My Granny is tough. Tough and gnarly. She's in Edinburgh, an avid bird watcher and cinephile and an absolute bastard to my mother. While my parents have worked tirelessly to overcome obstacles and keep our family thriving and together, she's done her damnedest to break it apart. It's all sort of funny now, how nuts she is - nice as pie, social and hilarious in the company of complete strangers - a ruckus, stroppy, teenager around us. What's especially funny about all of this, is that she's a Quaker. One of those people who is supposed to reflect on a positive contribution to man through God in silence, measured do-gooders who forgo retribution and make delicious granola bars. Incidentally, the 'father of Middlesborough' was also a Quaker. Joseph Pease, son of Edward Pease, was the first Quaker member of parliament and helped build the earliest public railway system. This was all a thousand years after a Masonic sect was put together in the area, essentially the embryo of what would later become Middlesborough, which would later on be engulfed by a county called Cleveland, which is also the name of a pretty mundane city in Ohio, no offense Drew Carey. Drew Carey, of course, is not only a comedian whose 90s sitcom inspired millions to do, as far as I can tell, absolutely nothing at all, but the owner of the Seattle Sounders, once home to one Fredrick Ljunberg.
Duh duh, duh duh, duh duh duh, duh, de,
Duh duh, duh duh duuuh,
We Love You Freddy Because You've Got Red Hair, ...
Oh how we could've used our red haired, underwear modeling inside run machine to get between the lines of that Quakeresque defense on Saturday. They sat deep and we just didn't have any ideas. No Cazorla meant that our transition from defense to attack wasn't as quick or clever as usual and no Giroud meant no fighting fire with fire. We looked good for the first quarter of an hour but ended up doing the old completely dominate a game but then get totally rocked the second they get into our half trick which we so love to do. It's the first time this season it's happened and I had a suspicion that this game might turn out that way. We've been on a great run without being entirely convincing, the Chelsea game aside. We've played some nice stuff but not totally consistently and something has seemed slightly fragile, despite our results.
Now, I wouldn't've minded the result so much, had we not been taken apart by Gaston Ramirez, a player I've always liked, and Adama Traore, a player I've never seen do anything. They combined, sort of, when Ramirez maybe should've scored at the far post, instead Cech saved. I've read that it was a Ramirez mistake, but I think Ramirez headed the ball pretty fucking hard and was going for the near post thinking that Cech would dive back across goal to his right. I think it was more a game of poker that Cech won than a missed chance by Ramirez. That, of course, could be ridiculous. We may never know.
More to the point with being unhappy about the point and the two that we dropped, with Cazorla out and Elneny coming in I would've thought we'd at least be secure defensively, but we just weren't. And with Alexis, Ozil, Walcott and Bellerin all in the side, I think we could expect to have carved out another clear chance or two. My fear, as it's been all season, is that we needed more goals from wide. We were never going to find a center forward to bang in 30 goals a season because they cost about 900 squillion pounds these days, so I always felt we needed a Reus type to get 20 goals and 10 assists from wide midfield. Someone whose runs Ozil could day dream about. Someone who can make space and make chances for himself, without needing everything but the finish done for him. Theo is not that player. And as much as we all love Alexis and as valuable as he is, he's a little more Labrador than mongoose. Iwobi has been brilliant and will get there, but is just 20 (I think) and we need someone now, not in 3 years.
Not unlike last season, I can't help but feel that there's a hole in the league winning market this year that with a little extra preparation and just one more player, could be filled by the Arsenal. With Leicester always likely to fall down the table, Liverpool just not quite convincing and Chelsea and the Manchester clubs with new management, which we've seen recently can shake clubs up pretty badly, we should be ready in waiting to win the league. Those things considered, the last match against Middlesborough doesn't bode well. Lets hope it's just a bump in the road.
Now, I wouldn't've minded the result so much, had we not been taken apart by Gaston Ramirez, a player I've always liked, and Adama Traore, a player I've never seen do anything. They combined, sort of, when Ramirez maybe should've scored at the far post, instead Cech saved. I've read that it was a Ramirez mistake, but I think Ramirez headed the ball pretty fucking hard and was going for the near post thinking that Cech would dive back across goal to his right. I think it was more a game of poker that Cech won than a missed chance by Ramirez. That, of course, could be ridiculous. We may never know.
More to the point with being unhappy about the point and the two that we dropped, with Cazorla out and Elneny coming in I would've thought we'd at least be secure defensively, but we just weren't. And with Alexis, Ozil, Walcott and Bellerin all in the side, I think we could expect to have carved out another clear chance or two. My fear, as it's been all season, is that we needed more goals from wide. We were never going to find a center forward to bang in 30 goals a season because they cost about 900 squillion pounds these days, so I always felt we needed a Reus type to get 20 goals and 10 assists from wide midfield. Someone whose runs Ozil could day dream about. Someone who can make space and make chances for himself, without needing everything but the finish done for him. Theo is not that player. And as much as we all love Alexis and as valuable as he is, he's a little more Labrador than mongoose. Iwobi has been brilliant and will get there, but is just 20 (I think) and we need someone now, not in 3 years.
Not unlike last season, I can't help but feel that there's a hole in the league winning market this year that with a little extra preparation and just one more player, could be filled by the Arsenal. With Leicester always likely to fall down the table, Liverpool just not quite convincing and Chelsea and the Manchester clubs with new management, which we've seen recently can shake clubs up pretty badly, we should be ready in waiting to win the league. Those things considered, the last match against Middlesborough doesn't bode well. Lets hope it's just a bump in the road.
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