It’s a Monday evening here in Lagos and there are no “classicos” to look forward to. The weather outside is really cold and frightful while the fire in here is so delightful.
This season AW the Alchemist registered 25 players for league football. This ensured that while 11 players do their business on the field of play, 15 other players will be outside waiting for their chance to come up. In modern football, 7 players stay on the dugout while the other 8 stay at home and watch their TV sets or they decide to come to the pitch on mofty.
Arsenal FC had a game against Leeds on a sunny Saturday afternoon. It was highly necessary to shuffle the playing squad. As expected 9 changes were made from the squad that drew with the Cash Money Oil Money Billionaires. Some deputies proved that they deserved to be in the first team while others proved that they were just playing to “complete the squad”. The latter showed AW the Alchemist that their services will only be needed when those before them get injured or suspended.
In the goalkeeping department, the young statuesque Pole, Wojciech “Szszsz” Szczesny proved to AW the Alchemist that he’s as reliable as the present No. 1, Lukasz “Flyin Fabbi” Fabianski. His reflexes in the game were top notch and his concentration levels were extremely high. He was extremely disappointed when the Snood and carpet grass bloke scored that spot kick because he guessed right. The 2 full backs didn’t really push up as they were supposed to but the right full back’s positioning was very poor. The center backs were as solid as ever with the younger center back shining like a star. It’s amazing to see how Johan “Injourou” Djourou has improved. AW the Alchemist will face a major battle when he wants to select who will partner Thomas “Verminator” Vermaelen when he comes back in the next life. His Achilles tendon has been a big problem this season. The holding midfield role had a regular starter and a “fringe” player. It’s shameful to say that NwaSamba Denilson will remain a fringe player till his Arsenal career is over. There are so many players ahead of him in the midfield pecking order so conceding a weak penalty like that didn’t make things easier for his cause. Aaron “Rambo” Ramsey is back and he’s also in dire need of games to gain full fitness. NwaSamba will just have to settle for a place in the warm bench unless he wants to turn a new leaf in terms of his performances on the pitch. The attacking midfield role went to an experienced head in the frame of Tomas “Banana Lomo” Rosicky. Banana Lomo has been very impressive this season. After staying over a year out of the game due to a bad hammy, he has played very well this season and earned himself a new contract that will extend his stay at Emirates Stadium. Banana Lomo however, is in dire need of a goal. That is one player that I would like to see his goal celebration. The attacking trio was not really a second string attack in the sense that these were players that just lost their place in the first team due to various reasons. The lone striker was phenomenal for us since the season began but he lost his place to our “star striker”. The make-shift right winger lost his place for two good reasons. The first reason is that he has been plagued by injuries from the start of the season, the second reason is that there’s no chance in Hell for him to replace our Man of the Moment, Samir “El Rufai” Nasri. The left winger has been demoted to the bench because his performances have been below par this season. The 11 eleven players and 2 extra substitutes did their bit to ensure that we get an FA Cup replay at Elland Road which will now take place in between our games with the Carpenters and WigWig.
Andrei “Hotty” Arshavin is going through a phase right now. Everything has been downhill for him at this point in time. The gooners have been very frustrated with Hotty and I really feel the same too. We all know what Hotty can do when his with the ball. I made some comments about him in yesterday’s blog so I will let sleeping dogs lie today. AW the Alchemist gave his diminutive winger a vote of confidence today and he believes that a couple of good performances will bring Hotty back to our good books. With games coming so fast I wouldn’t mind Hotty doing what he does best.
We all know AW the Alchemist can be a miser when it comes to signings. He never gives in to the pressure from the media. All…………most of his signings have been signings that he considered, scouted, thought again, scouted again, scouted some more and scouted one more time, brought out our cheque book, cleaned the dust from it and made the signing a possibility. Arsenal didn’t renew the contracts of three centerbacks and bought two in return. We as fans had this feeling that one more might be needed. The Verminator’s 3-day injury turned into a 4-month nightmare and is still counting. Injourou came back from a long injury lay-off and has gotten back to shape. Laurent “Kos100%tackle” Koscielny and Sebastien “Squisha” Squillaci have played more games than they had expected in their early Arsenal careers. Their ability to go through games unscathed part a major part in AW the Alchemist’s “strong headedness”. The Squisha has tweaked his hammy, leaving AW the Alchemist with no choice . This has led the media to do their bit, linking us from centerbacks from all over the Milky Way. The stars they have pinpointed for us include MadMan Coyle’s Gary, Scots Blue’s Jaggy Jaggy and Bremen’s Mertebeanstalk. I don’t really care who comes into the squad, all I need is a relative unknown young defender from the BarcAlien Mutant Academy in Krypton. AW the Alchemist should know that when all 5 defenders are fully fit, the Order of the defensive Phoenix will be revealed making defender No. 4 and 5 very unhappy.
Sorry about the lateness of today’s post.
So many factors came into play.
Keano’s Tractor Army is up next.
Arsenal FC, no profligacy this time.
Sayonara.
