Iheanacho is now third choice striker for City behind Gabriel Jesus and Sergio Kun Aguero, a situation which made him miss out on the matchday
squad for some games last season.
Not exact matches
Last - season transfers 6» 11» Barry Sumpter (late of Louisville), 6» 7» Andre Harris (Indiana) and 6» 8» Javin Johnson (Oklahoma) were not eligible
for games, but they did work out with the
squad.
there is still time, but the idea should be to get players in early so they are settled
for the next season, tis waiting
game whilst most of our rivals improve their
squads is frustrating, because this happens ever year.We've needed a Dm and a St
for at least the
last 3 seasons at least
The Armenian international didn't even make the match - day
squad for six of seven
games over the
last month or so, but it appears as though he's getting another chance from Mourinho ahead of the January transfer window.
The Arsenal defender Calum Chambers was watched by Roy Hodgson in a few
games recently, including at right - back against Chelsea, and it seems that the England boss has decided to pull the 19 year - old out of the U21
squad for the important European Championship play - off against Croatia to give him his first taste of senior football at Wembley, after coming on as a sub in the
last friendly in Norway.
With Dani Alves in front of him
for the national side, it isn't likely that he'll earn too many starts with Brazil, but
last summer he was called up as a late replacement
for the Barcelona man
for two
games as well as featuring in the under - 23
squad that won the silver medal at
last year's Olympic
games.
Januzaj was omitted from Belgium's Euro 2016
squad after playing just six
games for Dortmund
last season.
The Chilean has been a key member of their
squad for the
last few years now, and summer signing Alexandre Lacazette has struggled of late with no goals in his
last nine
games.
Gibbs should be sold if West Brom come in with 10 million and if we somehow get rid of Debuchy and sell Chambers and Lucas too plus the money
for Szczesny we'll bag enough cash to buy a player or two who will improve the
squad without doing major damage, because we had players with the numbers 1,2,3 and 10 either out of the club or playing less than 10
games last season.
Podolski loaned out Sanogo loaned out Afobe sold to wolves Welbeck injured Walcott not at top level Cavani left out of PSG
squad for last 3
games
The way he has played
for the
last 6
games, anyone in the
squad.
why was Sanchez truly playing... no one believes he was too injured to play to start the season, and some like myself would go as far to suggest he wasn't injured at all... so why play him... they can't say it was to appease the fans because when was that ever a factor at this club except when «panic buys» were in the offing... I believe that this was to give Arsenal a little leverage when it comes to negotiating his transfer... just imagine their horrible bargaining position if Sanchez never saw the field before the deadline then heading back to South America and played
for Chile... regardless of the facts, this was sadly again another example of a team putting business ahead of fielding a team with the greatest chance to secure 3 points... of course, some will say that Sanchez is, or was, our best player, so obviously he's a no - brainer to start, but those who really watch the
game know that his heart hasn't been truly in it
for quite some time... even at the end of
last season you could see a definitive difference between the Sanchez who played
for Chile and the one that played
for Arsenal... that being said, 70 % of Sanchez is still better than a 100 % of the vast majority of our remaining roster... shame on you Arsene and shame on you too Sanchez
for that telling smirk... I've supported your attempt to push this
squad to the next level but don't pretend
for a second that you didn't know you were being watched... don't lower your standards or you'll end up like this club, on the outside looking in
IMO Leicester showed
last season what this
squad failed to realize, they showed up every
game for 90 minutes of maximum effort.
Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech is a doubt
for this
game, due to a calf injury sustained
last week, but otherwise Arsenal could also have a fully fit
squad with the exception of the unfortunate Santi Cazorla, who has not been able to play since October 2016 as I reported in my preview of this season's away
game.
Tottenham's visit to the Boleyn Ground — their
last one before West Ham move to the Olympic Stadium — is a third
game in six days
for Mauricio Pochettino's young and fit
squad.
I hope I'm wrong but this could be the most damaging win when it comes to transfers... winning 1
game, after about 20 minutes of really good play, is of little consequence in the grand scheme of things... only those with the most selfish of intentions would suggest otherwise... the only reason we're even in this predicament, where were celebrating our first victory of 2018 against a bottom half
squad who is managed by possibly the only individual more antiquated than our manager, is because of Wenger's ridiculous mishandling of his contract
last year combined with his mishandling of the contracts of our top players this year; a fact that he himself admitted to... so before you get too excited about the possibilities of our current roster don't forget what has happened over the
last several years and pray to the gods of football that real quality reinforcements like Auba are on the way, which could have happened years ago
for less money and we might have been holding a trophy of some significance, or this brief respite will be followed by the usual mediocrity and stagnation
Monreal, Xhaka, Cech and Iwobi were rested, and the
last named seems to be happy that the whole
squad is competing
for places, and the replacements have upped their
game to try and force their way into the starting XI.
There is also Serge Gnabry, who has just returned from a long term injury and could return to the
squad after playing 10
games for the Gunners
last season, and is very highly respected as an all - rounder.
Chambers - Paid a lot of money
for a young player with little experience in regards First Team and Premiership
games.He looked a good prospect and because of injuries to the
squad he found himself playing very soon into his Arsenal career.This caught up with him a bit as did playing with different CB partners and filling in at full back.Form dipped and was out of the side till a year long loan move to Boro.He was playing every week and despite them going down he was one of their best and consistent players.He has been indifferent since coming back but has looked better in
last few
games he has played.I believe there is a very decent centre back in this player and would not describe him as a bad buy at all.
I thought that the BFG had his best
game for us in a long time.I am normally quick to criticise the guy but respect to the guy he was excellent
last night.I also hope Gabriel has a quick return back to the
squad he has a lot to learn about the premier league
After we gave Chelski a good spanking
last season in probably Conte's fifth or sixth
game in charge he immediately re organised them and went through till the new year unbeaten.He had them very solid at the back and scoring goals
for fun.And all this with a
squad of players he inherited and their top striker Costa wanting Away.They ended up romping to the Premiere League Title scoring loads more goals and conceding far less than Wengers Arsenal.We by the way are treading water at best this season and would not bet on us finishing above Chelski even allowing
for the season they are having.
The Quick Lane Bowl will be a matchup between a 6 - 6 Duke team that needed to win its
last two
games to become bowl eligible and an 8 - 4 Northern Illinois
squad that was one
game away from playing
for a MAC title.
The season before
last 14 15 we did better with the points than
last season even though we came second from
last season we know we conceded many goals from set pieces and were very short on goal scoring the logic of this season was to fix the defensive department and the offensive department by introducing a defender to reduce the amount of goals conceded unless holding is to be the man we havent us of yet fixed the problem on the offensive department we all know the only offensive player is chuba apkom well else we have not addressed the problem so in reality I do not except Arsenal to finish the season with more than 70 points and personally think minimum point required to win the premier league is 85 points have we got that in our
squad it will remain to be seen if chuba and holding are enough
for a key to unlock the season we will soon find out but I think MR wenger is gambling with the introduction of new manageress which lives us with Liverpool and Leicester and who will take the points off united chelsea and city the next 6
games should give us the indication to what may happen to the long run
for the new year
In the latest injury update on the Arsenal.com website, Arsene Wenger has revealed that another French midfielder, Mathieu Flamini, has a chance of being available again
for the Tottenham
game, after missing out on the
last two
squads due to a small problem.
Why you should watch: The Quick Lane Bowl will be a matchup between a 6 - 6 Duke team that needed to win its
last two
games to become bowl eligible and an 8 - 4 Northern Illinois
squad that was one
game away from playing
for a MAC title.
The Arsenal and former Germany international centre back Per Mertesacker seems to have had one of the longest chest infections in the history of medicine, as he missed the
last two Premier League
games before the international break with it and was still not back in the Arsenal
squad for the Champions League
game against Dinamo Zagreb this week.
But when people are saying we should sign X-player who contributed well
last season while playing every single
game for «depth» sure, on paper it looks great, but a lot of players hit patches of form that may not necessarily be given that opportunity here, as there may be someone else in the
squad who hits the ground running and contributes straight away... If Coquelin, Arteta, Flamini, Wilshere, Ramsey, AOC, Ozil, Cazorla, Rosicky are all fit and firing, I think you're sorely mistaken if you think anything but a truly world - class midfielder would be looking at those names and not potentially evaluating their first - team opportunities.
(1) this
squad has way too many moving parts and very few of our players are good enough at their preferred position let alone relying on them in whatever position Wenger and his magic eight ball decide in the tunnel prior to the
game... when teams do this it generally signals issues within the club, much like Jose
last year and Van Gael before him... no one gets settled, the chemistry is almost non-existent and if provides a built - in excuse when the team comes up short... these issues fall squarely on Wenger, both
for his decisions regarding players coming in and
for his inability to rid the team of those players who aren't cutting it... in actually fact we have only 6 real starters on this current
squad and that's being generous (Sanchez, Ozil, Lacazette, Sead, Kos & Cazorla)... which is discouraging because Cazorla is injured and might never play again, Sanchez is wanting out and the club is lying to us about his injury status, Lacazette receives no service, Ozil is relatively disinterested out there, Kos is getting up there and Sead is just trying to settle in... there isn't a single other player that would start regularly on any of the other top 3 teams, which should be the standard... imagine this team moving forward if Wenger only sells before the window closes
Now I think there is still reasons to be cheerful, I agree Man C & Chelski have spent & bought some good players, we all understand that 5 of those teams might be in the CL proper which is a huge distraction
for those 4 - 5 teams.Chelsea will not be able to field the same 13 - 14 players all season, as
for Man C they were very frail at the back
last season, add to that 2 flying wing backs and I'm not sure they will be any better this coming season.LFC will most probably have CL as well if they qualify and haven't exactly bought great players apart from Salah who could be a good aquasistion
for them.Spuds have sold a good player & strengthened a rival & still not bought a single player yet, Man U have bought 2 good players & in Lukaku have a proven goal scorer in the PL but if they play the same dour way they did
last season & with the added
games the CL brings will they perform week in week out in the league??? As
for Everton yes they have released a lot of players and also brought in a lot too to give better quality in the
squad as they have Europa league the same as US the big difference is I think we will play
squad players & youngsters maybe with a few senior players all the way up to the QF This tells me most of our rivals will pave the way
for us to field pretty much the same side every weekend in the PL thus giving us an advantage over all the other 5 teams playing in the CL & Europa, just remember the League has been won in the
last 2 seasons by teams NOT in Europe YES we are this season but I think Wenger will put all his eggs in the League basket and field an under strength side in all comps hence focusing on the League until we are no longer in the race.
Last season, Arsenal were far from ready
for our first League
game which we duly lost to Liverpool with a makeshift defensive set up, but this time around Wenger is much more confident that he will have a strong
squad ready when we take on Leicester.
Time
for some brutal honesty... this team, as it stands, is in no better position to compete next season than they were 12 months ago, minus the fact that some fans have been easily snowed by the acquisition of Lacazette, the free transfer LB and the release of Sanogo... if you look at the facts carefully you will see a team that still has far more questions than answers... to better show what I mean by this statement I will briefly discuss the current state of affairs on a position - by - position basis... in goal we have 4 potential candidates, but in reality we have only 1 option with any real future and somehow he's the only one we have actively tried to get rid of
for years because he and his father were a little too involved on social media and he got caught smoking (funny how people still defend Wiltshire under the same and far worse circumstances)... you would think we would want to keep any goaltender that Juventus had interest in, as they seem to have a pretty good history when it comes to that position... as far as the defenders on our current roster there are only a few individuals whom have the skill and / or youth worthy of our time and / or investment, as such we should get rid of anyone who doesn't meet those simple requirements, which means we should get rid of DeBouchy, Gibbs, Gabriel, Mertz and loan out Chambers to see if
last seasons foray with Middlesborough was an anomaly or a prediction of things to come... some fans have lamented wildly about the return of Mertz to the starting lineup due to his FA Cup performance but these sort of pie in the sky meanderings are indicative of what's wrong with this club and it's wishy - washy fan - base... in addition to these moves the club should aggressively pursue the acquisition of dominant and mobile CB to stabilize an all too fragile defensive group that has self - destructed on numerous occasions over the past 5 seasons... moving forward and building on our need to re-establish our once dominant presence throughout the middle of the park we need to target a CDM then do whatever it takes to get that player into the fold without any of the usual nickel and diming we have become famous
for (this kind of ruthless haggling has cost us numerous special players and certainly can't help make the player in question feel good about the way their future potential employer feels about them)... in order
for us to become dominant again we need to be strong up the middle again from Goalkeeper to CB to DM to ACM to striker, like we did in our most glorious years before and during Wenger's reign... with this in mind, if we want Ozil to be that dominant attacking midfielder we can't keep leaving him exposed to constant ridicule about his lack of defensive prowess and provide him with the proper players in the final third... he was never a good defensive player in Real or with the German National
squad and they certainly didn't suffer as a result of his presence on the pitch... as
for the rest of the midfield the blame falls squarely in the hands of Wenger and Gazidis, the fact that Ramsey, Ox, Sanchez and even Ozil were allowed to regularly start when none of the aforementioned had more than a year left under contract is criminal
for a club of this size and financial might... the fact that we could find money
for Walcott and Xhaka, who weren't even guaranteed starters, means that our whole business model needs a complete overhaul...
for me it's time to get rid of some serious deadweight, even if it means selling them below what you believe their market value is just to simply right this ship and change the stagnant culture that currently exists... this means saying goodbye to Wiltshire, Elneny, Carzola, Walcott and Ramsey... everyone, minus Elneny, have spent just as much time on the training table as on the field of play, which would be manageable if they weren't so inconsistent from a performance standpoint (excluding Carzola, who is like the recent version of Rosicky — too bad, both will be deeply missed)... in their places we need to bring in some proven performers with no history of injuries... up front, although I do like the possibilities that a player like Lacazette presents, the fact that we had to wait so many years to acquire some true quality at the striker position falls once again squarely at the feet of Wenger... this issue highlights the ultimate scam being perpetrated by this club since the arrival of Kroenke: pretend your a small market club when it comes to making purchases but milk your fans like a big market club when it comes to ticket prices and merchandising... I believe the reason why Wenger hasn't pursued someone of Henry's quality, minus a fairly inexpensive RVP, was that he knew that they would demand players of a similar ilk to be brought on board and that wasn't possible when the business model was that of a «selling» club... does it really make sense that we could only make a cheeky bid
for Suarez, or that we couldn't get Higuain over the line when he was being offered up
for half the price he eventually went to Juve
for, or that we've only paid any interest to strikers who were clearly not going to press their current teams to let them go to Arsenal like Benzema or Cavani... just part of the facade that finally came crashing down when Sanchez finally called their bluff... the fact remains that no one wants to win more than Sanchez, including Wenger, and although I don't agree with everything that he has done off the field, I would much rather have Alexis front and center than a manager who has clearly bought into the Kroenke model in large part due to the fact that his enormous ego suggests that only he could accomplish great things without breaking the bank... unfortunately that isn't possible anymore as the
game has changed quite dramatically in the
last 15 years, which has left a largely complacent and complicit Wenger on the outside looking in... so don't blame those players who demanded more and were left wanting... don't blame those fans who have tried desperately to raise awareness
for several years when cracks began to appear... place the blame at the feet of those who were well aware all along of the potential pitfalls of just such a plan but continued to follow it even when it was no longer a financial necessity, like it ever really was...
Bellerin's greediness to play so soon after he was concussed at the Bridge
last weekend MUST be resisted by Le Prof in his 18 man match day
squad for our Hull City
game at the Ems this Saturday.
So it was a positive night
for our second string
squad, and after winning our first three they can carry on
for our
last three Group
games, while our A-Team tries to get back on track in the League.
I agree with those odds simply because i believe the some team that were stronger than Arsenal
last season have done some really good business to further strengthen there
squads, Bernardo Silva & Kyle Walker
for Man City with what they already have plus what pep will add plus its gonna be his second season so he will be a bit more familiar with the EPL and this may make them really tough to beat, Tiemoue Bakayoko & Antonio Rudiger Chealsea plus a top striker and Chelsea will sill be one of the teams to beat, Tottenham are gonna be solid, they've kept the team together and Victor Lindelof & Romelu Lukaku
for Man - u and Mourinho is not done yet if the rumors are true and there also the Mourinho second season thing, as much as i'd like to be hopeful
for next season, i really do nt think Lacazette and Kolasinac are enough to make us challenge
for the league plus having Europa league will give the team less time to recover
for the weekend
games, the formation change is the only thing i see can make the difference.
For me, it is really worrying that Arsenal haven't managed to score in the
last three home
games and while our opponents in those
games can be accused of coming to the Emirates and parking the bus, the attacking talent that the Gunners
squad has should really be able to break them down, at least once.
Edwards hinted that a major leap was in store
for him with his performance at the FIBA World Cup
last summer as a member of USA's U19
squad, which he led in both assists and minutes per
game.
We highlighted this
Game last week as a potential «show stealer» based on their epic Week 1 matchup where Delta Sig Captain Ethan Lutz hit a runner to win it
for the green
squad..
Arsenal are absolutely certain to play a severely weakened team tomorrow night at Hillsborough after their efforts of the
last two weeks, but Sheffield Wednesday will have a fresh first team
squad for their biggest
game of the season.
They have won their
last 2
games and are feeling the momentum building
for their
squad..
This would certainly come as a major blow
for new Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino, who has been tasked with rebuilding a
squad that struggled in the big
games last season and finished in sixth place.
Although it will be incredibly difficult to ever match his contributions on the pitch, it's vitally important
for a former club legend, like Henry, to publicly address his concerns regarding the direction of this club... regardless of those who still feel that Henry has some sort of agenda due to the backlash he received following earlier comments he made on air regarding Arsenal, he has an intimate understanding of the
game, he knows the fans are being hosed and he feels some sense of obligation, both professionally and personally, to tell it like he sees it... much like I've continually expressed over the
last couple months, this team isn't evolving under this current ownership / management team... instead we are currently experiencing a «stagnant» phase in our club's storied history... a fact that can't be hidden by simply changing the formation or bringing in one or two individuals... this team needs fundamental change in the way it conducts business both on and off the pitch or it will continue to slowly devolve into a second tier club... regardless of the euphoria surrounding our escape act on Friday evening, as it stands, this club is more likely to be fighting
for a Europa League spot
for the foreseeable future than a top 4 finish... we can't hope
for the failures of others to secure our place in the top 4, we need to be the manufacturers of our own success by doing whatever is necessary to evolve as an organization... if Wenger, Gazidis and Kroenke can't take the necessary steps following the debacle they manufactured
last season, their removal is imperative
for our future success... unfortunately, I strongly believe that either they don't know how to proceed in the present economic climate or they are unwilling to do whatever it takes to turn this ship around... just look at the current state of our
squad, none of our world class players are under contract beyond this season, we have a ridiculous wage bill considering the results, we can't sell our deadwood because we've mismanaged our personnel decisions and contractual obligations, we haven't properly cultivated our younger talent and we might have become one of the worst clubs ever when it comes to way we handle our transfer business, which under Dein was one of our greatest assets... it's time to get things right!!!
Our
last 9
games are tough and they test our limits
for 3rd place and we need to finish
games fast and not let the foot of the gas in second half MAN UTD I feel that the way Manchester are going they may leapfrog us to the 3rd place cause in the first half of the season they had the greatest luck in football since dominant era of football refereeing decisions and penalty appeals etc LIVERPOOL They have a good chance to finish top 4 before int» l break but have performed admirably at high tempo and looks like it will be pressuring
for them to play us cause we have better functioning
squad.
There will certainly be a temptation in the mind of Arsene Wenger to include the man that the Arsenal fans voted as the best player of
last season in the matchday
squad for the opening
game of the Premier League.
But fast - forward two years and we have Marcus playing over 50 first - team
games last season — more than anyone else in the
squad — and playing
for England.
I started googling way back in may who could we be buying gonzalo higuian, julio cesar and wayne rooney but realize going by history wenger just as no interest in buying world class players, he wants 2 buy d grade players and turn them up to koscienly nd nasri that will take years while da arsenal faithful pay handsome figures
for dismal performances, fans allowed wenger 2 get away when he gets away with these lucky matches of fenerbache been strong on paper but a waste of tym on the pitch, also it happen at bayern but they put a slighty weak team but wenger runt his mouth around of how good da team was after that 2 - 0 win, not forgetting it was bould that got the team defense looking solid while wenger moan about referee decisions and no blame on team, I just feel we (arsenal) have allowed wenger and co to misuse us, so now our main target aim is benzema yet giroud plays more often than him
for france, can any1 see how wenger is lowing our standards and expectations at arsenal, I wil be over da moon if wenger does not sign an extension wit us, after the gilberto days and disaterous results and teams we play, his approach to the
game defensely which is pathetic and his annoying behaviour.So what if manu and chelski haven't really bought they are already strong it was seen
last week now we should be worried about our selves since that villa defeat, jst imagine what the man's and london money maniac's are goin 2 do to us, I can see it already coming from wenger, if we find the right player we will buy him, after sept2, we didn't find da right player but the
squad can challenge
for the title, its so sick having 2 hear that crap, just take him psg, I just wish the fans would say we had enough of this bullshit transfer policies its time we stood up against these pigs of directors by protesting!
Since then Gabriel has not played a single minute in either competition; in the league he has been glued to the subs bench
for the
last four
games, while
for Benfica's
last two Champions League matches he hasn't even been included in Rui Vitoria's
squad.
The striker is yet to start in the league
for the Gunners, but has shown glimpses of his form returning in recent matches with three goals in his
last three
games in all competitions and was named in Deschamps»
squad for Friday's World Cup qualifier with Sweden and friendly with Ivory Coast next week.
But the midfielder has played less and less, and has been left out of the Smoggies»
squads for the
last few league
games.
Unfortunately his
game - time has almost completely dried up since then: in the 17
games that have followed Rivas has been afforded just 44 minutes of action (split between 4 appearances), while he hasn't even been included in Brescia's match - day
squad for four of their
last five matches.
Coach Rohr who says he need his ward to finish the job of qualifying
for the World Cup when they meet Zambia on the 7th of October in Uyo has hinted he will stick with the
squad he worked with in the
last two
games.