Friday, March 29, 2024

Monday Thoughts: Giroud, Ospina, Mertesacker and Mourinho

On Giroud’s recent form…

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Credit to him to getting the goal again, you could see how his confidence dropped after the Monaco game, the stick he and the rest of the team got made the Everton game a bit dull and it was simply about winning the game. It’s still stuck in my head however. He still missed some golden chances like Wednesday night, but he will steadily return back to form, but we need him to do it consistently because he’s our best chance of goals, hence why it’s easy to blame him when things go wrong.

Osssspina…

I was still pushing for Wojciech to get back in the starting 11 but I don’t have any doubts who the better keeper is now, Ospina has proved that he’s an amazing shot stopper, along with his calming presence, he’s looking like a top keeper.

On choosing to play Gabriel over Mertesacker…

Think everyone was calling for that to happen, Mertesacker was more than poor against Monaco and it’s just one of many he’s had this season, his partnership with Koscielny has now become him relying on Koscielny to clean up for him and both are suffering. Was great last year but it just isn’t working at the moment. Szczesny was rightly dropped for Ospina and it’s a similar situation here.

Is Mourinho right to say Wenger has the “dream job”?

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Last week Mourinho had another dig at Arsene, re-igniting their rivalry. Some people actually thought he was praising Arsenal and our manager. His quotes are taken from Sky Sports.

“I do not understand why they [Arsenal] are not where we are with Man City,” Mourinho said during an appearance on Sky Sports’ Goals on Sunday programme.
“He has a dream job. I think every manager in the world would like to have the stability he has. Year after year after year, he has the chance to buy, to sell, to rebuild, to wait for success and wait and wait.

It makes me wonder though that if he didn’t love Chelsea so much that they might have had a look at managing Arsenal. Sounds ridiculous and awfully far-fetched though. He was mocking Wenger and the way in which Arsenal handle the club. Which to an extent I can agree with most of it, we have a strong squad and we’re a team who should be challenging for the best titles around. And it’s a strong case to suggest that if Wenger was at any other club he would have been sacked or at least been pressured by the board, however Wenger’s done a splendid job in the past and maybe that is why the Board are not assessing his case, they should however be as we having been going around in circles these past few years.

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