Tuesday, October 26th, 2010 « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News. Supporting the Lord Wenger in all he does
By Tony Attwood
Newcastle v Arsenal is a repeat of the first ever league game Arsenal played in September 1893 in the second division. In fact there’s a whole series of articles about the game, including newspaper reports and an article on each and every one of the Woolwich Arsenal players who take part in the game. There is an index to the celebration of our first ever league match here
So what of this game 117 years after the first?
Newcastle has gone down a bit since those days when in the 19th century, when it was the powerhouse of the revolution, building ships, engineering all sorts of stuff, developing the safety lamp, the first railway engine, the electric light, the steam turbine…
These days the main industries are night clubs of a highly dubious quality, the Paul Gascogigne industry, the let’s-wreck-a-famous-club business, and unemployment. Oh and big statues alongside the A1.
So on to the teams. Predicting a bit of a shuffled team is not really very clever for this fixture at the pleasant beach and spa resort, since the Lord Wenger has made it clear this is what we will see There will be…
The kiddiewinks
Henri Lansbury, Jay Emmanuel Thomas, Wojciech Szczesny, Eastmond
The returnees just back from the land of injury
Waclott, Bendtner, Vela, Koscileny,
The subs
Gibbs, Eboue
Put that lot together and you have ten out of eleven – so where do they fit in?
Wojciech Szczesny
Eboue, Djourou, Koscileny, Gibbs
Eastmond
JET, Lansbury
Walcott, Bendtner, Vela
Maybe, maybe not. Denilson might get another game, but otherwise it is going to be a surprise. Maybe Tom Cruise, Chucks Aneke, Gillese Sunu, Benik Afobe, Connor Henderson…
And of course putting a list like this means I don’t have a clue.
Whatever happens it can’t be worse than the first half of the Man U Wolverhampton game on Sky on Tuesday night, which was shocking. Not just shockingly bad in terms of quality, but also quite shocking to see whole swathes of the Very Old Trafford ground closed off (most of the upstairs in fact). An interesting comparison with the way the Ems always fills up even when it is a totally reserve team that is put out.
I suppose it is due to the fact that in the past Man U season ticket holders were forced to buy tickets – maybe they don’t do that now.
Anyway, back to the team – Scsczcszy is in goal who is the sub? Shea perchance?
Newcastle beat Chelsea 4-3 in the last round and Accrington 3-2 in the previous round. In the four games since the Chelsea game they have won one (WHU), drawn one (Wigan), and lost two (Stoke, Man City). They are 15th in the league, two points above bottom club WHU.
There is a suggestion that they won’t put out a full first team. On Sunday they play Sunderland, and the week later they have us again at the Ems, so they might well be trying to get something from those games to avoid a return to the lower levels – although WHU, Wolverhampton and Liverpool are doing their best to ensure that Newcastle stay up. So, yes, maybe they will relax the squad a bit and put in some reserve players. (It is after all so horribly embarrassing when Arsenal Youth beat your first team).
Nasri: Demi God or just ZZ in disguise?
On the history site: Arsenal did not start where we thought they started