Santi Cazorla’s influence will be truly missed…and near impossible to replace

Posted on 3 December, 2015 by Blog Admin

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The now firmly implanted reality that Arsenal will be without Santi Cazorla for “at least three months” has surely taken the sanity levels of many of the Gooner faithful. There will be no lamb’s blood on your door frames to save us from the express understanding that we could well and truly struggle without the Spanish maestro until March at the minimum.

While we can debate on and on about who is to take his place as the Geppetto to our Pinocchio of an attack, the truth of the matter is that there just isn’t anyone available at the club to make us come to life in the same way.

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Héctor Bellerín – The 10 year right back?

Posted on 1 December, 2015 by Blog Admin

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After you read the title of this article, please take this with a pinch of salt and look at it hypothetically.

So as it stands, Mathieu Debuchy our current second choice right back, was only brought in last season for a fee believed to be 12 million pounds. Injuries derailed his season and in a weird way, brought us up a level in the rise of the young Spanish flyer, Héctor Bellerín.

To say the teenager at the time, could oust a French internationally experienced defender, injuries aside, is the stuff of dreams. Picked ahead of the Frenchman this season, Bellerín again has come on in leaps and bounds. While his astonishing pace is a massive part of his overlapping and recovery game, he has proven on many occasion he can read the game defensively, make clean standing tackles and is a true goal threat as well.

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130 – WBA & Zagreb (26th November 2015)

Posted on 26 November, 2015 by A Bergkamp Wonderland

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Gimli (@GoonerGimli) has done a special dance to bring us some good luck and is joined by :

Le Grove (@LeGrove)
Geoff (@GeoffArsenal)
Jason (@jasondavies71)
Danny (@The_GFP)

Problems using either of the two media players, try these :

Click here to listen to in a new window
Or
Click here to listen via iTunes
Or
Click here to listen via our YouTube channel
Or
Right Click Here then “Save link as” for .mp3

Big box little box, either way its just a box.

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Coping Without Le Coq: Part 3

Posted on 26 November, 2015 by Blog Admin

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With the news that Francis Coquelin may be out for a sustained period, #ABW Regular Bloggers Drew (@AFCBvB1410), Simon (@SR_Collings) and Luke (@LukeisPremium) decided to tackle many of the questions being raised by fans across the globe in a Three Part series. 

In Part 1, Drew looked at possible replacements we could look at in the January Transfer window; in Part 2, Simon took on the topic of who we might have at the club already; and in this blog, Luke will look at a bit of both.  We hope you enjoy!

Following the news that Francis Coquelin’s knee injury will keep him out for “at least two months” the problem arises – what can Arsenal do to survive his absence?

Last season, Coquelin was recalled from a loan spell at Charlton and thrown into the first team as a last resort and went from strength to strength. Coquelin’s emergence also coincided with Santi Cazorla’s new role as a deeper sitting playmaker which saw Arsenal finish the season 3rd and retain the FA Cup.

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Coping Without Le Coq: Part 2

Posted on 25 November, 2015 by Blog Admin

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With the news that Francis Coquelin may be out for a sustained period, #ABW Regular Bloggers Drew (@AFCBvB1410), Simon (@SR_Collings) and Luke (@LukeisPremium) decided to tackle many of the questions being raised by fans across the globe in a Three Part series. 

In Part 1, Drew looked at possible replacements we could look at in the January Transfer window; Simon takes on the topic of who we might have at the club already in this blog; and Luke’s article will look at a bit of both.  Enjoy and come back tomorrow for part 3.

There are three things certain in life: death, taxes and Arsenal fans demanding the club sign a defensive midfielder.

In all honesty, this piece could have been written a year ago.

In fact, it could have been written at any point over the last five seasons. But perhaps now more than ever the calls for a new defensive midfielder in January are stronger than they have been before. It is all very understandable as like a baby with candy, Arsenal have tasted what they want and crave more.

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Coping Without Le Coq: Part 1

Posted on 24 November, 2015 by Blog Admin

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With the news that Francis Coquelin may be out for a sustained period, #ABW Regular Bloggers Drew (@AFCBvB1410), Simon (@SR_Collings) and Luke (@LukeisPremium) decided to tackle many of the questions being raised by fans across the globe in a Three Part series. 

In Part 1, Drew looks at possible replacements we could look at in the January Transfer window; Simon took on the topic of who we might have at the club already; and Luke’s article will look at a bit of both.  Enjoy and come back tomorrow for part 2.

Ladies and gentlemen…chairman of the board…esteemed and honored guests…friends…colleagues…fellow Gooners – it’s finally happened…Francis Coquelin has gone down injured, and will be out for a minimum of two months…our very own Armageddon is upon us. However, despite what the Twitterverse will have you believe, it may not be the end of the road just yet and the wheels on the bus currently sitting on highway league title have yet to fall of.

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129 – ABW Live (19th November 2015)

Posted on 19 November, 2015 by A Bergkamp Wonderland

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Gimli (@GoonerGimli) is kind of pointing this in the right direction but its live and unplanned and is joined by :

Andrew (@PR_WhoRu)
David (@Goonerholic)
Dom (@ozgooner49)
Kate (@GoonerGirlKate)
Kris (@AFCfreddie8)
Danny (@The_GFP)

Problems using either of the two media players, try these :

Click here to listen to in a new window
Or
Click here to listen via iTunes
Or
Click here to listen via our YouTube channel
Or
Right Click Here then “Save link as” for .mp3

Like goldfish we are live ready for you lot to poke us with sticks.

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The Striker Conundrum

Posted on 19 November, 2015 by A Bergkamp Wonderland

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By #ABW Guest Blogger and Radio Regular, Tom Canton (@TCanton94)

Olivier Giroud. Bought by Arsenal from Montpellier for £9.6 million. The man who came “to play with Van Persie” but instead replaced him has definitely left his mark on Arsenal and the Premier League.

If you ever find yourself having the displeasure of scrolling down a particularly Arsenal based twitter timeline after a result which was not favourable to the majority of the fans, a common theme is that Arsenal’s manager, Arsene Wenger, should have bought a striker during the previous 2015 summer transfer window. This is usually followed by a list of possible targets from our well informed unofficial scouting network. However, this isn’t the transfer window. We are 12 games in now, so I feel this is a good time to look at ‘what could’ve been’.

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128 – The NLD (11th November 2015)

Posted on 12 November, 2015 by A Bergkamp Wonderland

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Gimli (@GoonerGimli) is back where he belongs (no not in a box on the moon) and is joined by :

Andrew (@PR_WhoRu)
Rev Raj (@RajPatel1809)
Other Geoff (@Hollefreund)
Danny (@The_GFP)

Problems using either of the two media players, try these :

Click here to listen to in a new window
Or
Click here to listen via iTunes
Or
Click here to listen via our YouTube channel
Or
Right Click Here then “Save link as” for .mp3

Gimli is back, like cat aids n free cheese.

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Is Laurent Koscielny World Class?

Posted on 11 November, 2015 by Blog Admin

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Laurent Koscielny signed for Arsenal in July 2010 for a reported fee of £10m from French club Lorient. Coming here he was much of an unknown quantity, only signing for Lorient from Ligue 2 club Tours in July of the previous year, but Koscielny made great strides that season earning rave reviews in France and being closely watched by Wenger. Koscielny endured a difficult start to English football, mixing flashes of potential with a struggle to adapt to the physicality of the premier league – some Arsenal fans lambasted Wenger for signing a ‘lightweight’ Koscielny instead of Christopher Samba or Scott Dann but since then Koscielny has won over the entire fan base.

In modern day football one of the most scrutinized positions is the growing breed of ball playing centerbacks. These are centerbacks that aspire to be more than the majority of their predecessors, concentrating not just on defending when off the ball and recycling the ball into midfield but actually having a genuine impact on the attacking side of the game, whether that be from being on the ball or through split second ball retention.

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