Yesterday, the quarterfinals of the Capital One Cup was concluded as Manchester United eased past Stoke to book a semifinal berth while Tottenham’s woes continued as they lost again at home to West Ham, a side that beat them in White Hart Lane early in the season.
With no Arsenal football gracing our screens till Monday, there have been a flurry of off the pitch activities from the Arsenal camp. Firstly, the Jack Wilshere “gesture” has taken a new twist as the FA has slammed him with a two-match ban which ensures that he misses the Chelsea and West Ham games. Jackie Boy intends to appeal but I have a hunch that it would fall on deaf ears.
I’ve also shared my thoughts on the issue and I’m in no mood to tread on such waters again.
The Gunners were definitely in Christmas mood (well, this is the season) as a couple of activities were lined up in the official site. In an ironic twist, the diminutive Santi Cazorla had three “elves” that were to wrap presents for Christmas and the fans have been urged to vote for the best elf.
Who knows….the best elf might just join Legolas and the Elven Clan in the fight to reclaim Erebor for the Dwarves of the Hobbit.
The club also held its annual Christmas party yesterday, with players in fancy dress and high jinks on the menu for the Premier League leaders. Lukas Podolski dressed as the Hulk while Santi Cazorla dressed like Super Mario and you’d be shocked to see a striking resemblance between Cazorla and the video game character.
Ryo Miyaichi dressed as Fred Flintstone, Nacho Monreal got the perfect costume as he dressed like a Ninja Turtle (he actually played like a turtle on Saturday) but in my opinion, Per Mertesacker had the best costume as he dressed like the captain he is – Captain Jack Sparrow.
All these kind of activities are used to boost the morale of the players and enhance togetherness, as we have clearly seen on the pitch this season that the players really fight hard for each other.
Even though some fans are pointing their fingers at Olivier Giroud for his paucity of goals in recent times, no one can doubt his team playing roles as well as closing defenders further up the pitch. That yielded a goal against Southampton. Tomas Rosicky is another player that battles hard in every game while Mathieu Flamini continues to bark orders to his teammates.
The 6-3 drubbing in the hands of Manchester City showcased some unfortunate individual errors but Arsenal’s defending has improved massively in recent times, and the combination of Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny also deserve recognition. Wojciech Szczesny has been a beast in goal piling up clean sheets with consummate ease but conceding six against the title contenders would definitely be a bitter pill to swallow.
Elsewhere, the players force Mesut Ozil to sing a couple of songs as the club’s tradition states that “new players must sing”. The video can be found on Bleacher Report.
Finally, Arsenal Legends launched a breathtaking documentary for the iconic Thierry Henry (available via iTunes) and it had a lot of good stuff. Henry shared his thoughts on how he arrived at the club after struggling at Juventus, the intense training and drilling he got from the likes of Tony Adams and Martin Keown, his memorable moments and the whole nine yards.
The official site published an article on the matter and it’s worth a read, as it has excerpts on the documentary that can be viewed on Arsenal Player.
That’s your lot for today.
Sayonara.
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