Hahaha... Injuries! Oh, seriously?

Dear all,

This was going to be my post theorising around our troubles in winning the big games, including a passionate defence of Mr Mesut. Seems a bit redundant now as he's joined our crocked list so I'll leave it for next time.

 

       We'll keep the medics busy!

Why does it seem that while everyone else is playing football, Arsenal are fighting, and losing, some sort of horrendous war?

I am finding this genuinely quite upsetting on a few levels. None more prescient than the human. Following Arsenal is as close to taking an interest in celebrity as I will get. Cheesy as it feels to admit, these guys are something like heroes to me and I want them to do well for them and for me.



It's obviously upsetting because it adds to our troublingly long injury list. Injuries have always been a problem for us but never to this degree, surely? With this number of important players out.



Our medical team, for all the flack they get, surely need a holiday. When was the last time they had a rest? Maybe fatigue in the medical team correlates with fatigue and injury in our players!



The last thing that upsets me is how almost immediately, the loss of Mesut has given idiots appropriate vindication of their blind belief that we should have signed Fabregas in the summer and therefore Wenger is at fault again.



Regardless of our poor injury record, Wenger couldn't have predicted this. And it is not reasonable that Wenger should have signed Fabregas just in case there was a severe injury to Ozil. Get real. I wanted Fabregas to come back to Arsenal as much as anyone but it's perfectly reasonable that he wasn't signed with Ozil, Ramsey, Wilshere, Cazorla, Chamberlain and Rosicky all looking for game time.



Another sadness. Chelsea aside, it felt like Ozil's form was stirring with stellar performances at Villa and Galatasaray and I was looking forward to a possible purple patch from him which we now have to wait longer for. This will hurt no one as much as Ozil himself and I for one feel he needs and deserves a patch of form.



However, in his absence it does allow us to see how we work without him. This is by no means a blessing in disguise, but Wilshere, who is coming into form, has a great opportunity to grab the number 10 position with both hands and make it his. It's up to Wilshere now to really show us what he can do. It opens up a bit more space for the Ox to come in too, with Ramsey out. If that's the case Wenger may be forced to play Sanchez a bit more often which frankly I would like to see. Some of the unsettled fringe such as Rosicky should get a few more games too, so hopefully the players who remain fit, for however long they remain fit, can bring us sun through the clouds.



That's all from TheArseAndAll.

 

Que Sera Sera

Dear all,

I shall endeavour to bring a little joy in what promises to be a miserable international break for Arsenal fans. It may be joy shrouded in rye bitterness and sarcasm but genuine joy can be found in many a place.


I'm a twat.

I know it's been a while since my last blog post but I shan't make a thing of it as I am not keen to make it a recurring theme in my blog openings. I'm also aware this paragraph counters that very sentiment, so all sporadic blog posts in the future will never feature this acknowledgement again!

So, Sunday. Sunday Sunday Sunday... And not in the American, excited, superbowl sort of SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY. More of a morose and mournful Sunday... uttered in place of restrained weeps. I had the pleasure of sharing a train home with some drunken yokel Arsenal fans who were full of rage and insight as to Arsenal's short comings. As I listened to their ranting and raving I realised I was sit opposite a man hiding his Chelsea shirt under a black polo shirt. For a moment I felt a little ashamed that the presence of aggressive Arsenal fans may be the reason he felt the need to hide his colours but then I remembered he was a Chelsea fan and therefore a cunt.

Alluding to a previous blog of mine, being a Chelsea fan is like being a fan of Nazis. Yeah, Chelsea have some good ideas, never mind they're pure evil. Say what you like about Jose. He has the trains running on time (incidently, Hitler never did).

He should be ashamed of his colours regardless of how moronic those Gooners may have been, and besides they weren't outwardly aggressive. Just moronically obnoxious in their debate about Arsenal. Apparently, passing is shit. One of them declared that they hate passing. The same guy also asserted that he was as good as Cazorla. I may be judging on appearances alone which is not cool, nevertheless, I doubt it. However, I credit him with this analogy which I totally get. He said Arsenal's passing was like offering to and then withholding sweets from children (paraphrasing). It really is against any decent opposition. They knock it around in the opponents half. Like fools, we expect something to happen, and it rarely materialises.

It makes me long for this time last season. We were on a ridiculous hot streak and went on to rack up convincing wins against Liverpool and Napoli and we snatched a great win at Borussia Dortmund. Regardless of what the pundits say. We have won big games, and in recent enough memory.

This may not bring much consolation to some, but we were beaten by a very good Chelsea side. It's horrid to accept they're better than us at the moment, but they're better than everyone right now. They are in the zone we were in this time last year.

Nevertheless, it's time for Arsenal to establish themselves again. In the wake of Sunday, I for the first time found myself considering Wenger's rule as best for our club since his first full season. I'm aware a lot of people have had doubts over Wenger before, but I had never been shaken. Now, for me, he needs to have this team playing like winners by the end of the season or it's time for us to find an upgrade. - It has to be a Klopp-esque upgrade. For so long we've had the excuse of resources and money to fall back on. Player quality. Not anymore. We have Ozil, Sanchez, Ramsey, Cazorla, Mertesacker, Koscielny... These are players who should be achieving almost by right. We have Wilshere, Welbeck, Gibbs, Walcott, Oxlade-Chamberlain... Players who are on the edge of world class and need to push themselves over the line. Beyond those names we have a wealth of depth and experience. Resources and finances are no longer an issue for us. We have great players. A team of individuals with quality to rival Chelsea. We weren't beaten by a team of superior talent. We were beaten by a better, more confident team... of cunts.

I hope there were a few nuggets of amusement to be found in here. I'll have a blog with my thoughts on what our players need to do up in the coming days (lolz - maybeez! Don't hold your breath)

That's all from theArseAndAll.