I’d completely forgotten that this weekend was FA Cup weekend! It’s been erased from my memory after our Forest debacle, but at least there was some Arsenal connection, as Balogun played 60 minutes for Boro and by the sounds of it performed quite admirably. I didn’t watch it because y’know, it’s United, but I’m pleased to read that he didn’t look out of place against a strong Premier League outfit.

He must be looking at the dismantling of our squad this season and thinking he’s got a shout to be back in the team for next season I would have thought. At least in and around the squad for sure, but it will be interesting to see what happens with him. This season started with Eddie as the young understudy behind Auba and Laca. That severely hampered game time for Eddie (not that I think he should have got any with no intention of signing a new deal) and so if come the first game of the season, Balogun had another two strikers in front of him because we’d made a couple of signings, I wonder if he’d accept that. We’ve seen so many instances of players going out on loan, getting game time, then nit liking the idea of a season making 15 starts. So I am wondering whether Balogun has the same though process.

The hope is that the loan spell continues to do well, he continues to get game time, Chris Wilder continues to play him and we get a player back who is ready to play ‘first reserve’. If we bring in a striker in the summer and have Balogun just behind him I suspect he’d be happy with that. If you’re the back up to the main man you’re probably making 25 appearances at least, most likely with a dozen starts, especially if we manage to somehow get back in to Europe.

But that’s the big question, isn’t it? How many strikers will we go for in the summer?

I’ve heard that we’re after two – and decent fees too – which would suggest Balogun would play third fiddle. If you think about the minutes Eddie got at the start of the season and right up until the Aubameyang transgressions, he barely featured at all. If you’ve got two strikers coming in then he will probably see his game time limited.

Perhaps Arsenal will opt for another loan, but this time to a Premier League club, maybe? If you think about his age and natural evolution, a season in the Premier League next year means he continues to grow, then with two years left on his deal by summer 2023, we know whether he can step up or not.

The only problem with that, however, is the fact that he’d only have two years left on his deal. If he spends this season and next away on loan, then comes back to The Arsenal and plays as an understudy in 23/24, we could get to a situation where we’re still not 100% sure if he can be the main man, but his contract has just a year left. It would feel very similar to the Eddie situation here and for the love of everything that is holy, I really wish we could stop having players run down their contracts.

People argue that sometimes there is nothing you can do about that, but I fundamentally disagree with that and what we need to see from Arsenal is a ruthlessness when it looks like players are doing it. As soon as a player has a year left on their deal, move hell and high water to get a fee for them. We’ve spent the best part of five years being terrible sellers apart from the odd player, so we need to stop holding on to players – Eddie, Ainsley, Chambers, etc – and get them out when we can still command a fee.

That is on Arteta too though. He’s been guilty of not being decisive enough with his decisions and you only have to look at the fact he didn’t send Eddie on loan last January to sniff out more buyers in the summer, as an example. Arteta kept Eddie around, hardly used him, which made a summer sale that little bit more difficult I suspect. He almost admitted as much in press conferences last year, at one point admitting it was on him with regards to Eddie.

It’s a learning experience for Arteta, but it’s one he has to learn now, and quick. We need to start seeing Arsenal be a little more sensible with player churn and both Arteta and Edu need to be able to make decisions a littler more swifter on players. Balogun could be that next case study waiting in the wings so after this loan spell at Middlesbrough I wonder whether or not they will act and make a decision on him one way or another this summer re: a loan spell rather than just keeping him around in the squad.

I think I’ll call that a day today. Taking the wife out for a belated birthday weekend in Oxford and need to get me haircut. You have a good one and I’ll catch you all tomorrow.

But Arsenal will deal with it in the manner they will and I’m sure Arsène will have some consoling words for Wilshere at the moment. In our immediate world though, most talk seems to be about this new formation change, with Gooners across the globe talking amongst themselves about the motives, possible future of the 3-5-2 formation, etc, etc. Actually, it’s probably more like a 3-4-2-1 with Özil and Alexis behind Giroud, but I’m getting in to the realms of ‘little bit semantics’ here. The important questions that I’ve certainly been speaking about with fellow Arsenal fans is:

• Why now the change?
• Will we see it again?
• Do we have the personnel to adopt this on a regular basis?
• If not, will this see our summer activity alter as a result?

Of course the latter two questions relate to whether Arsène is still manager. Although as you and I are probably already aware of the chances are that he will be. All of the signs seem to be pointing in that direction. So that being the case, does the target of players in specific positions need to be reviewed? For example, with the set up of the team as it was against Boro, how can you see a future for Theo Walcott? Iwobi can tuck in behind the lone front man, Alexis and Özil are good enough to drift across the pitch, but with a formation like we played on Monday night it would certainly seem to spell an end to Theo’s regularity in the side. That would be no real problem for me however; Walcott’s limitations have been all too obvious so far this season. But in my mind I was imagining us going all out for a wide forward in the summer. A massive Walcott upgrade, if you will. Yet if Arsène remains in charge then perhaps the thinking will change, because what we might need to find is more of a wing-back type player on the left and right to compete with Hector, the Ox, etc. There might also be cause for picking up another centre half, especially given how poorly we’ve been defensively of late, but there again we do already have a stockpiled list of central defenders. If you count Chambers too, we’ve got six for three positions, which is probably what you’d need over the duration of a season. 

So there are certainly plenty of questions that this formation change has kicked up, but as I said on one WhatsApp group, at least it’s given us something else to talk about in relation to The Arsenal. The poor performances and repetitive nature of them too was starting to get really boring and with Arsène offering little by way of explanation or anything different, throwing in a formation change curveball at least gives bloggers and other Arsenal fans like me some food for thought.

I don’t think we’ll see it again at the weekend though. Arsène offered his explanation that the formation change was due in part towards Middlesbrough potentially going direct with Gestede and Negredo, but in Man City there will be a different threat and it won’t be through route one football, so I expect Arsène to revert to type and go back to the 4-2-3-1 formation that he’s been so rigid with over the last couple of seasons. Personally I wouldn’t mind it being shelved for a period of time given our insipid displays, in favour of a little more defensive solidity, but certainly against City I think Arsène will want to roll the dice a little more and trade attacking blows with Pep’s team.

We don’t have to wait long to find out though.

Right, I’m done for the day and having had five days of drinking and eating too much, it’s back to the working grind for me, so I’ll take my leave and bid you all a good day.

Middlesbrough were the side dispatched and now in the cold light of day you can say with some comfort that they are probably almost definitely going down. Arsenal were hardly immense and at times we looked exactly like a team with such fragile confidence, but we got over the line thanks to two goals from the big money players, which is about time.

The biggest surprise of the evening came when Arsène shuffled the entire set up of his team. It just goes to show you how bad its been that Arsène felt forced in to a formation set up and with Holding given his first start in the league since the beginning of the season, as well as the Ox and Nacho deployed as wing backs, this latest roll of the dice will have no doubt pleased some.

But it didn’t really start fabulously. I thought defensively we still looked a little shaky at the back and there were times in both halves where Boro got in behind and throw our lines a little too easy. But we can be thankful that they are as poor as they are going forward because otherwise we might have come-a-cropper. It’s weird though – now that I’m sat here writing today’s blog I can’t work out in my head whether I liked this new set up or not. We still looked a little ropey, but there were some encouraging performances. Holding played well. The Ox was great on the right hand side. Ramsey even had a decent game and I don’t remember the last time I said that. Up top Arsène opted for Giroud who was hardly his best, but I thought the two behind of Özil and Alexis was interesting. 

I’m not sure whether we’ll see the same again next weekend against City, but I’d probably be a bit more excited about the change in style if this was pre season and we were trying out things. As it stands though, I think Arsène will revert back to type with the semi final, so let’s not all get too excited just yet.

We do need to give Holding more game time though. He’s shown the kind of composure that Gabriel has never really demonstrated and although he’ll make mistakes, the more game time he gets, the more he’ll be able to iron out the kinks in his game.

Ramsey and Xhaka also looked more controlling than it has done. Perhaps that’s because Boro let us have more of the ball, but at least they didn’t seem as shocking as West Brom away. 

It’s hard to call really. I’m pleased that we won – obviously – and I think I’m pleased that Arsène is trying different things to fix th situation. But I’m also a little worried that we won’t get an opponent so amiable to us for the rest of the season, so I don’t know whether we should just be shrugging our shoulders and saying “ahh, eff it” and going down this route for the rest of the season, or not. I suppose it can’t be any worse than it’s been so perhaps Arsène is in the “eff it” stage of going all in with a new playing style. If he is, at least it’s something different for us to see, as opposed to repeating the same mistakes with the same set of players and the same tactical set up.

I’m hoping that the next week sees a lot of work on the training ground from the players with this new style. You could see how much it meant to those players on the final whistle and if ever we needed a result to give us a confidence boost ahead of a vital game, this was it. 

Roll on next weekend.

Much like the West Ham game, the two teams playing this evening are psychologically shot, so I’m expecting a bit of a gritty game against a Boro team who will be desperate to show some fight. After what Theo said in last Monday’s post match presser though you do worry that there might be more fight in the Teesiders than in our team.

Surely not though. Surely the players can’t sink any lower? Surely they will have looked at the fans turning on them and be desparate for a response? Even our mollycoddled stars should have enough professional pride and ability to get back on the horse and show more willing than we got against Palace.

Palace are a better team than Middlesbrough and they are set up just how our team hated it with a target man in Benteke and lightning quick wingers. Middlesbrough don’t have the same pace and so they shouldn’t be able to expose our fullbacks like Palace did though. They have Negredo up top, but he’s not at the same level as Benteke and with the return of Koscielny, we should have enough to keep him marshalled.

Should. 

I expect Arsène will pick Cech in goal and swap Gabriel for Koscielny in defence, but midfield will be interesting. Xhaka and Elneny were terrible last Monday, but it’s still our best option I think, because I think Ramsey and Xhaka leaves us too exposed defensively and it seems like Arsène isn’t bothering with the Ox in the middle any more. Sorry, I said Xhaka/Elneny as the best partnership, but the Ox and Xhaka actually fit that bill. The only problem is that Arsène doesn’t seem to want to use that formula any more. He’s still chopping and changing trying to find something that clicks, but the team are still failing him, so it wouldn’t surprise me to see Coquelin return back to the team. Personally it’s the wrong move I think, because we need more control on our possession and distribution, which is why I think the Ox is better. He has shown an ability to be good with his passing range from deep and has also been putting a tackle in, so I’d have him and Granit with Özil in front.

I’d also put Alexis back in the middle, bin off Walcott and see if Welbeck and Iwobi can show the same form with Alexis that we saw away to Everton about this time last year. It’s the least we could expect, given how dreadful Theo was against Palace and if I see him in the starting line up tonight I’ll be thoroughly disappointed.

Ollie G is the other option and, given that we haven’t seen much movement from a mobile front three of late, it’s not the worst decision in the world. But I don’t think Arsène fancies him as anything more than an impact sub right now.

Tonight needs to be a win to restore fragile confidence ahead of next weekend. I’ve pretty much given up on the top four, so we just need to repair some of the damage in the hope that it gives us belief for the cup semi. 

Come on you reds.

Have you actually been watching Arsenal lately?

Arsène did his pre match presser as usual and as usual the only real interesting thing about what he had to say was in the form of the team news. We have Koscielny back in to the beleaguered defence and at least that will strengthen us on paper. He’s been as poor as the rest of them of late so I’m not going to hold out too much hope that one player will make all the difference to our woes. But he is our best defender and hopefully whilst he’s been out he’s been able to recharge himself and we see the Kos that we all know and love.

Cech is also back, although his form has hardly been that of somebody who is saving us our 12 to 15 points a season, although I still think he’ll return instead of Emi Martinez. Because that’s what Arsène does – hierarchies. It’s why we’ll still see Theo start even though he hasn’t deserved a starting place since November. It’s why Nacho will be given the nod despite the fact he was turned more times than a pancake last Monday. It’s why Özil will be given the nod despite having one of the worst games I’ve seen him play in an Arsenal shirt last week. Because Arsène doesn’t put them under pressure for their place and they have no real urgency or drive to retain it.

Anyway, Arsène was asked the usual stuff about his contract and his relationship between the owner and the board. He said it was the same as it’s always been and then confirmed that there’s no news on his contract. So we have another week of waiting, having been told that we’ll know ‘soon’, which clearly means ‘the end of the season’. But when that comes, I just hope it’s relief and not dismay that we’re all feeling. One things for sure, there’ll be plenty of availability from season ticket holders who will rent out theirs next season if he’s still around, I’ve already heard half a dozen people talking about it that I know. I hope it doesn’t come to that though. Let’s hope the club do realise the sentiment of most of us now and end this. I can’t say with dignity because nothing of what is happening at the moment is dignified – from anyone – fans, manager, players, board, etc. There is no graceful exit happening here like it did with Pellegrini at City last season. This is becoming an acrimonious divorce. Or at least we hope so.

It was interesting that no sooner had the Alexis rumours of a megabucks deal – which I think was just media briefing and a new spin on a ‘war chest’ story – than we had more noises that Arsène had told Alexis’ camp that he didn’t want a player on that kind of money destabilising the camp. Jeez…like the camp isn’t already as destabilised and creaking as it is. We’re like the Jenga tower after somebodies wonky hand had a go at the base – all over the place. If Arsenal truly want to make him stay they have to make him the leagues highest paid player because quite frankly, he’s too good to be playing in a team that is most likely to finish sixth or seventh. So if you’re in his shoes you stay for megabucks, because trophies look unlikely at the moment. That’s the reality we have to face. We might have scoffed at the megabucks that United had to spent in the post Fergie era, but the reality is that our team are in a similar position, perhaps. Or perhaps we just need a new man to get the best out of a smaller collective of them. Alexis would be one you’d put on that list so keeping him means chucking extra cash his way. Especially if Arsène remains in charge, because if he does, there is no new ‘project’ for him to get excited about. There no new ‘exciting times’ for the next two years so the only motivator to stay at Arsenal would be to line his pockets. 

Anyway enough about money. It’s a horrible part but of the game and has far too much influence. It has turned a game in which I used to get so excited about in the 90s – even when we weren’t winning trophies I might add – in to this horrible juggernaught that acts so much bigger than everyone and everything else. 

Right, I’m off to ignore that football exists for another day, so make sure you have a good one. The great thing about a couple of weekends without football is that it’s given me the pleasure of not having to have it ruin my weekends. So I can spend more time with the family and realise there are more important things.

Laters peeps. Y’all be good now!

I suppose there’s also an element of the match itself having been a bit of a damp squib, with Boro setting their stall out to sit deep and hit us with whatever counter-attacking they could muster, which you can’t really complain about. Teams have been doing that for years – decades even – and the trick for all the best teams is to find a way to unlock those who come with negative tactics. A bit like Man United yesterday, who would have undoubtedly tried to bore us all to death, had Chelski not scored in the first minute.

So my motivation for blogging yesterday was hardly helped by the result of performance, but on a WhatsApp group I share with a collective of Arsenal match day peeps, one of the guys suggested that he thought this was a one-off rather than a worrying trend. I get that; after all, we’ve just pumped Ludogorets for six, plus bagged three the previous weekend against Swansea. So perhaps getting concerned about the result is to be a little too jittery at this stage in the season.

And yet…I do still habour some concerns, because I think there will be plenty of teams who will use that Boro performance as the blueprint. The key will be to ride out the first 20 minutes, then it all becomes a little easier, is the mantra that I wonder if teams will start to adopt against us. Sure, Middlesbrough had a few opportunities themselves and we had Cech to thank, but opposing team managers who look at that as an opportunity to get at Arsenal I don’t think. Instead they’ll look at the compact nature of Boro’s back line and see that as the way forward. 

And herein lies the worry with not rotating as much. Perhaps that will change as the season goes on and perhaps if Giroud was fit he would have played to offer a different threat, but our attacking trio just weren’t geared up for a deep-lying defence like Boro’s on Saturday I don’t think. We just couldn’t get in behind – certainly the full backs – and when we did on rare occasions, we were wasteful. But what would have been interesting to see on Saturday, is how we might have unlocked a stubborn defence with somebody like Giroud to offer an aerial threat. Would it have forced more space for players like Walcott or Alexis to operate and get in behind, as the centre backs concern themselves with the big guy in the middle? Don’t know. But what I do know is that it felt like earlier in the season with our attacking options. And I think we might get more and more of those games this season. 

And that worries me.

So what I’m hoping is that Arsène mixes it up a bit when we have players like Giroud back fit. If there’s a chance that we could play a few different ways against an opponent like Middlesbrough, then I think it helps us massively, because an opposing team manager can’t spend all week on a system designed to negate Arsenal. Despite what Karanka said in his pre match press conference about not coming to Arsenal to ‘park the bus’, it was clearly evident that his team had been working on a system designed to negate any of Arsenal’s strengths by playing tight and deep as a defensive unit. Again, you can’t really complain about that, but what I can do is hope that next time a manager preps his team to play against us in a certain way because he thinks he’s playing a certain group of Arsenal players, Le Boss can spring a surprise by playing a different system. 

We’ve always been classed as being flat-track bullies by being able to beat the likes of Middlesbrough but not the bigger teams, so I hope we’re not going to end up losing that moniker, because we need it if we want to stand any hope of winning the big prize at the end of the season. 

Again though, this may just be ‘one of those games’, to which we’ll probably not find out about for a number of weeks, because the next of the so-called ‘smaller’ teams to visit us in the league, will be Bournemouth on 27th November. Before that we play Sunderland away next weekend (who will be encouraged to have more of a go on their own turf), followed by the Tiny Totts at home, then United away. Those two teams won’t sit back, so it will be a while before we know whether we need to be a bit concerned about our ability to break certain teams down. 

Right, that’s yer lot from me today. Time for a spot of the old workie.

Catch y’all tomorrow.

Of course Arsène will bat away any line of enquiry navigating in that direction, merely utilising his trusted ‘one game at a time’ mantra that so many managers and players have used since time immemorial, but it’s nice to know that the Arsenal world is a happier place at the moment and the football we’re playing is good too.

I don’t expect there to be any words of arrogance or hints of complacency about the visitors tomorrow, but I do wonder if we’ll get any indication on who might start, because we have a number of questions still hanging. The obvious answer is that we’ll get a team identical to the one that started against Ludogorets. In a very in-Arsène manner, he was able to take off a number of players on Wednesday night with the game won, which means Cazorla, Walcott and Alexis have all been spared a full 90 in midweek. So my hope is that the team is feeling fresh and ready for a totally different challenge against Boro come 3pm. More on how they might set up tomorrow.

But for us, I do wonder if the question on fatigue is one that is for another time in the season, particularly given our great form. I’ve read and heard countless interviews from top level players saying that when you’re winning, you can run that little bit longer, feel that little bit stronger, so I wonder if the same can be said for all the team at the moment? Of course the danger with riding that adrenaline crest is that eventually you run out of puff, so I do hope that when the fabled ‘red zone’ is hit, players will be taken out of the firing line by the manager. 

I don’t want to seem like I’m reading too much into his actions, but his substitutions feel to me like they’re showing that he’s thinking about that too. What I mean by this is the varying numbers of players he’s deciding to play. The challenge with how we’ve been as a club – admittedly down to the manager himself – is that we’ve tended to play players into fatigue and injury, then have to rely on players who haven’t played all season, with an expectation that they’ll just come in and be great. In the past, you tend to get the same two or three players on the fringes of the team coming on as a sub every week. So when we have the annual injury crisis and have to rely on more than just those two or three players, the ones that have to come in are effectiv my starting from scratch, which means it always takes them time to adapt. By then however, you’re talking four or five games and often a player has returned from injury, so the squad player is dismissed by some as ‘crap’.

It takes time to build yourself momentum in football. That’s why I think Arsène is using a variety of different players as subs. We’ve seen Gibbs, The Ox, Iwobi, Lucas, Elneny and Xhaka all get game time as subs. The more game time these players get, the easier they will find it to be at their best when they are called upon, which I think Arsène is aware of. So we’re not just seeing the same XI with Gibbs and The Ox being the only players to ever be subbed on, but instead it varies from game-to-game. 

This can only be a good thing for us. We will get injuries, we all know that, but if a player can come in and quickly pick up the pace and rythmn of the team, we might stand a better chance of coping with the injuries throughout the season. 

Note how I’m being very careful about talking up the title chances. We haven’t seen how this team can react to disappointment after a good run yet, so I’ll reserve any kind of excitement until after then, I think.

So we’ll get an indication from Arsène where we’re at today – about an hour from me writing today’s blog – and hopefully it can be an entertaining one.

Right, catch y’all tomorrow, with some pre-Boro thoughts.

Laters.

Turns out I am fortunate enough to have a – albeit little part of the internet – with which I can do just that! So I thought i’d share this little gripe that has been eating away at me since last week. As always, comments are most welcome, as I’d really like to know if I’m just being a prissy on this.

It’s away tickets related, so I appreciate it’s a bit of a niche area. Not everyone can get to see Arsenal at home, let alone on the road, so I do understand that some people would love to be in the position I’m in as a season ticket holder. Having said that, it doesn’t mean that I can’t be perturbed by things, just like any other human.’So whilst some might read this and think that I should count myself lucky, getting grumpy is not a mutually exclusive thing to those better off, or worse off, than myself.

Anyway, so, away tickets.

I am not a man that can get to too many away games. I have family commitments, other things get in the way, etc, etc. I would love to go to more games, but I have an agreement with The Management on a couple of things, when they involve possible road trips that we can both share in the enjoyment on, with Arsenal as the catalyst for us to do ‘weekend’s away’. The Management has family in Northumberland, which has always meant that Newcastle away and Sunderland away were always taken by me as guaranteed. With Middlesbrough now in the Premier League I’ve thankfully replaced the Geordies, but I have also over the past week been trying to get tickets for Burnley away. Lancashire is where The Management and I met, we often use games in the North West as an opportunity to head back up there and it’s been fun.

As you probably know, Arsenal have a points-based system which gives you one point for every away game you go to over a two year period, then when matches go on sale it is done on an allocation basis. Those with more points have first priority, then it drops down to those with less points in stages. I have five and six points on my two season tickets respectively. I made a calendar note on my phone to check when tickets would be on sale – normally a month before the fixture –  then a couple of days before that checked the official website.

There wasn’t even a mention for those of less than 25 points. So, in effect, there was no chance of me getting tickets to the Burnley game. I contacted a mate and asked his opinion, to which he said “no chance you’ll get them”. Boo-hoo me, right? I don’t deserve to have tickets more than those who go more regularly, right?

Yes, absolutely right. I have no special badge that allows me to get more tickets than anybody else and yes,  I shouldn’t take tickets from somebody who would go home and away, I have no problem with that.

What I do have a problem however, is with the rise of what I see as the social media tout.

These aren’t the old school touts, the ‘buy a ticket for £40 and sell for £200’  types, these are people that are buying up tickets for away games, then announcing on social media channels that they have tickets available for away games. I know, because I have spoken to people who readily do this, so that they can maintain their level of away points, so they can continue to offer those tickets up to other people. It’s like away points have suddenly become currency and there are those who are all too happy to trade in it.

Perhaps they are doing nothing wrong. Perhaps I’m just bleating because I am not able to get tickets on my own season ticket, because I never have enough points, but it just strikes me as farcical that as an Arsenal fan and season ticket holder, I am seeing people who don’t go to any away games at all in a season, using their ability to purchase up tickets, all because they can. But what worries me, is how long before some of these people realise the situation they find themselves, then start charging more than ‘face value’ for a ticket? We’re  not there yet, but if the pool of available tickets continues to remain small, some people will use it to their advantage.

When you consider that clubs are looking at reducing the overall price of tickets too, how long is it before some people start to make a bit of cash from their exclusive monopoly on tickets? I don’t think it’s happened too much as yet, but I can foresee a time when this becomes a practice in future.

Now, I know that this isn’t the case for everyone who puts a message up on Twitter, as some people have genuine reasons for not being able to go to games. But three or four years ago, this didn’t happy with as much frequency as I’m seeing these days. On a matchday or before, my Twitter timeline can have between six and 12 people all offering up multiple tickets for away games. Are all of these people just victims of unfortunate circumstance? I’d wager not.

If these people who have no intention on going to a game are just building points so they can continue to have a level of exclusivity, what’s to stop some of them going the next step and turning in to social media touts?

What’s the answer then? Sadly, I don’t know. I was speaking to a couple of folks on Whatsapp yesterday about the paper ticket you were given at Sheffield Wednesday last season, to show that you had gone to the games. That seems to have died a death. If there was a system in place where people who were going to the games were the actual people they said they were, however, how long would it be before the system righted itself eventually and tickets to away games would be more accessible to more people?

I don’t know. But what I do know is that the current system is flawed. It doesn’t allow a large proportion of fans to get access to going to away games, which many people readily admit are often more enjoyable than home matches. Those experiences are being denied to a lot of people, because there are a collective of Arsenal fans who are buying up tickets so they can keep their points.

Perhaps I need to get over myself. But all I want is the opportunity to attend some away games. If there truly are 4 –  5,000 people who are attending all of these away games in a season then that’s fair enough. But I’m calling bullshit.

What do you think?

I have to hold my hands up and admit I didn’t see that coming. I assumed – wrongly it seems – that we would be in for more of the same as the Leicester game. I thought Boro would be organised, hard to break down and we’d have to scrap right until the last minute.

That it was the score line that flattered to deceive the North Easterners, should tell anybody who didn’t watch the game just how comfortable an afternoon we had. Indeed, it felt like if we really wanted to, I mean really wanted to, we could have won that game by about five or six, something Dave had assured me would happen yesterday before a ball was even kicked. Perhaps I should have paid more attention to his narrative; the Blackburn blip a few seasons ago aside, we don’t tend to get beaten in the FA Cup at home, especially to lower league opposition.

You could tell how in control we were within the first five minutes. The tone of the game was set when Santi drifted into acres of space at least three times in the first five. He had yet another exemplary performance in the ‘quarterback’ role sitting deep and picking passes, but Boro’ simply didn’t pick him up at all at times, which set the tone for the day. Karanka said afterwards that he thought his team perhaps underestimated how difficult repeating the feat of the Etihad was, but I think yesterday’s canter was as much down to Middlesbrough not performing, as it was Arsenal playing superb.

We were superb too. I could reel off the names of players who had good games yesterday and it would just look like I’m writing down a team sheet. Gibbs at left back was great. I noted to my colleague Tom yesterday (up in the gods of the Clock End for a different perspective does give you a better vantage point of tactical set up) that Gibbs was playing very wide – almost hugging the touchline – and it gave our players the ability to stretch the pitch a bit more than when Nacho plays. Monreal is worthy of his starting berth at the moment, so I don’t begrudge him that, but Gibbs playing counter-balances our tendency to be a little narrow when Özil is playing on that side and when Alexis drifts as he likes to do. There was a few occasions yesterday when Gibbs was waving his arms about with a heck of a lot of space and perhaps it was telling that it was his run that was key in the first goal. Santi (natch) found him with a delightful pick out and his ball to the near post was perfect for Giroud to steer under Meijas.

So next to Giroud, who bagged both goals and was the quickest to spot the freedom of the penalty box on a corner to double the advantage just a few minutes later, this time picked out by Alexis from the corner. It was quick-witted and clever but Karanka won’t be too happy about the marking for the second goal.

Giroud has been superb since returning from injury. I haven’t looked up the goals tally for him for this season, but if he doesn’t surpass his season’s best at this rate, I’d be surprised. And let’s not forget that’s including the fact he’s missed a few months due to a broken leg. He’s looking every bit the quality centre forward we need and this season has added big-game goals to his repertoire.

But it wasn’t just the Santi, Gibbs and Giroud show, because a number of players had good games. Take Mesut Özil for example, having scored and assisted in every one of his games since coming back from injury (I think – don’t quote me on that!), he showed once again that he’s coming back into force as one of the stars of the team. His movement, ability to retain the ball and link up play was wizardry at times, to which you can only watch and applaud. He was outshone in midfield by the little Spaniard yesterday, but his performance was still sparkling and yet another good game under his belt will have done his confidence the power of good, important as we enter the business end of the season.

A good solid debut was had by Gabriel alongside Koscienly, who won nearly every header all day, and coupled with Chambers looking decent at right back and Flamini marshalling the midfield, we didn’t give Middlesbrough a sniff until the dying embers of the game.

Arsène can be rightly happy this morning. He’s seen us navigate a potentially tricky tie against a team at the top of the Championship, with a quarter final now awaiting, most likely at Anfield or Old Trafford knowing our luck. I don’t see it being anything else other than that. There’ll be a couple of heated up balls in the pot tonight to make sure it happens. Mark my words.

But who cares? We can go to Anfield or Old Trafford and get a result. We are The Arsenal and with the way those two sides have played this season, even one of those toughest fixtures in the competition, we’ll have to do it eventually against one of those teams.

All eyes now turn toward preparation against Crystal Palace. They may be licking their wounds after an FA Cup exit to Liverpool, but by the time the game on Saturday comes around, I’d expect them to be fired up for us and I think we’re going to have a really tough afternoon in South London. More on that as the game draws near.

For now, I’m going to bask in the glory of victory, dreaming of another FA Cup final in the sunshine.

Still, there’s no need to be grumpy when there’s a game afoot to prepare for, so the in-form Middlesbrough travel to The Emirates looking to chalk up higher-class slaying number two to their list of victories this season. It’s a tough one to see exact how this one is going to play out, actually, because we don’t know whether Middlesbrough will ‘have a go’ so-to-speak, or whether they will try the old Arsenal tactic that was used against Moneychester City of ‘rope-a-dope’, sucking up pressure, hitting on the counter and catching your opponents cold. We’ve seen first hand this year alone, how that tactic can work beautifully providing the conditions are right (our trip to the Etihad), but also if the application is not spot on (the debacle at White Hart Lane). So whilst Middlesbrough represent a tough opponent with plenty of confidence at the moment, it is by no means a forgone conclusion that they’ll sit with a wall of defenders today. They might decide that they can have a go at us.

It’s probably unlikely though. The successive victories the Smoggies have had have been built on a foundation of defensive stability and having listened to the Arsecast yesterday where a Boro fan explained how they’ve been successful this season, I think we’ll see them look to hit us with their pacey attacking players, whilst absorbing pressure when we have the ball. If they are organised enough defensively – as Leicester showed – you can frustrate this Arsenal team. Leicester lined up with a back five and attempted to recreate a London version of the Great Wall of China in midweek, but I think Middlesbrough will line up in something that will resemble a familiar formation to us of 4-2-3-1. They’ve got an injury problem in the absence of Ayala, plus their Chelski loan signing (every team outside the prem has one of those, right?) Kalas can’t play because of his loan deal, but apart from that I’m not really sure where the real threats will come from. Karanka has apparently been a bit loan-hungry in snapping up some Spud youth players in Fredericks and Veljkovic, but whether they’ll play is your guess as good as mine. Jonathan Woodgate might step in, but if he does so you’d hope that our pace could expose him at centre half.

This must be a tricky one for Arsene. Against Brighton we played a Championship team that were in the bottom half of the table and had shown indifferent form. To all intents and purposes, Middlesbrough are playing like a Premier League team at the moment and if they continue their trajectory, they will be one before long too. So does Arsene name the strongest squad possible, safe in the knowledge that there are six days with which to refresh his players before we play Palace? Or does he rotate with it firm in his mind that he needs to keep his squad fresher rather than relying on a core of 12 or 13 players. I hope it’s the latter. I have always been a fan of keeping players ticking over when they are not regularly starting, so I hope there are some – not loads, but some – changes to the team that played against Leicester.

I would expect Szczesny to come in and I’m pretty sure Arsene has already said that would happen. I would have thought Gibbs would get another run out, as well as Chambers, but then the decisions become a little bit more difficult. Does Gabriel come in to start? It’s easy to say ‘no, keep the defensive partnership in the middle consistent’, but if Gabriel is to be properly integrated into the Arsenal team, he needs game time. Does Arsene play a midfield with Flamini instead of Le Coq? Again, I’m not sure. I suspect he might get the nod, as too will Rosicky having excelled in the last round and also having been impressive in the last couple of sub appearances he’s had. So who plays at number 10? Mesut with a start? If so, does Welbeck go left, Walcott right and Giroud through the middle? Or will Arsene opt for Welbeck through the middle? Giroud has taken a few knocks lately and with uncertainty surrounding Alexis and whether he’ll be back for Palace, you’d think Le Boss might be a bit more cautious with his team selection.

I think Arsene will field a strong team today. He might rotate slightly with the defence but I’m not sure we’ll see too many attacking changes. He will be mindful of the fact that yet another ‘tough’ fixture will have been eliminated yesterday in the form of Stoke (we’ve been knocked out away from home to them before!), so with Liverpool and United being the main threats for us should we progress, you have to be looking at this competition as a realistic target to win back-to-back. I would love to get us to Wembley again and a win today puts us – in theory – 90 minutes from it. So let’s hope the team treats this opposition with more respect than Man City did, does the business on our own ground, so we can look forward to the draw on Monday night.

Laters.