The Ox’s Horns are Quickly Growing into Awesome Weapons

TotalArsenal

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That was an interesting and encouraging performance by our friend the Ox tonight. I really enjoyed watching him against San Marino, and I was glad to see that Roy Hodgson had given him a central, pivotal role in midfield this time. Not everything was great, and Alex clearly has still a lot to learn, but there were plenty of positives in his performance tonight.

What I liked about him was his attitude; always making himself available and drawing the ball towards him. His England team members were very happy to play the ball to him and as such Alex did really well tonight. To be so involved and become a central part of the national team is very impressive for a 19 year old.

He has got a good ability to see the wider picture of the game and is very good at spreading the game by moving the ball from one flank to another with just a quick move or diagonal pass. He acts and passes very quickly and instinctively. He is also good at spotting deeper runs in front of him, but definitely needs to work on improving the accuracy – angles and weight – of his through-balls.

Especially in the end he lacked accuracy and quite a lot of his passes were off-target. This was probably to do with fatigue as a result of him continuously making runs and finding space to receive a pass. I think it is fair to say that his passing needs further improving, if he is to hold on to a central midfield position, but I am sure he’ll make progress in this area over the next few years.

I loved the way he took his goal: that was pure class and his finishing in the box is definitely one of his strongest assets. From what I have seen tonight, I still feel his best place is on the right or left wing, where he can use his strengths to full effect. He is good at taking on defenders and getting the ball in the box. And as said before, he is also a good finisher, especially for a 19 year old.

Alex is a super prospect and we are lucky to have him. He is growing up very quickly, and although I still think Arsenal need to take it easy with him, this could well be his breakthrough year.

Total Arsenal.

61 thoughts on “The Ox’s Horns are Quickly Growing into Awesome Weapons”

  • Morning TA, 🙂

    You are absolutely right in your summation.

    I did channel hop a bit last night and I was also talking over the action with a couple of friends quite a bit, but Alex was always catching the eye.

    As you say, he was given a more central, pivotal role, and this allowed him to play up the wings as well as in the centre and even managed to drop back to collect the ball and start the forward movement. Impressive.

    He mis-controlled or over ran the ball just a couple of times but they were gnat bites in a very good performance for someone of his age, and his first goal was the icing on the cake.

    I am really impressed that you were publishing the Post at gone midnight. You are as bad as GIE for not needing sleep.

  • Spot on Total. What a prospect, and at nineteen too. He will be giving Wenger plenty of headaches through this season on selection policy, especially if Walcott stays.

    imo I would play him wide where he can get at defenders and cross the ball, this also gives him the option to cut in and try some shots.

    I really want Theo to stay. When Jack and Diaby get back to full fitness we will have a smashing squad.

    Come on Arsenal, bring me my 12-1 bet home baby. Rolf.

  • Morning Redders 🙂

    It was a case of strike the iron whilst it is hot!

    What a good performance by the Ox yesterday. It was not perfect by any means, but he is only 19 springs old: on August next year he will only become 20, and what a confident, mature and inspirational performance by him.

    Hope you had a nice time with your friends last night. 🙂

  • Morning VCC 🙂

    Did the vino did its magic? 😀

    Spot on: Theo needs to stay and grow further into a decent to great winger, and maybe, future striker. We need his assists and goals, and his specialist attacking skills: speed, good first touch and good finishing. It would also allow the Ox to grow further, because he is by no means the finished article yet, and we should not put too much pressure on him anyway.

    I am glad RA gave you some good tips re laptops. If you live near a John Lewis store, it is worthwhile buying the laptop there. They do price matching so you won’t pay too much, good service and usually offer a good guarantee as well.

  • Good advice Total, I have just been looking at John Lewis site, ut my budget is £350 and there is very little for that price range.

    Yes, I enjoyed the vino tinto very much thank you, as I did the Ox performance. Not too sure I enjoyed the tackle on Theo, what was that keeper thinking of?

  • If you are on the JL site, VCC, click on the Notebook page.

    They are all within your budget range. They are simply smaller laptops, and would be able to accommodate your sage software too.

  • Yes poor Theo got clattered yesterday. He must have bruised ribs which can be very painful and keep him back from being fully fit to run at speed for a while. That would be a real shame.

    VCC, one last thing about laptops. They might be at their most expense at the moment, two months before Christmas, and it could be worthwhile to wait till January when you might be able to get bargain. 🙂

  • Great quick post TA (enjoyed yesterdays one also, Bould needs to tie a leash around our CB’s so they can’t venture too far from goal. Unless we are chasing the victory of course. “Vermaelen STAY BOY!”). The hit on Walcott was a disgrace, can’t believe the keeper didn’t get a card for it! Touch a keeper and you’re in trouble, unless you are mannone. But clobber poor old tiny theo and it’s all fine and dandy.

    Ox…the world is his oyster!!!

    heres some for you VCC:

    http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/deals/cheap-laptop-deals

    Personally I’d go with the netbooks. My mum has one and it’s perfect for her internet shopping and browsing. They are much more affordable (thanks largely to the smaller screen), yet still pack a wallop (size and speed wise). If you aren’t using it for word processing and can handle the screen size they are a good option.

  • Good idea Total. I’m on the scrounge with family and friends for an old clapped out one. Think my Sons girlfriend has an old one she is going to loan me for a while as I am going to night school next week. I must be the oldest student in the world, lmfao.I need one for homework and ease of studying.

    The annoying thing is both my Daughter and Son have one each, both Acer laptops and my Daughter,s one is an all singing and dancing model as she needed that for her uni work. Both have packed up after only three to four years work. I won’t be going anywhere near an Acer model.

  • VCC,

    I’ve got a lenovo/ThinkPad laptop and it has been good for quite a while.

    Really good you are going to night school next week. You are clearly an action man, and I say chapeau to that. What are you going to study?

  • VCC,

    Re tickets.

    The Wigan away game is an early kick-off on Saturday. So that’s a big journey and a challenge to get there in time. The Villa away game is a late Saturday kick-off and is easier to get to. I have been to Villa recently and would have preferred to go to Wigan as I have never seen Arsenal play there, but it is a hell of a journey. What do you think?

  • Most positions I am looking at are Sage based, so I must get that qualification to even step foot in the establishments. So I have enrolled in a sage salary course, I tried to get on the sage book keeping course but was too late when I applied, it’s very popular for obvious reasons.

    As there are not too many refineries around where I live (lol) and Im not prepared to relocate, I have to branch out a little. So when I looked at what I could do I plumpt for salary/book keeping.

    My first employment was in an office when I left school in 1966 , I used to do the wages and book keeping then, but as you can appreciate it was all done with a Parker pen those days as there were no computers around. I attended college and got qualified to trial balance so I have a background of accounts. I tried to become an accountant but with my minuscule brain I found it impossible, I was more suited to the tea stirrers mate than brain box.

    Away games……..spot on sir, I was going to say we could not make the Wigan game as we have other arrangements for around Christmas.

    If you can get tickets for the Aston Villa game that looks like the perfect fit.

  • VCC,

    The good thing is you keep trying things and I have a simple philosophy of ‘one thing leads to another’ for which the only requirement is that you try different things/ keep active. I think with your energy and drive you are setting an example to all of us! 🙂

    OK, I’ll get in touch with my mate. How many tickets would you like?

  • ok, am on the case now.

    Herb, if you are reading, I sent you an email a few minutes ago.

  • VCC,

    That’s interesting. I have a friend – well I have not seen him for quite a while now – who started off as a clerk in the Payroll Section of a large company, where I was for a time the Finance Manager. He kept his nut down and bit by bit he worked his way up over several years.

    I left there many years ago, and pretty much lost touch, but I heard he is now Finance Manager in his own right. An unusual path to the top, but it just shows what perseverance can do.

    You are a good man, VCC, and deserve success too. 🙂

  • VCC,

    Don’t forget, when you eventually home in on a suitable computer (and after Xmas is a good time – TA is right) first check with the staff at JL or Curry’s that it is OK to run Sage on it. Sage is a neat package and should not be a problem, but it is wise to check first.

    The ‘chip’ can be different from one computer to another, so making sure they know what you want it for means you can select the chip which is powerful enough for the job.

    My laptop runs on an Intel i7 chip which is currently the ‘fastest’ available on a laptop, [famous last words as they seem to get faster by the week] because I need it to play around with spreadsheets, graphing and mathematical formulae, but it would be a waste if I wanted it for internet only, and would settle for the cheaper i3. 🙂

  • afternoon all, TA i wrote a comment a few hours ago but it has disappeared into the ether. I copy n pasted it just in case but it’s saying i can’t use a duplicate comment

  • Hi Oz, that’s bizarre. I reckon if you alter it slightly it should come through. I have a look at spam in the meantime. 🙂

    How are you rockin’ anyway?!

  • Ozzy, it got into spam for some reason – I have released it now. 🙂

    Vermaelen on a leash held by the Bould-dog: sounds about right to me!! 😆

  • cheers TA, i knew if i dribbled enough i’d be on auto-spam sooner of later.

    Disgruntled TA, without a late night Arsenal game I’m a rudderless boat. I’d go out but our weather is up and down like a yo-yo (one day it’s 30 and sunny, the next it’s 21 and raining), plus after a self-imposed drinking hiatus I’m one drink away from a Raddy-esque stooper.

    How about yourself?

    I meant to ask your thoughts on diaby. We all know his history and what he is capable of, but with Jack coming back, Ramsey showing good form, Coquelin ready to stake his claim, and frim/yennaris waiting for an opportunity do you think it may be last chance saloon for him? He was red hot before he got injured again (minimum 3 weeks), but the others waiting for first team action are by no means a step lower in competition.

    (excluded Rosicky as I feel he and AA are backup to Santi)

    This old timer must be heading off to catch some z’s. I look forward to reading your thoughts (if I don’t get spammed again haha).

  • Now look here you guys, I need some help.

    I agreed to buy some champers for a small celebrations and I agreed to pay £20 per bottle.
    My friend said he would also buy some, but slightly cheaper stuff for £14 per bottle and told the sommelier if any more was needed he would also pay for that too.

    When the bill came in it amounted to £480 in total, and 10 more of the cheaper bottles than the expensive bottles were provided.
    We were not told how many bottles were used in total, and did not want to look dumbos by asking.

    How much should we each pay?

    Any ideas?

  • Hi Oz 🙂

    Good discussion starter!

    You might remember me writing a post about the ‘Lynchpin’ position a couple of weeks ago. The second deeper laying midfielder, who plays next to (the) Arteta (position), is super important in terms of linking defence and attack together. On a good day, Diaby is the best there is imo. He has everything you would wish for: stamina, height, strength, technique, vision, speed, good dribbling, and he can finish as well.

    Key is though, that our Lynchpin player stays fit and and can be banked on to be there for us in most of our games. The same goes for the Arteta and Cazorla positions. Arteta and Cazorla have the stamina and the physical frame to be just that. Diaby, possibly the best player of them all, has not.

    I don’t think we can ever count on him, in terms of a consistent presence and that’s why I would not be too sad to see him go at the end of the season. In our current system, I can see JW10 really make this role his again. He has everything Diaby has to offer, except for height. Jack is also a good stand in for Cazorla in my opinion, and we must hope and pray that the best English talent I have seen develop for a long, long time, will be fully recovered now, and can kick-start his career again.

    Ramsey, Rosicky can also play in this role, so we have some cover, but I reckon Diaby or JW10 are best suited for it.

    What do you (and others) think?

    Ooh, and I know how you feel re not having proper footie for two weeks. But let’s not start about the bloody uselessness of the interlull again! 😦

  • Right, I am back. Anyone cracked it for me?

    Bugger! I’ll have to do it myself. I paid the cheque and need to ask my buddy for his share. So, let’s see.

    What do I know? I agreed to pay £20 for an unknown number of bottles. My friend agreed to pay £14 per bottle, plus 10 more bottles than I bought. Agreed?
    Come on – I need your help here! 🙂

    So,
    £20 * an unknown number of bottles
    £14 * an unknown number of bottles + another 10 more than I bought.
    The total Bill was £480

    Well put like that it’s easy. Right? 🙂 We need to find how many bottles.

    So my cost is £20 times x; Jim’s cost is £14 times x + 10 extra bottles. Are we good?

    Algebra to the rescue: £20(x) + £14(x + 10) = £480

    That is 20x + 14x + 140 = 480
    34x + 140 = 480
    34x + 140 – 140 = 480 – 140
    34x = 340
    x = 10

    Yaay!!

    Therefore, I have to pay £20 * 10 = £200; My friend has to pay £14 * 20 [10 bottles more than me] = £280.

    Me: ………………………………….. £200
    Buddy ………………………………. £280
    Total ………………………………… £480

    Sheesh, thanks guys —– your sure now, right? 🙂

  • If you don’t want to just split the bill, and we are assuming you agreed to buy the same number of bottles, albeit at different prices – £14 and £20 respectively – I reckon you would have to pay £200 for 10 bottles, and your friend will have to pay £140 for his ten bottles + another £140 for the additional ten bottles = £280.

  • Very impressive, my dear old TA! 🙂

    I think you adopted the ‘guesss and check’ method — and it is very valid.

    You mught have said 5 bottles for me at £20 per bottle = £100
    5 + 10 extra bottles = 15 bottles at £14 = £210

    £70 = £140 = £210; but we spent £480.

    Let’s double it and see what happens. 10 bottles at £20 = 200
    10 bottles + 10 more = 20 * £14 = £280
    Total £200 + £280 = £ 480

    Guess and check. Very valid!! But Algebra is quicker and can be applied over a greater number of variables!

    Well done sir. You are a mathematician!! 🙂

  • Sorry, I mistook the headline for, ” My horny awesome weapon is quickly going into an Ox ” !, so I`m probably on the wrong site !. hahaha…………….down boy !. 😳

  • Right, back from the othersite, ” http://www.Inbred farming for beginners.com , aka , Proper Handsome( the cornish addition has a special braille facility for people with nine fingers on each hand )”.
    Your post is much nicer on the eye and less messy !. hahaha

    The Ox, Jack, Santi, Zorro, mmmm

  • RA, definitely guess and check. I was preparing vegetables when it dawned on me. I liked your algebraic method to the madness though! 🙂

    GLiC, let it all hang out, mate. Just be gentle with the Ox! 😳

  • Good Evening Bergkampesqueres.

    TA, Chamberlin is a fantastic prospect and i concur totaly with your sentiments.Not quite ready for a midfield berth, but that will come with time. Hes at the perfect club to develop as a player, and of course the perfect manager.

    The emergence of guys like Alex are just another reason to be a bit more paitent and see the goood times roll.

  • Hi VCC
    I`ll tell you what I did, but whether it works for you, who knows ?

    I right clicked on the video, then left clicked on ” copy video URL”. I then clicked onto the ” Enter your comment here” box, then right clicked on it to reveal a list and then left clicked ” paste” to reveal some weird number, then clicked on post comment. Hope that makes sense !.

  • hahaha, its all Greek to me VCC. With no hint of falsehood, i only dicovered 2 days ago that if you click that bookmark thingy you can click onto sites without having to type them over and over.

  • Option 1: I tried to google part of the question…bugger you’ve made it up!
    Option 2: Go with the “i’ve just woken up excuse”
    Option 3: The pep talk: “Come on oz, you won the maths award at your year 7 graduation, you owe it to yourself”
    Option 4: Ok here we go

    mate 1: 20
    mate 2: 14
    total: 480

    so if my algebra is correct i’d go:
    20(x) + 14(x + 10) = 480
    ……..
    AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
    …….
    (oh you’ve worked out the answer already!)

    x=10
    RA: £200
    Buddy: £280

  • You are right Jack and Diaby appear best suited. I think if Ramsey worked on the defensive part of his game (like Jack did when Arsene played him deeper) he could make it his own also. He has a tank that allows him to run for days!

    I just think if Jack has a good injury free run between now and the end of the season it may be time for Diaby to call it a day. If he comes back fighting fit and injury free himself then of course he slots in. However, i just don’t see it happening and it may cost us a player like coquelin who is ready to go, but is not going to stick around with limited opportunities.
    If Jack comes back and finds the shooting boot he had back in the Juniors then the position is his and he is the first name on the team sheet!

  • @ TA 17.17

    You are right Jack and Diaby appear best suited. I think if Ramsey worked on the defensive part of his game (like Jack did when Arsene played him deeper) he could make it his own also. He has a tank that allows him to run for days!
    I just think if Jack has a good injury free run between now and the end of the season it may be time for Diaby to call it a day. If he comes back fighting fit and injury free himself then of course he slots in. However, i just don’t see it happening and it may cost us a player like coquelin who is ready to go, but is not going to stick around with limited opportunities.
    If Jack comes back and finds the shooting boot he had back in the Juniors then the position is his and he is the first name on the team sheet!

  • Evening Oz, am about to go to sleep but just wanted to say that I fear Coquelin will not make it into the first team properly this season. I think he is a good prospect, but with Jack, Rambo, Diaby, Rosicky all coming back to fitness soon, I cannot see him getting many playing opportunities. There is also competition from Frimpong soon again.

    He needs to play on a regular basis though – maybe a loan to Villa or Wigan would do him good.

    What do you rate about him / do you think we should give him a run of games instead of Arteta or Rambo?

  • His tenacity and energy mostly TA, reminds me of a more skillful Flamini. Someone with a bit of bite in midfield would complement santi and Arteta well. Jack has it too, and i think it is what’s needed to find a perfect balance. Arteta has been playing his role perfectly but i think alongside a more natural defensive midfielder his attacking instincts don’t have to be shackled quite so much.

    But i suppose it is Arteta’s versatility that is keeping him out of the team. At the end of the day it is Jack,Arteta, and Santi who are going to give us the most.

  • Good morning fellow bloggers and readers 🙂

    Soon going for a swim with daughter, and aim to publish a new post at around 2pm today. Only 6 days of interlull left. 🙂

  • Hi Oz 🙂

    All agreed on Coquelin. I think he can grow into the Arteta role over time, but I don’t think he could adequately replace him for a significant number of games yet. In my view, he misses the all important experience for such a pivotal role in our team. Question is, how will he get that experience best and will he remain patient with Arsenal?

    Hi RA 🙂

    You have spotted the danger there: GLiC with a toy spells disaster! 😆

  • I think as games come thick and fast he will get his chance. With our injury record it is bound to happen. Unfortunately he himself has broken down when opportunity has arisen (just like jenks did last season). He did the loan thing with Lorient, and has made it clear it is now or never. So id he doesn’t grasp his chance with both hands it could be the last we see of him

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