pretentious, but perhaps leagues are won and lost on such matters?

Part 2. Eh?

In one way we can look at the football season as a descent and an ascent? We start in the last languid golden days of August and head down the darkening yet colourful slope of autumn and hit the bottom of the valley in the silence of winter. The fairy lights of Christmas lead us across the dark, rocky plateau at the bottom of the valley and up and on to part two of the season. Its cold and hard, games coming fast and furious. Everyone has anxiety about a 3rd round FAC humiliation, and ManUre despite their bad form will be doing all they can to stop us, for them it would be giant-killing victory? He wrote with a wry grin, but not expecting it. 

This coming period will mean the stretching of the squad, everyone wants to stay in as many competitions as possible. But the break- through of Nwaneri and Lewis-Skelly has been good to see. I would have liked to have seen Sterling make more of an impact, but it might be too late for that plus there the opening of the transfer supermarket, with almost no special offers, but if there’s a piece of the jigsaw puzzle of perfection lurking in some bargain bucket I hope we sweep it up! I can’t see Isak coming down from Newcastle, and Rashford seems all wrong, at least on paper. Jesus has found some form, and that’s been something to cheer about…long may he find the back of the net.

Yet soon the games fly by as we climb up the other valleys side and before you can say ‘knife’ we are in the early days of June watching the CL final. We really need something, 2nd is very credible but Arsenal need some kind of silverware or a massive attempt to ascend to the summit. But it can only be one step at a time? At the valleys bottom is the spring board to May’s meadows of glory?

“thanks for telling us”

This January we have Villa, the Spuds, ManUre in the cup and City in early Feb, and we know that we can’t really afford to lose or draw again, so that’s an added pressure. Of course we are all hoping for a massive Liverpool implosion, like you, I’m not sure it will come, but it could…its interesting to see the amount of teams starting to make a bid; Forest, Chelsea, Newcastle, despite the 115 case, City themselves could make a comeback like Status Quo, so there much to be expected?

Part 3. Epilogue. Phew!

Brighton have slipped down to 10th which is not part of their overall plan for sure. They are the sort of team that can be a real tough one on the right day (he said like a truly monstrous, analytically-insightful nobel peace-prize winning expert). Our mates at stat HQ reckon the Seaweed have 21.7% chance of winning and the Gunners are at 54.1%.

Well that’s it, lots of bits and pieces that I’m sure have made you feel like going off and reading a Joseph Wrights Grammar of the Gothic language instead of reading this.

Even so, here’s to a great game for us and lucky horses! 

COYG and keep on keepin’ on!

Mills

Well, we have a few days break before we get back to it on the 27th, so I wanted to take this time to say thanks to you all for your support and making the blog still a great place with all your insights and comments on how the games are playing out, and Arsenal memories of days gone by.

And even if there is just a few of us left, it somehow still seems worth it. But most of all, I wanted to wish everyone a safe time this Christmas; look after yourselves and take care. Merry Christmas!

Well that’s it, lots of bits and pieces that I’m sure have made you feel like going off and having a merry Christmas instead of reading this.

COYG and keep on keepin’ on!

Mills

Well after Mills carrying us all season with his fantastically whimsical previews, I had one job to do, and that was to post this on 23rd , of course I failed. Sorry Mills and sorry everyone else. Let me take this opportunity to thank Mills and anyone else that still frequents our ever diminishing little group. Seasons greetings to one and all.

Pedantic George