Good morning all. I noticed yesterday that the sun was starting to peek out from the horizon at about 6:20 am. Officially, sunrise isn’t until almost 7 but I have always loved the way the morning sky glows flush before the sunrise. And for the first time this winter, I got home before sunset. Or at least I got home around 6:10, which is officially after sunset but the sky was still pale blue with the dying rays.
Even if the sky is mostly oyster grey and dry flakes of snow fall every once in a while it’s nice to have almost 12 hours of sun every day. Not long now before we have summer days that are too hot, or at least spring days where I can bust out my shorts.
I don’t know which one is more exciting, the days getting longer or the Arsenal finally playing entertaining football? Probably the latter.
Unai Emery rotated 6 players in, starting an almost entirely new front line from the previous match against Southampton. Only one player in attack remained: Mkhitaryan.
The Alexis-Mkhitaryan trade has few proponents on either side. Alexis has been a husk of himself since moving to Man U to take up the biggest contract in Premier League history and while Mkhitaryan does “put in a shift on both ends of the pitch” he’s been absent too often and been inconsistent since making the move to Arsenal. But when he’s on, you can see why Arsenal and Man U wanted him in the first place.
In a way, he reminds me of Thomas Rosicky. I know that’s blasphemy to the Rosicklytes but I simply mean that he’s a talented player who isn’t a big enough personality to take over a team but who elevates a good team.
Having one great player is good but having a great player and two or three really good players makes everything easier. That’s what Rosicky did, that’s what Mkhitaryan does. He makes it impossible for teams to just mark Ozil out of the game because he can hurt you too, and he brings enough hustle and energy to the defensive and offensive side to make up for it when the team plays with a player, like Ozil, who may be wanting in the defensive side of the game.
And of course, I mean it’s helpful if a player is scoring goals and providing assists but almost as important – I could be persuaded that it’s more important – is simple ball retention and making probing passes in the opposition final third. Mkhitaryan completed 89% of his passes yesterday, which is incredible for an attacking player and only overshadowed by the fact that Özil had a 5 star day, completing 97% of his passes. When the two of them are both singing from the same sheet music, Arsenal’s symphony is quite grand.
Also encouraging was how Arsenal handled the press. After going 2-0 down, Bournemouth tried to get back into the game through a high pressing tactic. This works against Arsenal because we have young players in midfield, some players who are less certain with the ball, and because referees allow teams to target Arsenal’s midfield. Arsenal are the most-fouled team in the League and Guendouzi, Torreira, and Xhaka are three of the most fouled players in Europe. So, it’s no surprise that Guendouzi was fouled and that the referee allowed the foul in the build-up for their only goal.
Bournemouth surprised a bit with their fouling tactic. I’ve always thought of Eddie Howe as the British Arsene Wenger. I didn’t have him down as the kind of manager who would send his players out to intentionally kick Arsenal. But there did seem to be something deliberate about the way Bournemouth tried to harass Arsenal in this match. The most egregious moment was when Josh King deliberately stamped on Laurent Koscielny.
Koz slid in to tackle the ball away and King just stamped directly on Koscielny’s knee. The reaction from the Arsenal captain was so immediate and such pain that I thought he’d snapped his achilles again. Until I saw the replay and watched King look down at Koscielny as he studded his knee.
You’re probably taking some umbrage with my depiction of Bournemouth and if I wanted to be fair I would say that “the Cherries played Arsenal tight”. But I don’t feel like being fair to them when they looked to have gotten away with three fouls each on Guendouzi and Torreira and the stamp on the most handsome defender in the League not named Rob Holding.
This referee, Chris Kavanaugh, has been in charge of 4 Arsenal matches in his career and we have won 3 of them with quite large margins. But there was one match, this season, which we didn’t win: the 3-2 loss to Southampton. That match ended Arsenal’s “22 match unbeaten run” and I went back and read what I had to say about that match and after yesterday’s performance, where I felt the referee was extremely lenient, I was surprised that I didn’t go after the referee more, this is the most “scathing” I got:
“It also feels a bit like teams have figured out Emery’s passing moves and how to harass Arsenal into turning the ball over. Once again the Arsenal midfield was targeted for fouls (Guendouzi was fouled at least 5 times) and Guendouzi and Torriera struggled to get the ball forward. Emery praised the team for controlling the match but like the three center backs, I disagree with him here.”
The good news is that Arsenal didn’t struggle as much yesterday, despite Kavanaugh allowing Bournemouth to kick and harass Arsenal.
Some of you will be upset that I’m having a go at this awful referee after Arsenal won 5-1 but like I’ve said a million times before, this is just how I felt about this match. I felt like we played so well, despite the crap referee. And maybe there’s a part of me that has to complain about something. I’ll have to have a think about that last thing.
Anyway, five goals. Five different goal-scorers. Emery bringing on Lacazette. Lacazette scoring. Ozil playing well. Mkhitaryan playing well. Koscielny not badly hurt. All fantastic fun to watch.
And in case you missed it, Tottenham lost 2-0 to Chelsea. It was a “fiery” match – Kane got away with a headbutt and several shoulder barges – and Tottenham were “lucky”* to escape without a single red card. Perhaps the emotions of the season, their stadium not finished, their multiple title collapses, are finally starting to catch up with them?
Big game on Saturday. If Arsenal win, we would be within 1 point of them in third. How much praise would I have for Emery if he gets us back on top of Tottenham?
Loads.
*English Captain
Coygs
It really does feel like spring has sprung and all is becoming right with the world – a purring Ozil, fluid Mkhitaryan, uninjured Boss and several lovely goals following a week of unseasonable warmth here in Ireland, two great men’s awfulness being exposed, some light at the end of the Brexit tunnel and a distant glimmer off the greatest trophy in sport, st totteringham’s day. Think I’ll play some poker tonight.
+1
Spurs away is a hard fixture, which, on the basis of how these teams have done over the past few years, looks like draw or lose. Im going with draw. As always, Im hoping that my team proves me wrong.
Spurs are not going to allow themselves to lose 3 in a row. And certainly not to us. Our recent for looks good, but we’re going to make Harry Kane look like he’s never been away, and make Son look like Messi.
However we have to be encouraged by the fact that our attack has looked better in recent games, especially with Ozil’s return. That said, I’d be surprised if he starts. Ramsey probably will, and Mkhi has played himself into “cant drop” status. As I said in the previous post, he was terrific on Wednesday.
Harry Kane should have seen red against Chelsea. Boy wouldnt that have been nice.
how about mkhi, brother? two goals and 3 assists in the last two games. not bad, huh?
I gave him due credit in my post match comment. A longer reply to the comment below has disappeared into the holding pen.
yep.
how much praise goes to emery? meh, not too much; at least not yet. he’s done what even my mom knew to do and that was to play mesut ozil.
maybe that’s harsh as he has forced mesut to train better, not call in sick, etc. which is good for the team but it must have been tough to leave ozil out. i’ll give emery credit for being tough. all the chitchat about the saving money conspiracy and moving ozil off the wage books, i never believed. it’ always been about unai and mesut and them coming to an understanding between player and manager. we’ll continue to monitor.
i had a little chat with claudeivan last week about the quality of mkhitaryan and tried to convince him that the armenian is a mighty fine footballer. we’ve seen mkhi miss some tough chances with his weaker foot but has been clinical with his stronger right foot. he’s also worked very hard for the team defensively. he’s never been a prolific goal scorer but he’s never played with mesut ozil. his signing was sound.
the strategy of forcing everything to the middle is such a sound defensive approach for attacking players and i love it when arsenal does that. it’s something i do with my teams and they’re so tough to play against. even college kids struggle to figure it out and i couldn’t tell you why. by the time they figure it out, it’s often like the 70th minute and they’re down 4-0 and that’s if they even figure it out before full time.
an aside: when managing a game and i need to say something that i want all of the players to hear, i’ll yell “echo”. my players would repeat my echo call. that’s a notice for everyone to pay attention to what i was about to say. then i would say something in a not-so-cryptic code like “develop the three”. everyone who could clearly hear me would repeat, “develop the three” for guys on the far side of the field to know what i was saying and they would give me a thumbs up, in acknowledgement. fyi, “develop the three” means look to set a trap for the left back. that’s what arsenal did on mkhi’s goal. mesut forced their left back to the middle and he tried a cross-field pass but he didn’t see mkhi hiding. mkhitaryan intercepted the pass and it led to his goal. i love those kinds of goals because they’re more about situation development than skill.
The exhaustively gathered inside story from David Ornstein showed the Ozil episode in a much more cynical light. But whatever people choose to believe, no one was arguing against Emery’s right to drop him, only that exile to Siberia — a total blank — was not in Arsenal’s best interests, especially given the turd soup that the coach had been serving at the start of year. And so it has proved. It’s a fact he’s one of best 18 players. Heck, he’s making the case right now for being one of our best 12. Emery found himself in an absurd and losing situation of his own making, and the press was not letting go of it. It was hurting Arsenal.
The “Mesut is training better” media patch arrived later than Ramsey in the box, and Ive been exposed to spin long enough not to buy it. Especially as he was fit, training and still left out of the squad before, because of, Emery himself said, “tactical reasons”, and wanting players for the particular tactical situation. We seem to have forgotten everything that happened between November and January.
Funny things happen when you play your most technical and skilled players. You, like, you know, win games and look more fluid? Emery is playing Ozil beacuse his results since the turn of the year were poor, and he needed to fix it. We cant have folks segueing straight from Emery is right to totally blank him because of as yet unseen big picture, to Emery is right to bring him back.
On Mhki, Im happy to be proven wrong, although 2 games don’t make a season. And he wasn’t just missing sitters with his good foot either. The goal Laca scored against Saints? A Mhki mishit. He’s finding some form, and that’s great. We need all hands on deck — Mhki, Mesut, Ramsey, the Muskateers, Xhaka, Licht, and even, it seems, Jenkinson — for the top 4 and Europa run in.
But I doubt we’re beating Spurs away next weekend.
oh yeah, i meant to tell you guys i saw kai havertz, the player they call “the new ozil”, play on saturday against dortmund. that kid is the real deal. at 19, arsenal need to sign him if they can. he’s the real deal. put it this way; if mesut ozil and aaron ramsey had a baby, it would be kai havertz. understand, i mean 19-year old aaron ramsey, not the current arsenal #8; ramsey from 2008 was a badass that played with a lot of intelligence.
Does he hit the ball into the ground when he wants to chip someone?
Is he called ‘Cobra’? Because if so, then yes we should get him. Also if people haven’t watched it, the series is excellent.
We should also buy the Southampton GK. A player named A.Gunn not playing for Arsenal is a travesty.
I wanted to watch the game again today, and that hasn’t happened this season. Not even with the Spurs game.
I thought Mesut’s finish was the greatest thing I’ll see all weekend, because what a beauty. And then saw the Spurs own goal and that was simply delightful.
It’s got to be telling on them. They keep getting favourable media coverage, but even Poch now says their mentality is Spursy. The history of Tottenham as Chiellini said he’d learned from Szczesny.
Ok, I’m getting too gung ho because they are likely to win against us at the weekend, but it’s far from a foregone conclusion. Can you imagine beating them and being within a point of them?
I don’t expect Mesut to start against them. Though maybe he should. He and the team are clearly enjoying playing together, and he’s not going to coast against Spurs after delivering a message of how much he loves it here. But we’ll probably see Ramsey and Xhaka return. Anyway, that’s not all that important. I hope we rest up, prepare well and then play some good entertaining football again.
A lot of beautiful football yesterday, and a touch of $hithousery with Papa collapsing the wall to enable the Laca goal. Kos and Papa have a thang going in back that just FEELS so much better than any side with Musti in it. Can they stay healthy for the rest of the season? Being a solid team starts with the defense. Without that foundation we just lack the stability to allow the attack the opportunity to show its stuff.
Agree about Guen – he was so clearly fouled on that play. Starting to marvel at his development, even since the start of the season. He is demanding the ball and progressing it with confidence that the entire team feels.
Anyone making guesses on our formation and selection on Saturday? Excited to see what Emery has up his sleeve. Fully expect 3 at the back, but he seems to like surprises.
I don’t expect a win, but a man can still dream.
Heheheh.
Awoke early-early this morning to ready for work.
Caught a headline online on Trippier’s OG.
Clicked on a 15-second clip of it.
Laughing before work was therapeutic.
Whole day– been a good one.
Heheheh.
I just watched the clip. Such comedy gold.
Such a cheeky, delicate finish under Lloris, keeper no chance 😂
Ranieri fired by Fulham after 16 games
Perhaps he’ll get the Celtic job.
Yes, a great result with Ozil scoring his now signature goal, and nearly a second with a great volley. Mikhi might get a start against Spurs, but I doubt Mesut will even be in the match squad. That’s no problem really as he’s going to be an asset in these sort of games in run in to May.
‘the most handsome defender in the League not named Rob Holding.’ I’d say that was the Bournemouth’s central defender Nathan Ake, who my female best friend drools over. The guy you have a man crush on always reminds me a lot of country singer Lyle Lovett. Hope I’m not being too unkind there. I don’t disagree over Holding though.
Yeah, I’m with Claude on the NLD. Lose or draw, but likely the former, and hope to be proven wrong. However, I do think we can beat United at home next week, and after that, who knows? Maybe folks are right to start thinking about 4th again. Honestly, though, I don’t see us finishing any higher than 5th this season, no matter what happens at Tottenham.
Just looking at the remaining fixtures, and actually we have some really tricky away games to play, notably Watford and what’s likely to be a rejuvenated Leicester.
C’mon, Bun! You mean you’re not buying in 100% after beating the powerhouse that is Bournemouth? Once bitten…
But I would take issue with “I don’t see us finishing any higher than 5th this season, no matter what happens at Tottenham.” If we were to steal a win against Spuds, I would really like our top 4 chances at that point, barring another big injury.
One thing I noticed against Chelsea and the 4-2 win by Arsenal is that Tottenham get really stroppy when they aren’t winning. I wonder if they aren’t going to be suffering a little bit “lasagna” when we go there? Maybe if we get under their skin, get an early goal, and make sure we give as much as we get (like in the first meeting) we could get something out of this. But honestly, I’m going in with zero expectations.
We remain really good at The Emirates but we are s^%t away. It’s plagued for a while now, our away form. Even after changing manager and losing player (Walcott, Giroud, Ox, etc.) What gives?
Luckily, the NLD isn’t really an away game and we’ve had some good times at Wembley. so yeah, zero expectations.
Away games are already much harder than home. But this is exacerbated because of two things:
1) possession. We aren’t a great possession team. We are susceptible to pressure.
2) defense. we are also a sloppy defensive team.
these two combined with the fact that scoring away is usually harder make us prone to losses.
One thing I forgot to mention in the post is that I have to heap praise on Unai Emery: his plan to drop Ozil so that the fans and the team would desperately miss him and everyone would be overjoyed by his return was sheer brilliance.
It was a Hail Emery.
Haha! Nice.
lol
Very happy to have won the past two games. Just need to be sensible about things. Bournemouth were missing 5 starters. Once a club like that starts digging that deep into their squad, there’s going to be a severe drop in quality. Southampton were bottom three when we played them. The Emirates is a bit of a fortress, so we were always going to beat these two sides there. It’s the away games where we drop points. Losing to Bate, proves that this team can lose to any team away. However, the Spurs game is at Wembley. Not White Hart Lane. So it’s a little more neutral. Hopefully the lads can get something. However, Man. U always has our number, so I feel they will beat us next week. Feel pretty sure Ozil will not start against Spurs. It will be Ramsey. Hopefully this Coach is starting to figure things out.
All true.
Went for a walk with a friend yesterday instead of catching the game yesterday so I just had the chance to watch it back on the .com.
Ozil Gets Stuck In…!!
The most eye-catching moment for me, and there were a lot to choose from, was Mesut Ozil dispossessing Josh King adjacent to his own corner flag and then drawing a foul in the same area when Bournemouth tried to bully him off the ball. That, for me, was more meaningful than the pure poetry of his finish and his assist because it shows he has bought in to what Emery wants him to do, and that is incredibly significant in terms of both their futures. They need each other, and if they can be in harmony (to pile on to Tim’s metaphor), Arsenal’s chorus will sing in tune. Beyond that, it was good to see Ozil make plenty of sprints behind the Bournemouth defenders. He certainly worked hard for the team today in both phases and there was genuine affection for him from his team mates which was terrific to see. This Arsenal team today looked like they were playing together and playing hard for each other and for their coach. Promising.
How was that not a foul on Guendouzi…??
The one blemish, the Moussett goal, was quite clearly a foul on Guendouzi. It’s not being talked about because of the result, but in my mind it was a clear and obvious miss by the referee. Removing that chance, Bournemouth created only about 0.6 xG, so very similar to the Soton game. Bournemouth had major injuries and are never as competitive away from home, but they still have players like Fraser and King who can and do cause teams problems. Other than the early Fraser chance they didn’t create anything of note from open play. The defensive improvement, anchored by Koscielny and Sokratis, continues.
Hip hip hooray for Jenkinson…
Ok so this wasn’t the most difficult game ever but Carl impressed especially with his energy and commitment, so important to any Emery match, on that right flank in support of Ozil. He didn’t do as much with the ball in the final 3rd but he absolutely gave everything he had for 90 minutes in his first start for us in 6 years, and played his part in one of our best performances of the season. Should he start in the NLD? It’s hard to make a case that Lichtsteiner or AMN is a better choice on the back of that performance.
“ How was that not a foul on Guendouzi…??“
Because apparently a foul is what referee deems it to be a foul.
Is it a foul when you nick the ball first but clutter into the player afterwards , which is what happened to Geun?
If so, then every time a keeper brings an attacker down should be a pen regardless whether he touches the ball first or not.
I’m not bothered by the non call on this play. Guen needs to learn from it.
You can’t make a 25 yard return run calling for the ball not knowing what’s directly behind you.
“Is it a foul when you nick the ball first but clutter into the player afterwards , which is what happened to Geun?”
Yes, that really is a foul every time by the letter of the law. Nowhere in the rules is there anything to my knowledge about getting the ball or getting the ball first. It’s about what the referee deems to be “excessive” or “reckless.” The interpretations get ever fuzzier when the contact is in the penalty area. I’m with Tim, there have been shocking fouls on Arsenal players this season, some of them inside the box, that weren’t whistled. Mkhitaryan was injured by one such. This was one such. The referee in my view adjudicated it differently because it resulted in a goal and he wasn’t 100% sure it was a foul. For the same play on the midfield line, he would’ve blown that up.
That said, I do agree Guendouzi allowed the player to get too close to him instead of playing the obvious and open pass to his left. It also wasn’t the only time he over-elaborated in possession during that game. He is 19, he will learn from that, but for the specific incident that lead to that goal, for me that is 75% bad refereeing and 25% the player dawdling a little too much.
It’s all fuzzy and open to interpretation and that’s why I said Guen needs to learn from it.
I’m not blaming him btw, if anything , this shows how difficult it is to play out the back under heavy press, especially when half the players involved in the set up are first year players.
Leno, Licht, Guen, Sokratis, Torreira…. all strangers to one another at the start of the season , and the rest of the defense as well.
It takes time.
If Jenco can somehow get to start there is no need ever to not play a fit Ozil…..coaches makes senseless decisions at times. What’s the expectations of fans?….
Tottenham actually have the best away record in the league with 11-0-4. Their home record by contrast is pretty wretched, 9-0-4, which is good for 5th, and even worse by expected goals against which is a brutal 12th in the league with an xGA of 18. They’ve had some luck at Wembley and have conceded 6 fewer goals than that expected sum, given the chances allowed at home. They have accumulated 24 xG at home, a respectable sum good for 5th in the league that nevertheless trails Arsenal (3rd) by 6 and Man City (1st) by over 20.
Arsenal are the exact opposite of this in terms of our away record. Away from Emirates, we have scored 8 more goals than the ~17 odd xG says we were due (and by xG rank a mere 10th), but conceded 6 more goals than the already wretched 19 that xGA says we reasonably should expect (for a rank of 8th). So by way of over-achieving in terms of goals scored and under-achieving an already low sum in terms of goals conceded, Arsenal have managed the results of a mid-table team on the basis of our away record.
In terms of a prediction, Spurs usually score more goals at home than we do away from home but they concede basically the same number of chances, so the numbers seem to favor them but just slightly. Add to that our recent good form and their recent wretched form: Arsenal are the 3rd hottest team in the month of February and Spurs just 9th. Usually the saying is to throw the form book out the window for a derby. I’m not so sure trends like this are so easy to disregard, but Tottenham will be motivated not to lose three straight and they still boast one of the top defenses in the league. A tight 1-1 draw with lots of yellow cards is my best guess.
Watch the game again, highlights, and a few more things….
I absolved Guendouzi of blame because of a dangerous pass from Leno, but Guendouzi, running towards goal and not knowing what danger lurked behind, called for it. So yes, contrary to what I aid at the time, he shoulders some of the blame. Leno, though should have ignored him and passed it to his wide open captain.
I hadn’t realised that Ozil did his bounce/dink, insouciant as you please. Does any other gunner make the difficult look easier? Mhki had both the interception and a pre-assist of exquisite weight, before he got it back from Ozil, aired to clear the diving keeper. Tim kind of mentioned that Mhki seemed to play better by having a super intelligent baller next to him.
Auba is interesting. 80% of the time he can seem not in the game, then bang. His feed from Mhki was a candidate for pass of the game, rivalling the 2 passes that led to his goal.
The more I watch the game, the more I appreciate what an outstanding defender Laurent Koscielny is, even at his age. Him and Sokratis give us a pretty good centre back pairing.
I don’t think Leno should’ve ignored Guen.
A pretty standard pass for Guen to trap and play it back to the keeper to either dink it over the first line of high press or hoof it up the pitch.
City do it a lot.
What you don’t do is make blind turns with the ball at your feet at the edge of penalty area.
But if the best in the business can get caught out like that ( Fernandinho in the New Castle game), then a 19 year old Guen easily gets a pass.
So I’m on a work trip in the Middle East. I landed at my destination at 2am local time after a 9 hour flight with a stopover, got to my hotel room at 3am and because I am a masochist I didn’t go to sleep – instead I watched not the highlights but the full match of Arsenal v Bournemouth on my little phone screen.
Loved every tired, grit-eyed, squinty minute of it.
Guendouzi blew me away. My man of the match. Such incisive passing, such intelligence and composure from a 19 year-old. I know, he got caught for that goal. I know, Ozil and Mkhi were probably better. But I was hypnotized watching that kid. Maybe it’s because I’m feeling old and sort of insubstantial in myself.
Got to sleep around 5.40am and got up to go to work at 9am. It’s beyond raining. There’s a legendary storm in action here, sheets of water are flooding down the hillside streets, downtown is flooded and cars are floating around, unmoored, banging into storefronts.
I get to the office, it’s warm and dry. There are welcomes and friendly faces, we greet and catch up.
I’m 43, I recently started taking antidepressants, my life is very good but I generally feel nothing. So when a 19 year-old kid looks that comfortable in Arsenal’s midfield and it puts a crack in the cloud bank, I am very thankful for that 19 year-old kid.
This is why I follow a football club.
Glad you’ve gotten treatment and a way forward.
Have belief– that positivity and your own sheer will– can deliver you my friend.
One’s life and health are oft taken for granted– until faced with the prospect that one or both deal you an unplayable hand.
Good to know you have a source of joy to reflect upon!
jw1
Hey Greg, always enjoy your lucid and clear-eyed posts. The great scribes and artists are all tortured souls, no? 🙂 Be well, sir.
Where are you? Iran, by any chance? Great country, not the one of popular imagination.
Keep fighting the good fight brother Greg. One day at a time.
The error/non-call aside, Guendouzi’s body feints are becoming unplayable for Premier League defenders. That ability to create separation, gaining a few more milliseconds to decide what to do with the ball, is priceless. And he’ll usually play a safe pass but in this game he was really attacking space while in possession.
I honestly can’t visualise what a player Xhaka would be if he could drop his shoulder, evade a challenge and carry the ball like Douzi. That’s a player Real Madrid would want to take over from Modric.
I just love watching Matteo play. Nothing humanises the modern, corporate superclub more than a breakout young player us jaded fans can project a little hope onto.
Guendouzi’s searing FORWARD passes to feet through a crowd is terrific to watch.
He wants the ball, wants to dictate, wants the responsibility. He’s a scrapper too. Loves to mix it. And as you said, can feint to create space, or carry the ball. He rarely goes safe/conservative, almost always looks to progress.
A gem.
Well said. It’s easy to see a bit of young Aaron Ramsey about Guendouzi. Maybe not as much offensive nous but the two way impact from midfield, the persistence, the engine, immediately looking like he belongs at this level all recall a certain Welshman circa 2009.
“Tottenham’s Heung-Min Son crowned
London’s Premier League Player of the Year”
Tad early– no?
Had the panel waited another 2-3 weeks they likely would have voted for someone other than a backup– only getting enough minutes thanks to injury.
Plus? Spurs won’t be in 3rd-place much longer.
jw1
Liverpool and ManCity are in solid race to the top, What’s really awesome is that L’pool still has to play Sp*rs and Chelsea, and ManCity also still have to play Sp*rs and ManU. That’s 4 games for our 4th place competitors to navigate and provided we dont screw up against our games with Sp*rs and ManU, we should have a chance.
I like idea of the bounce shot being called the Ozil but it’ll never catch on because nobody else can do it.
Is it possible that no one has even attempted that technique other than Ozil because it is a very low percentage shot?
How many goals has he scored this way btw, two ?
Not to rain on Ozil is the greatest thing since the sliced bread parade( I’m a fan), but the player many on here believe is easily dispensable and an attempt at face saving – kinda joke of a transfer story really , Mkhitaryan, has had a much better goal/ assist output in his last two PL seasons than Ozil.
Mkhitaryan – a goal/ assist per 127 minutes played
Ozil- a goal/ assist per 175 minutes played
And he changed clubs while Ozil has been well settled in.
Tim, your excerpted comments on the away game at Bournemouth were extremely prescient. You were right about those warning signs during the unbeaten run – teams had worked us out, and Emery didn’t seem to have an answer for it.
The Spurs/Arsenal preview really irritated me. Mental tiredness, and more football than anyone else in the past 18 months, apparently.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2019/mar/01/premier-league-10-things-to-look-out-for-this-weekend